Paralysis to professional dancer: Two dancers erase the boundaries between disability & able-bodied using wheelchairs
By Katy Gill
A dancing duo have shown incredible strength and resilience during this beautiful dance using wheelchairs.
Marisa Hamamoto and her dance partner Piotr Iwanicki, demonstrate their grace and talent during a performance of the dance with extreme lifts throughout, filmed early February, in Los Angeles, California, USA.
Piotr was born with spina bifida, a birth defect in which a developing baby’s spinal cord fails to develop properly, and is a world champion wheelchair ballroom dancer.
Marisa said: “While I was a senior at university, I suddenly became paralysed from the neck down during a contemporary dance class.
“The following day I was diagnosed with a rare stroke called spinal cord infarction and was told by the doctor that I may never walk or dance again.
“I regained most of my mobility fairly quickly and walked out of the hospital after two months.”
Infinite Flow, which was founded in 2015, is America’s first professional wheelchair ballroom dance company and uses dance as a vehicle to mainstream inclusion and eliminate the stigma around disability.
This dance is an example of how Infinite Flow ‘erases the boundaries between dancers with and without disabilities’ and shows how through extensive development of trust, they’re able to push the boundaries.
Marisa said: “I have a vision to build a world class inclusive dance company that leads a global social movement for inclusion through dance.”
If you would like to get involved in being part of Infinite Flow, please visit http://www.infiniteflowdance.org/ for more information.
