The Dancing Wheels Company is a professional dance company based in Cleveland, Ohio. Founded in 1980, it was the first in America to stage performances involving dancers with and without disabilities. The School of Dancing Wheels was opened in 1990, which was also the start of a ten-year partnership with

Cleveland Ballet The Cleveland Ballet was founded in Cleveland in 1972 by Dennis Nahat and Ian Horvath as a dance school, the School of Cleveland Ballet. It was the second incarnation of the Cleveland Ballet, having been preceded a ballet company of the same name ...

. The company was founded by Mary Verdi-Fletcher, the first professional wheelchair dancer in the United States "and one of the first in the world." Born with

spina bifida Spina bifida (Latin for 'split spine'; SB) is a birth defect in which there is incomplete closing of the spine and the membranes around the spinal cord during early development in pregnancy. There are three main types: spina bifida occulta, men ...

, with her mother a dancer and her father a musician she had nevertheless always wanted to be a dancer. In her analysis of the company's communication methods, Margaret M. Quinlan says that it works "to challenge dominant representations of a 'normal' body and the opportunities and privileges that accompany it. Dancing Wheels is committed to changing the negativity and fear that surround the education, employment, and inclusion of persons with disabilities in the arts and broader communities". The company uses its performances to enhance public awareness of disability issues and promote social change. The dance technique of ''translation'' involves drawing parallels between the movements and gestures of "sit-down" and "stand-up" dancers.

References

External links

The Dancing Wheels Company website
Contemporary dance companies Physically integrated dance 1980 establishments in Ohio Culture of Cleveland Disability organizations based in the United States {{contemporary-dance-stub