From the intro to a story in the San Diego Union-Tribune. In the picture, William Valencia (right) thanked dance partner Beverly Weurding after class at Sharp Grossmont Rehabilitation Center.Deep inside a cavernous building in La Mesa, a speaker blares a cha-cha tune. A ponytailed man dressed in black steps smoothly across the linoleum, moving to the beat and asking his students to do the same.
Half the dancers begin following his steps. They know it's bad form, but some look down – to make sure their partners don't roll over their feet.
The weekly class at Sharp Grossmont Rehabilitation Center helps build strength and self-confidence in people who use wheelchairs. It's also building bridges between their world and that of their dance partners.
James Taylor, 33, of University Heights said that before the class, the most contact he had with wheelchair-users was a “hi” here and there.
“This is the first time that I've really interacted with people in wheelchairs,” he said. “It's also the first time that . . . the differences with a wheelchair actually mattered to me.”
The class is taught by William Valencia, a Marine and Army sergeant turned dance instructor. He's one of almost 20 instructors nationwide who have a teaching certification from the Pennsylvania-based nonprofit American DanceWheels Foundation, and the only certified instructor on the West Coast. The foundation promotes and provides training in wheelchair ballroom dancing.
To understand what it's like to use a wheelchair, Valencia got into one for his cross-country return flight from training. He described the experience as “humbling.”
“People kind of ignore you,” Valencia said. “People look at you with sorrow. You could get to the front of the line, and people help you, but there's no eye contact.”
Melinda Kremer, executive director of American DanceWheels, said the dance classes are about more than fancy floor moves.“For me, this is about society changing and the potential to create new alliances with a group of people who are misunderstood,” she said.
The greater visibility of people with disabilities has helped boost understanding and interest in wheelchair dancing, she said. There was Heather Mills' appearance on the TV show “Dancing with the Stars” a couple of years ago. The former model has a prosthetic leg. And a recent MTV series called “How's Your News?” followed people with disabilities as they traveled the country.
Kremer said her nonprofit receives about 40 inquiries a month from people interested in learning, teaching and watching wheelchair ballroom dance. That matches the number of calls that her group got in its entire first year in 2004.