Wheelchair user with CP who is on Iowa dance team featured in Parade magazine

The story in Parade March 21:

In Challes Reese’s dreams, her face is bathed in a spotlight as she dances freely across a stage.

In Challes Reese’s reality, she is a 15-year-old with cerebral palsy who relies on a wheelchair for mobility.

But she has long refused to let her neurological condition, which permanently impairs muscle control, block her dream of dancing.

That dream started when Challes (pictured) was a little girl in Chicago, before her family relocated to Dubuque, Iowa. And it persisted when she moved into Hills & Dales, a local residential facility for young people with profound physical and mental disabilities, a few years ago.

So when the Stephen Hempstead High School dance team held tryouts last fall, the freshman, one of nearly 1600 students, steered her motorized wheelchair to the center of the floor. She was ready. A wheelchair in a dance routine? Skeptics were soon won over as Challes moved her arms and spun her chair around, “dancing” in sync with the music. It was an unconventional routine but one she performed to near perfection.

Told she was the newest squad member, Challes, a young woman of few words, unleashed a scream of joy. The dream was on.

In December 2009, Challes became the first student using a wheelchair to perform in the annual Iowa State Dance and Drill Team Association competition. She was not particularly comfortable with the distinction. “It felt a little weird,” she said.

At the meet, Challes was able to participate in only one dance, which Hempstead did to the Cheetah Girls song “Cheetah Sisters.” But she was at the center of the action, performing air guitar and spinning her chair in sync with her teammates, transforming it from an obstacle into an asset.

“Challes has always been really excited to be here,” coach Julie Banigan said, “and the girls wanted it to be about her—for it to mean something.”

Though theirs may not have been a gold-medal performance in Class III novelty dance, Challes won the hearts of the audience. “She should be very proud,” Lois Turnage, president of the dance and drill team association, said.

Challes’ mother, Kenyana Mitchell, who moved back to Chicago, about 180 miles to the east, certainly is. “I’m really happy these girls gave her an opportunity,” she said. “Everyone who knows her is in some way touched by her.”

Support for Challes and her dream was a group effort. Hills & Dales staff members, for instance, rearranged their schedules to get her to practices and performances. “There was never a doubt that we needed to make this happen,” said Marilyn Althoff, the organization’s executive director.

Their routine symbolized what the squad had learned: People of all backgrounds can break through barriers and discover lasting friendships. “We became almost like sisters,” team captain Jillian Stumpf said. “It’s a learning experience inside and outside of dance.”

Teammate Katie Gruber added, “She taught us that you can do anything.”

Or, as Challes advises others with disabilities: “Don’t think that you’re not going to make it on the team. Just go with it.”