Wheelchair Dancing – A trip to Blackpool
This week Marion tells us about her experinces of wheelchair dancing
Hi it is Marion again! Recently just back from Blackpool with my Wheelchair Dancing team and thought I would tell you a bit about it!
I have been dancing in different teams on and off since the age of 10 I have been travelling to Blackpool every 2 years. The years we were not in Blackpool we spent in Glasgow for the Wheelchair dancing festivals.
Sadly over the years the teams of dancers have become less and less. Due to not as many teams the Wheelchair Dancing Association has made the deicision to stop competing in England. However the Scottish Wheelchair dancing association hope to continue to get more people involved and run competitions under new rules.
So we meet every second week to practise our dance routines, there are 7 of us in my team and what a laugh we have! We are called the All Stars Dance Team and are a C team meaning we are less able to move our chairs due to our disability and use power chairs. We have to learn 3 to 4 dances, these include formation, set, novelty and couples dances. It can be hard work remembering the moves especially on the run up to the competition!
In the past we have won many medals for our dancing there were gold, silver and bronze medals and plenty trophies. This is an activity that I love as my friends are there too. I’ve met many people over all my years at dancing.
As this was the last of the English Championships they changed the way they usually do things. This year was to be more of a fun day rather than a competition. It seemed so wrong to me not be buying and taking any lovely costumes with me which I have done for years. Also felt strange not being judged and there was no couples section which made me sad as me and my dance partner have won many medals together.
We all set off on Friday morning and when we all arrived at the Hilton Hotel we met up and joined the other 1 dance team from Scotland and 1 team from Cornwall. We had some dinner and got into the hall for one last practice
The next day was very relaxed compared to previous years. We did our own dances which we had practised although one was missed out due to the floor area being too small for us all. We also went into new dances with all the other competitors meaning we had to learn quick, thankfully we all managed and was really good fun. Later that night we all met for dinner and as if we didn’t dance enough there was a disco in the evening for us all to enjoy and let our hair down!
Over the weekend I had a great time laughing and spending time with friends and fellow dancers. I will really miss out trips to Blackpool and hope we can get the new Scottish association up and running quickly and make it more of a competition. . . . . . . who doesn’t like some friendly competition?
If you’d like to find out more about getting started have a look at http://www.swda.org.uk/