When Chelsie Hill dances in her wheelchair, her face says it all. She is absorbed in the moment, in the emotions she conveys and in her power to captivate the audience. Her wheelchair is an intrinsic part of her silhouette, which she manipulates with power.
Hill, 31, is the founder of the Rollettes, a dance team formed in 2012 for women in wheelchairs. They perform across the US and host an annual empowerment weekend in Los Angeles for disabled women, called Rollettes Experience.
In July, the event attracted 250 women and children from 14 countries for dance classes, exhibitions and seminars.
Hill's story has extended far beyond the Rollettes and includes mentoring and education for any disabled person looking for community.
“She changed my life,” said Ali Stroker, who in 2019 became the first wheelchair-bound performer to win a Tony Award. She won Best Actress for her role as Ado Annie in the Broadway revival of “Oklahoma!”
“Because of her, she has changed the lives of so many girls who have recently been injured,” said Stroker, who was paralyzed from the chest down after a car accident when she was 2 years old. “It's more than dancing. You are part of this brotherhood.”
When Hill was 17, she was a champion dancer. But in February 2010, a serious car accident left her with serious spinal injuries and unable to move her lower body.
Hill has always felt compelled to share her story. She was tormented by her decision to get into a car with a drunk driver. A few weeks after the accident, she told her parents from a hospital bed that she wanted to organize an event to talk about it with her classmates.
“I was passionate about teens understanding that someone can go from walking to not walking after making the wrong decision,” Hill said.
Raised in California, she began competing in dance competitions at the age of 5. When she was a freshman in high school, she had a group of friends on her dance team, The Breaker Girls. After her accident, she was with The Breaker Girls with whom she danced for the first time.
Until his accident, he hadn't really understood or recognized the fight for equality and disability rights, Hill said.
In 2011, a year after her accident, she joined the cast of “Push Girls,” a reality show about a group of ambitious women in wheelchairs. The series, broadcast for two seasons, taught her “from a very young age to let everything slide,” she said.
In 2014, Hill moved from Northern California to Los Angeles to pursue her dream of becoming a professional dancer.
“It was very, very difficult to break into the industry in Los Angeles as a disabled person,” he recalled. The choreographers did not pay attention to him.
But she continued attending classes, “because I thought: 'my passion for dance is much stronger than the opinion you have of me,'” she said.
Hill makes extensive use of social media, recording her dances, making concept videos, and vlogging. Many of the women who are now Rollettes initially approached her after seeing her online, writing her letters and recording videos of themselves dancing as well.
In January, she and her husband, Jason Bloomfield, became parents to a baby girl.
Hill is aware that people consider businesses like his to be charities. “There are older men I have to convince that my company is worth something,” he said.
However, she perseveres. She has ambitious plans for Rollettes and is interested in continuing to share her story. She has even been asked to be a consultant on a dance drama film being developed by Disney, “Grace” — which is planned to include a dancer who becomes paralyzed.
By: CHARLIE BRINKHURST-CUFF
BBC-NEWS-SRC: http://www.nytsyn.com/subscribed/stories/7026255, IMPORTING DATE: 2023-12-12 19:50:06
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