Disabled Dance Essay

There are thousands of people who do not let disabilities get in their way. With determination and drive, they work endlessly to achieve their goals. I watched numerous videos of disabled dancers for this project to see how their disabilities affect their movement. I witnessed unyielding determination on their part. Their success is a demonstration of how important it is to have dynamic, relaxed posture.

The first performance that I watched was a dance called “Hand in Hand”. It is performed by Li Ma and Xiaowei Zhei. Both dancers in the piece lost a limb. The Xiaowei lost his leg when he was a child and the Li Ma lost her arm in a car accident. The dance is a love story. The movements in the piece evoke a feeling of love, tenderness

He is extremely well-balanced. He does lean forward a few at times during his dance, but not as much as Evan did in his video. “Peg Leg’s” posture was mostly upright and relaxed. He performed jumps with ease and even balanced on his “peg”. Again, this demonstrates that he needs dynamic posture to accommodate for the shifts in balance. His execution was more polished than Evan’s, however; he had been practicing and perfecting his dance for longer than Evan. Also, Clayton’s prosthesis is wider where is attaches to his leg, providing a broader base for weight

Amy demonstrates amazing balance on her prosthetic legs. This type of balance requires a very strong core. She also demonstrates outstanding flexibility. She has a controlled yet relaxed stance throughout the dance.

There are definitely some risky moves in this dance. There is a move where Derek lifts her over his shoulder. This move could result in a shoulder injury for him if done incorrectly. There are also several times during the dance when Amy bends backward over her Derek’s arm. This could result in a possible back injury if done improperly.

The last video I watched is truly amazing. The dance takes place in India on one of their talent shows. The performer is a girl who had one of her legs amputated. The entire dance is a risk because she does the entire performance balancing on one leg without any prosthetic or crutches to support her. The movements in the dance are with her arms and her hips. She remains balanced throughout the entire song. Her core has to be extremely strong and supple to support her in this manner. If she did not have dynamic posture, she would surely fall over. The hip-joint and the ligaments on her right side must be extremely stable. The one thing that concerns me is that she will eventually suffer from overuse of her right leg and end up