As a dancer, I’m always on the lookout for fresh new videos of the latest dance crews or music videos. However, as a dancer with a disability, I rarely ever see dancers, like myself, who have to overcome physical challenges in order to pursue their art. Over the past few months, I’ve collected a few of my favorite videos to bring disabled dancers into the spotlight here on Cripple.

First up is Jess Dowdeswell, a teen who dances with the Candoco Dance Company. Dowdeswell has Proximal Femoral Focal Deficiency, which led to the amputation of both of her legs at two and a half years old. PFFD is a rare congenital disorder that affects the pelvis and the hips.

In terms of her performance, Dowdeswell presents a solo contemporary piece to a lyrical song, which plays over her movements surrounding a table.  Dowdeswell says that “the table… represents the rules. That was based off of me being controlled by teachers or just people who have a higher power, so that’s me overcoming that.” Her movements reach with longing, but also convey a sense of fear and trepidation – she climbs on top of the table but also has moments where she hides underneath it. Dowdeswell herself has tremendous upper body strength, and even shows clips of her partnering work. I love this contemporary style, and it’s such a gift to see Dowdeswell take it to her own level of interpretation.

The next dancer I found is Marisa Hamamoto and her company Infinite Flow. Infinite Flow is America’s first professional wheelchair ballroom dance company. During a contemporary dance class in 2006, Hamamoto was suddenly paralyzed from the neck down. This was the result of a spinal cord infarction. After she miraculously recovered full mobility two months later, she went on to become the founder and artistic director of Infinite Flow.

While the video features both beginners and children, the real sight to watch is the professional dancers. They are strong and graceful, embodying the sass and style essential to ballroom dancing. They execute fast spins, lifts, and dips with one or both partners using wheelchairs. The dancers are able to fully assist their partners in traditional ballroom dance tricks, such as floor spins, with only slight modifications for the wheelchair users. I love watching Hamamoto’s company perform because there is such an intimate connection between all of the dancers, which I think is the true heart of ballroom dancing. Because of the fast-moving and dangerous nature of the style, ballroom dance requires immense trust between the partners, and it is refreshing to see people with disabilities given the opportunity to find that trust in someone else.

My next dancer of choice is Allison English, who is an Ensemble Dancer at Disney Hollywood Studios in Walt Disney World, FL. English lost her hearing at sixteen months old due to meningitis complications.

English herself says, “I like performing because it puts a smile on a lot of people’s faces, you can tell that they enjoy watching you.” Her dancing is evidence enough to back this – her performance clips feature her role in the Beauty and the Beast stage show, where she appears as one of the “silly girls” trying to woo Gaston. She is very animated and fun to watch. She also appears as a chef wielding a feather duster, where we get to see her strong technical side paired with a bright and energetic performance. I was particularly interested in her story because she works for Disney, which is a massive entertainment company. Being in the performance world, it can often feel like the best companies want the most perfect, disability-free dancers, but English is here to change that stereotype. She herself aspires to be a role model for the younger generation of kids with a hearing loss, and as one of those kids, I can agree that she is one of my role models!

The final group (and probably my favorite one to watch) is the Ill-Abilities Crew, a group of international street hip-hop and breakdancers. The post features the name, country, and link to each performer in the group, which I have copied below for ease:

Luca Lazylegz Patuelli (Canada) – Born with a neuromuscular disorder called Arthrogryposis

Bboy Samuka (Brasil) – Transformational amputee below hip due to Osteosarcoma

Sergio Checho Cuadros (Chile) – Malformation from birth in legs due to Thalidomide

Bboy Perninha (Brasil) – Malformation from birth in the left leg reason unknown (https://www.facebook.com/bboyperninha/)

Jungsoo Krops Lee (Korea) – Paralyzed through an injury in a dance practice in 2013

Redo Ait Chitt (Netherlands) – Multiple malformations from birth affecting both arms, right hip, and right leg

Jacob “Kujo” Lyons (U.S.A) – 100% sensor neural deafness in right ear and conductive hearing loss in left ear

Tommy Guns Ly (U.S.A) *Not in the film – Transformational above knee amputee due to Osteosarcoma

This is a great group to watch. If you like traditional hip-hop and breakdance, this is the group for you. Each member has a distinct style that fits into the hip-hop style, with each dancer engaging with their own bodies to pair their disability with the style. They have clear head and hand spins, strong upper bodies, incredible balances, and the rough and tumble style has a unique grace and flow to it. They execute handstands, nikes, jumps, six-steps, and slides, and one dancer even incorporates his crutches into his movements, using them to jump and propel him into the sky. These dancers literally defy gravity with their movements, and it’s so cool to watch them do hip-hop and breakdance with their own disabled bodies.

Thanks to Upworthy, Candoco Dance Company, NowThis, Infinite Flow, Walt Disney World in the Community, and the IllAbilities Crew