The Roll of a Lifetime: Dancing Wheels Celebrates 30 Years of Innovative Art in Motion

Athlete, actor, acrobat and artist–great dancers transcend themselves on stage. That’s never been truer than at the Dancing Wheels Company & School in Cleveland.

Dancing Wheels is comprised of 13 stand-up and sit-down dancers. The company works 12 months a year performing around the nation, as well as teaching studio classes and off-site outreach programs for the community. They work with more than 2,000 children each year, offering an array of courses in ballet, modern dance, hip-hop, wheelchair technique, theatre and creative movement for children and adults — ages three and older, with and without disabilities. They also perform 70 to 100 performances throughout a year, ranging from full-length concerts to more assembly-based lectures, traveling locally from Cleveland to Hollywood and internationally from Guatemala to Poland. The organization was founded in 1980 by Mary Verdi-Fletcher.

“This year is our 30^th anniversary season,” says Verdi-Fletcher, who still dances with the troupe. “I was born with a physical disability, spina bifida, and have used a wheelchair for mobility my whole life. Even though I was disabled, I wanted to follow in my mother’s footsteps to become a dancer. In a performance at the old Cosmopolitan in Willoughby, Ohio, on October 1, 1980, in front of 2,000 people, my non-disabled partner David and I wowed an audience with a high-energy performance that was highly publicized by the media. After that performance, people throughout the world started to take notice of this new art form and today there are physically integrated companies worldwide.”

The troupe’s inspiration is contagious. The Dancing Wheels Company has attracted spotlights everywhere from CNN to “Good Morning America,” with a special nationally-televised performance on the tribute “Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope.” The company performed in Atlanta in 1996 at the Paralympic Games with a plethora of stars including Aretha Franklin and Stevie Wonder.

“Disabilities disappear on stage,” says Dana Kuhn, manager of development and communications at Dancing Wheels. “The company’s work transcends the idea of disability or inability. The beauty, speed, grace and agility of the dancers demonstrate artistic capabilities in every way, but qualified candidates must not only possess a passion for dance. They must also have a desire to serve as ambassadors for the mission of our company and organization. It is essential that dancers enjoy reaching out and educating children.”

On October 1, Dancing Wheels celebrates its 30^th anniversary at Tower City Center with Everyone Dance, Now!!, a performance befitting decades of dance innovation. September 25-26 you can catch them at Cleveland’s fantastically original IngenuityFest, where they will roll with the Inlet Dance Company under the Detroit Superior Bridge. Then catch musicals like Alice in Wonderland (November 15 at the Stocker Arts Center in Lorain) and the world premiere of Pinocchio (December 2-5 at the Breen Center for the Performing Arts at Saint Ignatius High School).

“There are more than 40 pieces in our repertory that are fresh and distinctive works. They excite audiences around the world,” says Verdi-Fletcher. “But the real goal of Dancing Wheels is to offer children and adults access to the arts, reaching a population that would normally be left out of enjoying this type of recreation because of disabilities or socio-economic challenges. All of our educational and artistic components stress the philosophy of inclusion.” – Submitted by guest blogger Keith Gribbins