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The art of wheelchair dancing was born in the UK in the late 60s. A rehabilitation centre in Scotland was teaching people how to operate and manoeuvre their new wheelchairs and it soon became evident that the movements such as rolling backwards and forwards, rocking, twisting from side to side and rotating, could be done to music.

A Wheelchair Dance Association was set up in the early 70s and it was anticipated the sport in the UK would grow, but this didn’t really materialise.

Then, in the early 80s, a Dutch wheelchair user named Corrie van Hugten came to England and checked out the WDA. She took the basic elements back to Holland and adapted them to incorporate standard Ballroom and Latin American techniques.

It quickly developed in Holland and, with the help of her close friend Ondine de Hullu, it spread throughout the world.

Holland now has in excess of 140 clubs, providing social and therapeutic activities to hundreds of disabled people.

In 1998, Wheelchair Dance Sport became an International Paralympic Committee (IPC) Championship Sport, but is not yet part of the Paralympic programme.

Wheelchair Dance Sport is widely practised by athletes in 22 countries worldwide.

The countries that compete include Holland, Malta, Germany, Belgium, Spain, Italy, Ukraine, Bulgaria, Slovenia, Poland and Mexico.

The 2007 European Championships had 53 participants. None of them were British.

The sport is growing in this country but has yet to catch up with its foreign competitors.

The focus is on skill and the artistic characteristics of dance; disability is viewed as a secondary presence to the beauty of performance.  It’s always possible to become involved with the performing arts and learn more about your artistic potential through dance.

Dancing On Wheels features combi-style dance where each couple is made up of one wheelchair user and a standing dance partner.  It’s also possible for two wheelchair users to dance together - this is known as duo dance.  Styles range from the Foxtrot to the Tango, the Cha Cha Cha to the Rhumba.  Whether you are in a wheelchair or not, everyone can dance.

Wheelchair dance has been promoted in Britain and around the world by Pippa Roberts, a wheelchair dance coach since 1999 and a consultant on Dancing On Wheels. Pippa is an International Wheelchair Dance Championship Adjudicator and has judged at IPC World & European Wheelchair Dance Championships. Pippa worked behind the scenes with Brian Fortuna to help train the couples and she created the choreography for the European Championships. Based in Malta, Pippa has taken wheelchair dance couples to Championships around the world. Dance is Pippa's life and she hopes to share this love with others regardless of their age, ability or anything else that tries to tell people they cannot dance, because they can if they want to!

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