Move · Videos · Dance · 55 min

Wheelchair Dance Class: Moving With Your Chair as a Partner

Wheelchair Dance Class: Moving With Your Chair as a Partner — video by Stopgap Dance Company Play · 55:01

Video by Stopgap Dance Company on YouTube · Open on YouTube

Wheelchair dancer Nadenh Poan leads this Stopgap Dance Company class on dancing with your wheelchair as a partner: a warm-up of breath, shakes, weight shifts and small balances, improvising with slides, grips, turns and release, then a short contemporary phrase. Standing dancers can join in.

  • 55 min
  • All levels
  • Low impact (no jumping)
  • No equipment
  • Contemporary

Good forDancing for fun

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Step by step 14

Tap a time to watch that step in the video.

  1. Warm-up: breathe, then hold the tops of the wheels and shake gently, chest and neck soft. 2:24
  2. Brakes on: small balances lifting the front wheels, then one hand and both hands off the front bar. 4:22
  3. Figure-eight arms, adding the spine and eyes, then both arms closing and opening across the chest. 7:04
  4. Brakes off: rock forward and back, then shake and throw an arm out to each side. 9:55
  5. Do the whole warm-up to music, then once more a little quicker. 13:49
  6. Improvisation ideas: slide your hands on the wheels, turn with momentum, grip parts of the chair, release. 23:00
  7. Improvise to music, mixing slides, turns, grips, releases and small balances in any order. 27:20
  8. Phrase: grab low at the front, shift back, circle a shoulder, slide forward and turn as the arms circle. 37:12
  9. Lean forward, push off the front bar and float the arms, then circle down to reach the front wheel. 40:32
  10. Quick shift back and turn to the front, reaching low to the floor or the front wheel. 42:02
  11. Come upright with a quick turn, lift a hand and pull it down by the wrist, then grip front and back wheels. 43:11
  12. Lean back as if pulled, release the hands, then grab the wheels to pull back, push forward and face front. 46:04
  13. Run the whole phrase from the top with the cues. 47:46
  14. Dance the phrase to music a few times, then finish with a gentle shake. 50:50

The steps are a summary in our words, checked against the video — the coach shows every move.

Form cues from the coach

  • Put your brakes on for the balance work and keep the first balances very small
  • Take each move into your own body; you don't need to copy it exactly
  • On carpet you'll need to push a little harder; keep practising

What it works

Tap an area for more videos that work it.

Joints it uses 1 take load

  • Shoulders takes loadpushing, gripping and turning the wheels, figure-eights
  • Neck movessoft neck shakes, eyes following the arm
  • Elbows movespushing and pulling the wheels
  • Wrists & hands movesgripping the wheels, pushing off the front bar
  • Upper back movesfigure-eights with the spine, leans, twists
  • Lower back movesrocking, leaning forward and back

Easier option from the coach: Keep the balances very small with brakes on; take any move into your own body

A guide to the joints this video’s moves load, from what the coach does — not medical advice. Some ache is normal; stop if a joint hurts sharply. How joints are rated

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Video by Stopgap Dance Company; the summary, steps, cues, body areas and joint notes are Notbroken’s, written from what the coach actually does in the video and checked a second time. Warm up first, take the easier options until a move feels easy, and stop if you feel sharp pain, chest pain or dizziness. General instruction, not advice for your body. About & safety