Dancing should not only be for able-bodied people. Even people in wheelchairs should experience the heady feeling of moving around on a dance floor.
This is the opinion of Bullock, who has impressive credentials: she is the regional, national and international adjudicator of the South African Dance Teachers Association (SADTA); she gave a workshop for dance instructors on 14 March prior to the Garden Route Dance Festival held in George; and she is the national wheelchair dance convener of the South African Sports Association for Physically Disabled (SASAPD).
Bullock, who has seven dance schools for disabled people, believes that "Wheelchair dancing does give the participants new self-esteem."
She took time out of her busy schedule to give a workshop at the dance studio owned by Wehan van Jaarsveld, the director of The Dance Academies Group. The training session was attended by two Carpe Diem teachers, Hermanie du Plessis and Marinda van der Merwe, who were observed participating by twirling around the studio in wheelchairs. They were excited at the prospect of carrying over their new-found knowledge to their disabled students.
Bullock said the Garden Route Dance Festival had been well organised and the first to be held by the newly established branch of the South African Dance Foundation (SADF). "I will gladly return next year to be an adjudicator again."
It was the first competition where pro/am sections danced alongside amateur sections attended by the SADTA and SADF studios from the Eastern and Western Cape competing in ballroom and Latin in the region. Van Jaarsveld, who was the coordinator and host for the event, said next year's festival would be better marketed to ensure that more spectators attend.
Passionate wheelchair dancing advocate Gladys Bullock gets a hug from Wehan van Jaarsveld, who organised a training workshop at his studio at Outeniqua High School recently. Photos: Pauline Lourens
ARTICLE: PAULINE LOURENS, GEORGE HERALD JOURNALIST
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