I don’t look at my disability as good or
bad or indifferent it just is so I don’t
spend any time thinking about what I
could have accomplished had I not had
that accident I’m interested in what’s
going on right now this is the body I
have to dance in so if I want to dance I
have to dance in this body at this time
you don’t know what’s going to happen
tomorrow because tomorrow hasn’t my
accident that you don’t know what is
around the corner I mean that day when I
left my apartment to go to work that day
it was a day like any other day until it
wasn’t anymore no and two seconds in one
piece of ice and my whole world changed
so you just really don’t know what life
has in store for you
dancing when I was a child it was it was
like a fairy tale for me it was a
different reality I had a difficult
childhood I came from a pretty
dysfunctional family and so when I was
dancing I was never afraid I could be a
princess I could be Sleeping Beauty I
could be myself as I got older and my
accident happened and other things in my
life I lost a child the ritual and the
discipline of dancing helped me to heal
and to recover my Center and to know who
I was I’m always a dancer no matter what
happens that stays constant
[Music]
there’s a lot of discipline that goes in
to this that perhaps you’re not
accustomed to because it seemed fairly
lacks what I saw but this is going to be
more like any regular dance class that
you go to so if you want to do a showing
before the end of the school year you
have to be here it’s very frustrating
for me to knock myself out to come and
try to make sure that you have a chair
and Michelle has a chair and then the
wheels are popped up and all of that
where else do you think you’re going to
get that
no we’re so all I can do is offer it and
you come and you take what you can from
it because I already know how to do this
see I’ve been dancing for 57 years when
I started dancing in my wheelchair after
my accident there was no one to help me
I had to do it all on my own so I wanted
it to be an easier way for them to
realize their full potential
that just because you have a disability
doesn’t mean you can’t dance so many
people they only see the apparatus and
they call us wheelchair-bound
and you know that sounds like I’m tied
into my chair against my will you know
I’m not bound I’m unbound
[Music]
years ago when I was a young student at
the Washington Ballet the great Agnes
DeMille came as a guest artist now mr.
mill she had a full figure she had
bosoms and she had hips and a nice round
bum and it was considered that mr. mill
didn’t have the right body type I I was
small I was short and I wanted to be
taller so I fantasized about having a
bone transplant in my legs and one day I
asked mr. mill if she thought it was a
good idea that I should get this bone
transplant in my legs and she took my
face in her hands and she said kitty
dear you have to learn to dance in the
body you have and that’s what I teach
all the other people with disabilities
that I teach if you if your body is your
instrument and you are you are at war
with your instrument you will never make
anything beautiful you have to find
peace with your instrument
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
and you want to write on your neck not
out here
not drop look look down at the floor
look on your just feel comfortable in
the chair
yeah yeah and it looks great on you okay
[Music]
non-disabled people feel that the big
tragedy of my life was my accident and
that’s not true
the great tragedy of my life will be
many years from now when I pass away and
there’s a student sitting at the bottom
of the set of stairs wanting to go up
and dance and there’s no way for them to
get there and no one to teach them that
will be the big tragedy of my life
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
you
[Music]
bad or indifferent it just is so I don’t
spend any time thinking about what I
could have accomplished had I not had
that accident I’m interested in what’s
going on right now this is the body I
have to dance in so if I want to dance I
have to dance in this body at this time
you don’t know what’s going to happen
tomorrow because tomorrow hasn’t my
accident that you don’t know what is
around the corner I mean that day when I
left my apartment to go to work that day
it was a day like any other day until it
wasn’t anymore no and two seconds in one
piece of ice and my whole world changed
so you just really don’t know what life
has in store for you
dancing when I was a child it was it was
like a fairy tale for me it was a
different reality I had a difficult
childhood I came from a pretty
dysfunctional family and so when I was
dancing I was never afraid I could be a
princess I could be Sleeping Beauty I
could be myself as I got older and my
accident happened and other things in my
life I lost a child the ritual and the
discipline of dancing helped me to heal
and to recover my Center and to know who
I was I’m always a dancer no matter what
happens that stays constant
[Music]
there’s a lot of discipline that goes in
to this that perhaps you’re not
accustomed to because it seemed fairly
lacks what I saw but this is going to be
more like any regular dance class that
you go to so if you want to do a showing
before the end of the school year you
have to be here it’s very frustrating
for me to knock myself out to come and
try to make sure that you have a chair
and Michelle has a chair and then the
wheels are popped up and all of that
where else do you think you’re going to
get that
no we’re so all I can do is offer it and
you come and you take what you can from
it because I already know how to do this
see I’ve been dancing for 57 years when
I started dancing in my wheelchair after
my accident there was no one to help me
I had to do it all on my own so I wanted
it to be an easier way for them to
realize their full potential
that just because you have a disability
doesn’t mean you can’t dance so many
people they only see the apparatus and
they call us wheelchair-bound
and you know that sounds like I’m tied
into my chair against my will you know
I’m not bound I’m unbound
[Music]
years ago when I was a young student at
the Washington Ballet the great Agnes
DeMille came as a guest artist now mr.
mill she had a full figure she had
bosoms and she had hips and a nice round
bum and it was considered that mr. mill
didn’t have the right body type I I was
small I was short and I wanted to be
taller so I fantasized about having a
bone transplant in my legs and one day I
asked mr. mill if she thought it was a
good idea that I should get this bone
transplant in my legs and she took my
face in her hands and she said kitty
dear you have to learn to dance in the
body you have and that’s what I teach
all the other people with disabilities
that I teach if you if your body is your
instrument and you are you are at war
with your instrument you will never make
anything beautiful you have to find
peace with your instrument
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
and you want to write on your neck not
out here
not drop look look down at the floor
look on your just feel comfortable in
the chair
yeah yeah and it looks great on you okay
[Music]
non-disabled people feel that the big
tragedy of my life was my accident and
that’s not true
the great tragedy of my life will be
many years from now when I pass away and
there’s a student sitting at the bottom
of the set of stairs wanting to go up
and dance and there’s no way for them to
get there and no one to teach them that
will be the big tragedy of my life
[Music]
[Music]
[Applause]
you
[Music]
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