Adaptive Ballroom Dance Program to Launch at Turnstone on January 11

Adaptive Ballroom Dance Program to Launch at Turnstone on January 11

Featuring Performance by top U.S. Wheelchair Dance Couple

FORT WAYNE, Ind. (December 19, 2019) – In partnership with Fred Astaire Dance Studios of Fort Wayne, Adaptive Ballroom Dance classes will now be offered at Turnstone. The classes require a nominal registration fee and will be taught by local dance professionals Dylan Wolf and Carmen Schlatter.

To celebrate the new adaptive dance program, award-winning wheelchair dancer and Paralympian, Cheryl Angelelli, and her professional partner, Tamerlan Gadirov, will teach the first class scheduled for Saturday, January 11 from 12:30pm-2:00pm. The kick-off event will also include a dance performance by Cheryl and Tamerlan.

Ongoing adaptive ballroom dance lessons will be available at Turnstone to individuals age 14 years and older on Tuesdays beginning January 14. Participants may bring their own partner or will be paired with a dance partner upon arrival to the class. Various dance styles will be introduced for social or recreational dancing.

Registration for the Saturday demonstration and ongoing classes can be started online at Turnstone.org or by contacting Kevin Hughes at [email protected] or (260) 969-7654.

Angelelli and Gadirov, are a top-ranked wheelchair ballroom dance couple in the U.S. When Angelelli broke her neck in a swimming accident at 14, she never imagined she would, years later, elegantly dance across a ballroom. After her spinal cord injury, she returned to the pool where she became a 4-time Paralympic medalist in swimming and a seven-time world champion. After competing internationally for 16 years, she retired in 2014.

Today, Angelelli is spearheading a movement across the country to create opportunities for other individuals in wheelchairs to learn to ballroom dance. Angelelli is the co-founder of Dance Mobility; a free wheelchair ballroom dance program that was created in 2015 at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio in Bloomfield Hills, MI, where Angelelli and Gadirov train, and is supported by a grant from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan Foundation.

Angelelli and Gadirov not only teach wheelchair ballroom dancing but they compete nationally and internationally, having won multiple dance titles in the U.S. Most recently the pair was featured on Inside Edition, after winning at Fred Astaire World Championships in Las Vegas.