Giving something back

What makes life really worth living is doing what you enjoy most and doing it exceptionally well. No matter what you do, it's all about devoting your entire self to your great passions.

This has worked wonderfully for Pippa Roberts, who has given up almost everything for wheelchair dancing. A qualified teacher of ballet, tap, stage, ballroom and Latin American dance, wheelchair dancing allows her to use both her teaching and choreographic abilities in the medium she enjoys most.

But it goes beyond this. As president of the Malta Wheelchair Dancesport Association, which was set up in Malta four years ago, Ms Roberts also gets the satisfaction of seeing people of all ages and nationalities in wheelchairs mix and dance with non-disabled people socially as well as competitively.

"This is something which cannot be measured. The friends I have made through wheelchair dance have enriched my life," Ms Roberts told The Sunday Times last week. Her face lit up as she opened her son's laptop to show me a video of this year's Malta Open Dance Spectacular, a competition which is her pride and joy.

The aims of the MWDA are to teach people in wheelchairs to dance a similar format as non-disabled people. There are two forms of dance - combi, where one partner is in a wheelchair and one is non-disabled, and duo, where both are in wheelchairs.

Dances include Latin American - cha cha cha, samba, rumba, paso doble and jive - and standard - waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, foxtrot and quickstep.

"There are different levels, starting as a beginner and ending at championship level," Ms Roberts said. There are also line and solo dances for social dancers. The most important thing is integration.

Ms Roberts, who started dancing at the age of three after having had polio, has performed in shows and television programmes in the UK and worked as a professional choreo-grapher until moving to Malta. She started wheelchair dancing in Malta, with the help of Janatha Stubbs and the Razzett tal-Hbiberija in 1999.

"Wheelchair dancing has given people who cannot move the determination to move," Ms Roberts said.

In other parts of the world, wheelchair dancing has been practised for over two decades and is taken very seriously. Four Maltese couples attend wheelchair dancing lessons regularly, some of whom train up to even four times a week. Some others dance socially once a week either at the Park of Friendship or Dar tal-Providenza. The disable-bodied dancers all have standing partners whose passion for dance is also truly remarkable.

Mandy, a standing partner, tried it out the first time and she liked it. Doing something good for somebody else is twice as rewarding, she said. But then this faded and dancing with Steve, her wheelchair partner, became a way of life, the most natural thing she could ever do. Mandy and Steve, together with Daniela, who is wheelchair bound, and Chris, now dance.

"The biggest problem is trying to get people in," Ms Roberts said. There is still very much a restrictive attitude that people in wheelchairs cannot dance.

Wheelchair dancing is a sport and art that integrates fully. Therefore, the non-disabled person gets to know the wheelchair user as a person rather than as someone with a disability. The misconception that some disabled persons have limited mental abilities is therefore quickly dispelled.

"After all, everyone is born with some sort of disability. However, everything seems to take a different perspective when foreigners come to Malta to compete. The championships are getting better and better, and are a fabulous event.

"There is a feeling or normality, integration and nobody thinks anybody is different. The disable-bodied mix and socialise with the able-bodied and all of a sudden an atmosphere of contentment fills the room.

"This is probably because wheelchair dancing makes people realise that disabled people are normal people," Ms Roberts said.

Wheelchair dancing, she added, is excellent for rehabilitation, for people who have had accidents or strokes. For the wheelchair user, the main benefits are that they can actually express the feeling of dance that is elusive and has nothing to do with the legs but is more within the person.

Through the wheelchair and use of arms and other parts of the body, movement is made in the same way as a non-disabled person would move. Like non-disabled dancers, not all disabled dancers are good. The most important thing Ms Roberts encourages however is participation, especially at a social level.

Wheelchair dancing also teaches the wheelchair dancer and helper how to use their wheelchair better. Ideally the wheelchair should be a fashion accessory. Often, by seeing other dancers do more with their wheelchair, it encourages them to become more and more independent and try new moves.

Two big events the MWDA will compete in are the Polish National Championships in September and the European Championships in Bratislava, Slovakia, in November. However, Ms Roberts said the association needed recognition by Malta with the International Paraolympic Committee.

"This major drawback could deter the association from competing in the World and European Championships for wheelchair dancing. And it also stops us from ever holding the championships here," she added.

Since it was polio which led Ms Roberts by fate to start dancing, her mum always harped on about giving something back in life. You must give back not only take, her mother used to say. So once she stopped dancing professionally, she felt she had to take up teaching wheelchair dancing, which is after all something she has always wanted to do.

"I'm doing something I really enjoy. And I don't think I'll ever stop," Ms Roberts said with determination.

For more information visit the Website at www.maltawda.com .