About five years ago, I volunteered at an organization called the Shimmy Club in Miami, FL. This is the organization’s mission statement:
Serving as a cultural catalyst, bringing music, arts, and dance from around the world to local communities, The Shimmy Club, Inc. promotes socially-oriented activities that not only unite families within a particular cultural heritage, but also strengthen our richly diverse communities across these traditions. In keeping with its strong philosophy of inclusiveness and diversity, we offer mixed ability programming, events, activities and arts education to people with disabilities.
Essentially, they teach people with disabilities how to dance Tango and provide them with many opportunities to perform for the community or dance in milongas.
Before I began volunteering, I didn’t know what to expect. There were kids that didn’t have control over their arms, and I wondered how dancing Tango was possible since the dance is all about the embrace. There were also people in wheelchairs, and I wondered how they could move across the space. If someone six years ago asked me if someone with cerebral palsy could dance, I would have probably said no, but after my experience with them and the years following, my answer would be a definite yes.
If there was anything I took from my experience with the Shimmy Club, it was that having a disability shouldn’t stop anyone from doing what they love. Dancing may take more time to master, when playing soccer one may need a customized wheelchair, or to paint one may need a unique paintbrush in order to hold any brushes, but these solutions are possible and should be made possible for any one who has a desire to any of these activities. After all, we are all human, we’re all different in many ways (having a disability or not), but still human.
Someone with a disability should therefore still have the liberty to enjoy the arts, whether it is dancing Tango or not. Some of these activities can even be rehabilitating in ways that assistive technology and doctors cannot, and one can see the effects in this video. So perhaps insurance companies should cover ballet classes. Or soccer. Or other “leisure” activities. After all, how would anyone like it if they could no longer have control over their bodies and not be able to enjoy any of the arts even though it helps them get better?
If you would like to know more information about the Shimmy Club, you can click here. Though it looks like the website has not been updated in a while.