Strictly wheels only at inclusive dance contest in Stevenage

Two wheeled dancers from countries as distant as Poland and Slovakia travelled to Stevenage at the weekend for the third annual British Inclusive Dance Festival.

Dancers in wheelchairs and deaf and partially sighted competitors, span around the dancefloor at Stevenage Leisure centre.

On the Saturday, disabled dancers paired with able bodied dancers for the dance festival and on the Sunday, the British Open Inclusive Dance Sport championship saw competitors dance off for medals.

Ray Bulpitt who organises the event is himself a professional dance tutor and developed his love for inclusive dance alongside his mainstream work.

He said the competition was hugely successful, despite being a mammoth task to get all the competitors to the venue.

He hopes the event will be even better supported in future years and that businesses might get onboard to support it.

Participants came from Belgium, Austria, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovakia, South Africa and Great Britain.

Ray who runs a dance school in Manchester, said: “We have had a massive task in arranging this event but the electric atmosphere on the day and the superb feedback from the participants has made it all worthwhile.”

The events are organised under the banner of Inclusive Dance UK, a body Ray has set up to promote inclusive dance across the world.

Its mission statement is that dance can touch people who may otherwise be considered unreachable.

More information is at http://inclusivedanceuk.uk