Fred Astaire Dance Studio hires as it adds wheelchair dance classes

The Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bloomfield Hills is adding to its staff by offering classes tailored to disabled dancers.

The Bloomfield Hills-based business recently hired a new dance instructor to lead an effort to start a wheelchair dance workshop. The dance-instruction business has made a name for itself over the last decade teaching traditional ballroom dancing, and the new wheelchair dance workshop is expected to help bring the joy of dancing to a whole new group of people. Wheelchair dancers use special wheelchairs with slanted wheels that allow for more agile mobility.

"They can experience something they thought they might never do," says Evan Mountain, owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bloomfield Hills.

Clinton Township resident Cheryl Angelelli is one of the first people to take advantage of the wheelchair dance workshop at the Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bloomfield Hills. Angelelli broke her neck in a swimming accident at 14. She is working with dance instructor Sergio Sanchez thanks to a grant from the Rehabilitation Institute of Michigan Foundation that is subsidizing the workshop set to begin on May 2.

Wheelchair dancing was pioneered in Sweden in 1968 and has grown in popularity with participants in 29 countries. It became a Paralympic sport in 1998. Today, the IPC Wheelchair Dance World Championships are held every two years.

"In Europe, it's a very big sport," Mountain says.

Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bloomfield Hills employs a staff of 10 and is looking for interns. It has hired five people over the last year, including two newly created jobs. It has grown its business over the last few years as the economy has rebounded, but also as it does more community outreach efforts, such as the wheelchair dancing workshop.

"It's part of our business model," Mountain says. "If we can use the skills we have to help the community or someone in it, we do it."

Source: Evan Mountain, owner of Fred Astaire Dance Studio of Bloomfield Hills
Writer: Jon Zemke

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