Wheelchair DanceSport

Wheelchair couple dances are for two wheelchair users or for one wheelchair user with a "standing" partner and include standard dances such as waltz, tango, Viennese waltz, slow foxtrot and quickstep and Latin American dances such as samba, cha-cha-cha, rumba, paso doble and jive. There are also formation dances for four, six or eight dancers.[2]

Wheelchair dancing started in Sweden in 1968, originally for recreation or rehabilitation, with the first competition held in 1975. The first international competition was also held in Sweden, in 1977. Several regional and international competitions followed and the first World Championship was held in Japan in 1998. Since 1998, Wheelchair Dance Sport is governed by World Para Dance Sport, formerly the International Paralympic Wheelchair Dance Sport Committee (IPWDSC), which is a subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The sport corporates the rules of the World DanceSport Federation (WDSF).[2]

World Para DanceSport Championships

Edition	Year	Host City	Country	Events
1	1998	Nagano	Japan
2	2000	Oslo	Norway
3	2002	Warsaw	Poland
4	2004	Tokyo	Japan
5	2006	Arnhem	Netherlands
6	2008	Minsk	Belarus
7	2010	Hannover	Germany
8	2013	Tokyo	Japan
9	2015	Rome	Italy
10	2017	Malle	Belgium

European Para DanceSport Championships

Edition	Year	Host City	Country	Events
1	1991	Munich	Germany
2	1993	Oslo	Norway
3	1995	Duisburg	Germany
4	1997	Härnösand	Sweden
5	1999	Athens	Greece
6	2001	Arnhem	Netherlands
7	2003	Minsk	Belarus
9	2007	Warsaw	Poland
10	2009	Tel Aviv	Israel
11	2014	Łomianki	Poland
12	2016	Kosice	Slovakia

Asian Para DanceSport Championships

Edition	Year	Host City	Country	Events
1	2016	New Taipei City	Chinese Taipei

Wheelchair dancing is a popular social and recreational activity, with participants in over 40 countries.[4] The physical benefits of wheelchair dancing include the maintenance of physical balance, flexibility, range of motion, coordination and improved respiratory control. The psychological effects of ballroom dancing are social interaction and the development of relationships. For social dancers, it is an opportunity to engage in a fun and a friendly event with others. For competitors, it assists in the development of fair play, sportsmanship and communication skills. Wheelchair dancing is an activity that integrates the wheelchair user and able-bodied person.[5]

In February, 2008 the University of Delaware Collegiate DanceWheels Program was created to instruct students in wheelchair dancing. This is the first accredited course of its kind in the United States. The program was developed in conjunction with the American DanceWheels Foundation through a grant from the Christopher and Dana Reeve Foundation.[6]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Wheelchair dance.

• Physically integrated dance
• Dancing on Wheels (a British television show)
• Piotr Iwanicki
• Brian Fortuna

• Official website IPC- Wheelchair Dancesport
• https://www.paralympic.org/dance-sport/results