Life changing experiences

Paralympics London 2012

Hope you have all had a great summer break from BAPP or at least maybe had one or two thoughts and ideas about our professional inquiry..

What an exhilarating summer it has been for me.  I was extremely fortunate to be chosen to dance in the opening ceremony of the Paralympics.  An awesome but daunting experience rehearsing with all levels and abilities of dancers in groups of one hundred and fifty people at a time then eventually putting us together totalling six hundred dancers plus getting to dance in Stratford Stadium with an audience capacity of 80,000 and to dance for the Royal family, our Prime Minister and other VIP’s.  To be performing in the same show as Sir Ian McKellen, Sir Stephen King and Beverley Knight were just a few that I can mention in this mind blowing moment in time.  Seriously, who would have thought that a year ago, or ten years ago I would ever think of taking part in one of the biggest shows on this planet... 

Dancers and non dancers with disabilities from wheelchair users, partially sited to the deaf rehearsed with us. I had some experience, years ago, with wheelchair dancers in dance workshop but this experience blows every other previous experience into insignificance.  I was, however disappointed not to see more people with disabilities taking part in the show.  It was written in a report that there where only two hundred disabled dancers compared to one thousand able bodied dancers taking part.  

My most memorable learning experience from this event taught me how to plot a dance and choreography incorporating hundreds of dancers of all levels of abilities in one venue.  I was fortunate enough to be able to have a conversation about this with one of the Dance Captains. 

This type of mass gathering and shared experience produced great camaraderie amongst us and I can't tell you the fun we had in our changing areas on the opening night.. The Dance Captains and their dance assistance constantly thanked us and expressed gratitude for us volunteers. They made us feel quite special and did an excellent job of reminding us at every rehearsal

Looking at the whole experience what stood out most in my mind was the capacity and ability of will power, physical strength and attitude of mind we have as humans with the drive to accomplish such high levels of physical achievements.  How many times did we hear the words ‘super humans’ being reported or written about the Paralympians?   
The intense dedication and commitment to their sport, focus on their tasks and belief in themselves and their physical abilities are some of the attributes I would think.  Well I intend to focus on adopting some of those attitude to take me through my life tasks and challenges. It sounds corny but I’d be a fool not to.

Did any one have a life changing experience recently?