Doing the electric slide in a wheelchair - no problem!

{visual description: A boy and a girl in traditional Latvian folk dancing garb are shown dancing.}

I love watching people dance. Tonight at a party for one of my Norwegian friends, a table of her friends from her dancing club performed a few numbers. It was wonderful. Some of the guests, including some of my Ski for Light friends who are blind, joined in. They were teasing me about coming out onto the dance floor, but I pointed out that the part where they go to the right eight steps, then double back two, clap their hands and go right again might wind up with a few sore ankles if my wheelchair was out there.

My friends pointed out that I figured out how to do the electric slide a few years ago at a Ski for Light party and everyone had said that couldn't be done! True enough. But that's only because we got tired of doing the "YMCA" by Village People over and over again and asked the d.j. to liven it up. When he picked the electric slide and I said I was having trouble in my wheelchair doing it, it became a group project to figure it out. And, yes, if you're clever enough, you can make a wheelchair go sideways. Or close to it.

That's how Ski for Light is. We never abandon any project, no matter what lengths we have to go to aid one another. Whether someone is struggling learning to ski , dance or conquer their fear of singing in the talent show, we stand as a group rooting each other on.

And I'm proud to report that one of my very talented friends, Frank Senior, a long time Ski for Light participant, is continuing his music career. Frank is a recipient of one of the most prestigious awards, the National Endowment for the Arts. He produced and performed a series of concerts in the New York area and is a featured vocalist on the CD “New Standards” produced by Robert Kelley. You can listen to him sing at the link above.