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Friday, 29 March 2024

Wheelchair dancer sets sights on Tokyo Olympics

Duration: 01:30s 0 shares 1 views

Wheelchair dancer sets sights on Tokyo Olympics
Wheelchair dancer sets sights on Tokyo Olympics

Japanese wheelchair dancer Kenta Kambara's emotive performances are wordless testimony to artistic passion and possibility.

Auditioning to perform at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics opening or closing ceremonies, seeking to send a message to disabled and abled people alike -- it's okay to be different.

Libby Hogan reports.

When Kenta Kambara was in third grade, his mother told him he would never walk, even with physical training.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) WHEELCHAIR DANCER, KENTA KAMBARA SAYING: "It was a big shock to me then.

My mind went blank and I remember crying." But Kambara hasn't let a spinal cord disorder stop his yearn to express himself through dance on stage.

Whirling, spinning, stretching and flexing, Kambara wants to send a message to disabled and abled people alike -- it's okay to be different.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) WHEELCHAIR DANCER, KENTA KAMBARA SAYING: "I was self-conscious about my skinny legs.

But that's become something I flaunt on stage to move people's hearts." Now, Kenta is auditioning to perform at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics opening or closing ceremonies.

He's self-taught and his repertoire includes handstands on his wheelchair, serpentine moves and dizzying spins on horizontal wheel rims. Kambara also has a bigger dream.

He wants to dance at the Olympics closing ceremony to spark interest in the Paralympic Games that follow.

His performances - make an emotional and and passionate case.

(SOUNDBITE) (Japanese) WHEELCHAIR DANCER, KENTA KAMBARA SAYING: "I can walk with my hands or walk with my wheelchair.

My dance shows that if you can't walk with your legs, there's other ways." It's testimony without words - to what art can be.

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