Jane is a regular Dance On Up member. She tells us about her love of dance.

“Dance On for me means I can join a dance class. I’ve always loved dancing even as a child. My grandma used to buy me ballet annuals every year. So I think that’s where my love of dance started. And my mum liked dancing as well, so I think it’s in my genes. I can walk as well as I use a wheelchair but I don’t have good balance, so I need to hold on. My partner won’t dance, so I was a bit stuck thinking well, I’m missing dancing. So when I saw Dance On I thought, ah, well, there’s a chance. So I’m learning to dance in a wheelchair now.

Dance On is really enjoyable. And the people I’ve met are a really friendly group. It is good exercise trying to learn and remember the steps. When you do a whole routine in six weeks, it’s learning the steps and the choreography and all of that. That’s a challenge. Yeah, it’s an achievement.

Yorkshire Dance put on classes for everyone. Little tots doing ballet and everything in between. Yeah, so I think that’s really good to give everybody the opportunity to dance. And I think the extra things that you put on like the events, they’re really inclusive as well. I went to Encounters Festival recently where we did the line dancing. If I see an opportunity, I like to throw myself into it.

You also never know where these opportunities will take you. I got interviewed and was on TV, national news, yep national news!

How I’d describe myself? I’d say Jane is a dancer that uses a wheelchair.”

Jane’s TV appearance can be found on iPlayer (Starts at 1:07:14)