About us
SRN Mission
Stichting Rolstoeldansen Nederland (SRN) was founded on August 19th 1981.
The objective of SRN is to promote wheelchair dancing in the Netherlands in the broadest sense. It oversees all wheelchair dance groups, both recreational and competitive. SRN works towards this objective in the following ways:
- organizing training and study days for instructors and assistant instructors in wheelchair dancing;
- promoting awareness of wheelchair dancing through workshops, demonstrations, and more;
- facilitating a national competition circuit for wheelchair dancers across various dance disciplines;
- strengthening mutual contacts both nationally and internationally by organizing events such as dance days, conferences, team matches, and more;
- maintaining contacts with national and international organizations with the same interface and intentions as SRN.
MAY I HAVE THIS DANCE?
Dancing is delightful: it's a great way to exercise, is both relaxing and strenuous at the same time, and allows extensive personal freedom of expression. Spectacular or subdued, recreational, sporty, at a disco or dinner dance, amateur competition level or 'Dancing with the stars'!: Dancing is a social activity! Dancing with a partner or group or at a party, it is a great chance to interact with others, both strangers and acquaintances.
Dancing is also an opportunity for people with disabilities. One of the accessible forms of dance is wheelchair dancing. Today, people are no longer surprised when a wheelchair user enters the dance floor. But that was different 40 years ago.
Around 1980, when initiatives arose all over the world to include dance opportunities for wheelchair users, the resistance was great. The prevailing sentiment was 'You dance with your legs, so if you can't walk, you can't dance'. But dancing is beyond walking; dancing is moving with music, dancing is physical manifestation of emotion. And moving and emotions are not tied to your legs or feet. Movement happens from within, and emotions are certainly not in your big toe!
Stichting Wheelchairdansen Nederland, founded in 1981, needed a lot of perseverance. But once the community experienced wheelchair dancing, the reactions were positive. Suddenly people no longer saw the disability, they just saw dancing! And both the wheelchair users themselves and people in their environment, such as family members and rehabilitation doctors, noticed positive changes: dancers started to control the wheelchair better, the posture in the wheelchair improved, some started to take more pride in their clothing and appearance, and more attention was paid to their (dance) partner and the environment!
Meanwhile, the wheelchair manufacturers competed to improve their products: what were formerly large blue boxes became light, manoeuvrable, sometimes downright elegant wheelchairs. As a result, attention increasingly focused on the wheelchair user, and not on the wheelchair itself.
In the early years, the dance floor emptied when a wheelchair dance couple at a dinner dance mingled with the dancers. Now it is more commonplace, with all dancers mingling together.
More recently, wheelchair dancing has been nationally and internationally recognized as a sport. As a result, municipalities provide a sports wheelchair to members of wheelchair dance groups via the Disabled Facilities Act (WMO). The training to become a wheelchair dancing instructor is provided by Stichting Wheelchairdansen Nederland.
For the past 32 years, the largest wheelchair dance event in the world was hosted every Easter weekend in Cuijk, Netherlands, with participants from more than 23 countries. Following the unexpected passing of co-organiser Hans Verhoeven, in 2023 this event will take place in Amstelveen, Netherlands.
In 2006, the World Wheelchair Dancing Championships were organized in the National Sports Center Papendal, because of the 25th anniversary of the Wheelchair Dancing Foundation Netherlands. These competitions were held under the auspices of the International Paralympic Committee and Gehandicapten Sport Nederland.
But there are also weekly fun dance lessons at more than 150 places in the Netherlands. In care homes and nursing homes and during holiday weeks for the chronically ill and disabled of various organizations, an afternoon or evening is regularly set aside for a demonstration of wheelchair dancing. Spectators become dancers, and once you've experienced the fun of dancing, you may want more!
Wheelchair dancing can be practiced in various forms: two wheelchair users can form a dance pair (duo dance), but a wheelchair user can also dance with a standing partner (combi dance). In addition, there are group and line dances, formation dances, freestyle dances; in short, everything is possible. Every dance is also possible: from Viennese Waltz to Jive, from Veleta to Macarena, from Paso Doble to country-line dance. Dancing is pre-eminently an activity that promotes integration, in which disabled and non-disabled people are active together. In wheelchair dancing, if one of the partners is disabled, they can take lessons together, build a social network together, and go to dance parties and competitions together.
Wheelchair dancing is an excellent form of exercise. In a cozy and relaxed atmosphere, together with a (dance) partner, friends and acquaintances and under the guidance of cheerful music, people are (un)knowingly working on posture, movement, mobility, wheelchair control and endurance. And this way one can easily reach the daily exercise norm of 30 minutes of moderate intensity exercise per day!
So, take the invitation “May I have this dance?” and experience the delight of dance!
CONTACT DETAILS
Stichting Rolstoeldansen Nederland (SRN)
Secretary,
Noorddammerweg 3Q
1187 CM AMSTELVEEN
Nederlands