Walking into the Dearborn 2024 Para Dance Sport USA Open you are greeted by brightly colored, bedazzled uniforms, stage lights and a collection of wheelchair dancers who are either fine tuning their routines, or putting the finishing touches on makeup before rolling onto the hardwood dance floor.
The event, specifically designed for wheelchair dancers to compete with other athletes, is the first of its kind in Michigan and in the U.S.
Leaving the event, you may develop a new-found appreciation for these athletes who are constantly finding new ways to push their bodies to the limit.
” I’ve been dancing for 25 years,” said Pawel Karpinski , 36, of Poland. “And I practice every single week with my team and coaches. We repeat our choreography multiple times. Sometimes with music and without music. We break it up into elements where we focus on rhythm or on alignments.”
Karpinski, who competed Sunday at the Dearborn Ford Performing Arts Center located at 15801 Michigan Ave., is a gold medalist through the International Paralympic Committee .