When Conner Lundius and Chelsie Hill watched the video sent to them by the Boston Celtics dance team, they both started crying. The Rollettes, a professional wheelchair dance team based out of Los Angeles that both Conner and Chelsie belong to, performed during half time at Celtics game in 2022. The Celtics Dancers had wanted to join the Rollettes on the court for the last few minutes of their routine, and so Conner and Chelsie had sent them a recording of what they’d each choreographed: rhythmic movement both integrating and celebrating the Rollettes’ wheels.
What the Celtics Dancers sent back to them blew them away – a non-disabled dance routine that so perfectly complemented the Rollettes’ choreography it reaffirmed to Conner a greater truth: although it may look different for different people, the core of dance is the same for everyone.
“Dance is the puzzle piece that connects my pre-injury and post-injury life,” Conner, 30, who’d been dancing over 15 years before she sustained a L2 spinal cord injury, said. “When I perform, I don’t feel any different from how I did performing pre-injury."
Dance transcends mobility differences – this is the belief upon which the Rollettes are built. Founded in 2012 by Chelsie Hill, the team began as a way to create community two years after a car accident left Chelsie a T-10 paraplegic. Now, the Rollettes provide community and more. “It’s really nice to have the support of a group of friends who know what it’s like to be a disabled woman trying to take up space in this world,” Joci Scott, 25, said.