This image shows Charlene Curtiss (left) and Debbie Gilbert (right) dancing at Chinook Middle School. Curtiss and Gilbert were members of the Whistlestop Dance Company, which used dance to teach children and to advocate for people with disabilities. After her spine was injured in a gymnastics accident, Curtiss developed the field of wheelchair dance, establishing the Light Motion Dance Company in 1988. She created a technique of “front-end chair control” which allowed her performances to feature kicks, rolls, and spins. In addition to dancing, Curtiss choreographed for multiple dance companies and taught at the University of Washington Medical Center Rehabilitation Program.

Caption information source: “Wheeling into the swing of things,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, November 18, 1993, page B1.
Caption information source: “Light Motion puts a unique spin on the world of dance,” by R.M. Campbell, Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 18, 2003, page 12.