Dancer Chelsie Hill created her own dance community for wheelchair performers and navigated the challenges of new motherhood, all while protecting her own mental health. Get to know this force of fitness: life, nutrition, training and balance–and find out what makes her tick.
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00:00 Hey, Women's Health, I'm Chelsea Hill.
00:01 This morning, I got coffee and a donut,
00:04 and that was the way I gave back to myself
00:06 because I just got off a red eye.
00:08 Something that helps me get into a really good mood
00:10 is dancing.
00:12 I could put on literally any song,
00:14 doesn't matter the genre.
00:15 I feel so good when I'm dancing.
00:17 I feel the most myself.
00:19 Honestly, I feel like you can't go wrong with Beyonce.
00:22 I could literally listen to Beyonce all day.
00:24 I envision myself dancing on stage with Beyonce one day,
00:27 so that will always put me in a good mood.
00:30 The Rolettes are a wheelchair dance team, all women,
00:32 based in Los Angeles that I started in 2012.
00:35 I really just wanted to find friends.
00:38 I wanted to find community after becoming paralyzed,
00:40 and so I reached out to girls on social media
00:43 and asked them to come hang out in my hometown,
00:46 and that camp that I started back in 2012
00:49 has now turned into the largest Women's Empowerment Weekend
00:52 for women and children with disabilities.
00:55 When I first became paralyzed,
00:57 I really had no idea what my life was gonna be like.
01:00 I didn't know if I was gonna be able to be independent again,
01:04 if I was gonna be able to dance,
01:05 if I was gonna be able to date,
01:06 if I was gonna feel sexy.
01:08 So a lot of obstacles that I faced was,
01:10 honestly, other people's opinions
01:12 and other people's barriers that they put on me
01:15 wasn't necessarily my own vision.
01:18 It was what society put on me,
01:19 and trying to break down those stereotypes,
01:21 I think, was the hardest thing for me to overcome,
01:23 and going back to dance classes
01:26 after being a wheelchair user now
01:28 and adapting the choreography
01:29 was something that was very bittersweet.
01:32 I found myself again.
01:33 One of my biggest dreams was moving to Los Angeles
01:36 and taking dance classes
01:38 with all of the amazing dancers in the industry,
01:41 and so being a wheelchair user,
01:42 I didn't see anybody else like me on social media
01:45 dancing in a chair,
01:46 so when I showed up to those mainstream, big dance studios,
01:50 I was the only person in a chair,
01:52 and I had everybody literally staring at me like,
01:55 "Why are you here?
01:57 "We haven't seen somebody dance in a chair,"
01:58 and it was very intimidating, and it was very scary,
02:01 and I just kept going back
02:02 because I knew that's what I wanted to do before my injury.
02:06 I didn't wanna let my wheelchair stop me
02:07 from doing what I love,
02:08 and so I kept going back and kept going back,
02:11 and finally, a lot of choreographers started to notice me,
02:14 and I started to be able to dance
02:16 with some incredible dancers.
02:18 For me, when it comes to media,
02:20 it's so important to me to see actual representation
02:23 of people with disabilities in the media,
02:25 in mainstream media.
02:26 You don't see that all the time,
02:28 and so when you actually see somebody that looks like you
02:32 doing what you aspire to do, it's so motivating,
02:35 whether it's in the movies or on print or in billboards,
02:39 to be able to look up and recognize
02:42 and relate to that person
02:43 can literally change someone's entire life.
02:46 Being a boundless babe means that you are living life
02:49 mentally, physically, emotionally boundless.
02:52 Nobody else's limitation is put onto you,
02:55 that you literally see the sky as the limit.
02:58 Honestly, I feel like I'm living boundlessly
03:01 when I'm with my daughter,
03:03 when I'm dancing, and when I'm traveling.
03:05 My biggest advice to anybody that wants to start anything
03:10 like the Rolettes or Rolettes Experience
03:12 is to find community.
03:14 Find people that have the same passion as you,
03:17 hold onto them, embrace them, and work together as a team.
03:20 It's very cliche, but there is no I in team,
03:22 and I really couldn't do what I do without my entire team,
03:26 and it honestly takes a village,
03:28 so that would be my biggest advice.
03:31 I really wanna see more wheelchair dancers out there.
03:34 I don't want to be the only one.
03:37 I was inspired by my mentor, who was a wheelchair dancer,
03:41 and I really wanna see wheelchair dancers
03:43 and dancers with disabilities going on tour
03:46 and being backup dancers,
03:48 and it not just being a one in a million type of thing,
03:51 because there's so much amazing talent
03:53 with people with disabilities,
03:54 so that's what I would like to see,
03:56 is just more people with disabilities going on dance tours
03:59 and being backup dancers and performing on big stages.
04:03 People need to see it.
04:05 So I have three tattoos.
04:06 I have this one on my wrist
04:08 that is with my best friend from high school.
04:11 On my foot, it says Faith, because when I was walking,
04:15 I would always step with my right foot forward.
04:17 I'm right-handed.
04:18 My kicks on the right side were the best,
04:20 and I always believed that if I was going to walk again,
04:24 that it would be with my right foot forward first.
04:26 And the last one is on my side,
04:28 and it says, "Some dance to remember,
04:30 "some dance to forget," with the date of my accident.
04:33 So I'm a new mom.
04:34 My daughter is four months old,
04:36 and being pregnant gave me so much more strength
04:40 than I ever thought.
04:41 I had to be strong for her,
04:42 and giving birth and bringing a child into this world,
04:46 I am so much more motivated.
04:48 I was very motivated before,
04:50 but I feel like I'm so much more motivated now
04:52 because I want her to see an amazing role model
04:55 and see that her mom has overcome so much
04:57 and hasn't let anything stop her.
04:59 And so everything I do now is to show her
05:02 that she can do anything.
05:03 And I think society is so shocked
05:06 when they see me holding her and rolling around,
05:09 because you don't see that every day.
05:11 A woman with a disability holding their daughter,
05:14 you don't see it.
05:15 So I love being able to bring her out
05:18 and show the world that I can be a strong mom,
05:21 I can be a strong person, and yeah.
05:24 (upbeat music)