Practices take place every week at the Bergvliet Sports Association. CSRC offers Ballroom and Latin American dancing for dancers who are disabled and non-disabled, including wheelchair dancers, intellectually impaired dancers and sight-impaired dancers. Chaeli Sports and Recreation Club is the only independent dance school in South Africa that has dancesport for the disabled as its core focus.
Making History …
The CSRC successfully petitioned the national dance bodies to include disability dance sport sections at provincial and national championships and history was made with this happening at the National Championships in Bloemfontein in 2011. Disabled dance sections were supported by the CSRC at FEDANSA National Championships from 2011-2015.
CSRC dancers have competed from local level all the way to the international championship level, with Chaeli Mycroft and Damian Michaels (Wheelchair Combi: Amateur Class 1) and Chantelle le Roux and Mukhtar Lee (Wheelchair Combi: Amateur Class 2) winning double gold at the annual Wheelchair Dancing World Cup which took place in The Netherlands in April 2015. Both these couples are now eligible to compete internationally in the elite World Cup section.
The success of dance sport for the disabled through the CSRC only happens because it is underpinned by the activities of The Chaeli Campaign. Through The Chaeli Campaign activities and programmes athletes are sourced and receive logistical support – such as transport and equipment.