Smashing Ballet Stereotypes

Lizzy Howell whips out 11 fouettés in a video she posts on twitter destroying the idea that you have to be thin to be a ballerina. Lizzy's video goes viral and people are amazed with her skill and grace. She proves to those watching her video that you don’t have to have a thin body to be a beautiful dancer. Lizzy doesn't like to be classified as a plus size dancer  because she just wants to be seen as a dancer and she doesn't want that one aspect of herself to define her. "A female artist is just an artist, a transgender model is just a model, and a disabled athlete is just an athlete" Lizzy tells Buzzfeed. Dancing helps Lizzy manage anxiety from her pseudotumor cerebri, a condition that causes excess fluid around the brain and recently become an ambassador for Dancing for You, a disability awareness campaign. To read more about Lizzy go here .  Lizzy is an awesome representation of a dancer and someone that everyone can look up to for her perseverance threw stereotypes and her disabilities.
  

A Disabled Dancer

Gabi Shull had her leg amputated above her knee but instead of giveing up all the things she loves like dance, rock climbing and ice skating she had her ankle bone reattached to act as her knee so she could move around more freely with her prosthetic leg. This was a ground breaking procedure that was done because Gabi had a rare cancer in her knee called Osteosarcoma. Gabi is now 14 and is able to do everything she wants to despite her prosthetic. She is dancing competitively and is an inspiration for her strength and perseverance to keep moving forward and push threw the obstetrical life throws at us. You can see videos of Gabi dancing and read more about her experience here . This is such a beautiful story to me because I completely understand why she worked so hard to dance again. Dance is my passion and when I dance I let my stress go without it I don't know who I would be today.