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)
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