The stars of Strictly Come Dancing are set to take part in a glitzy and ground-breaking new series for BBC Three that will see them unite wheelchair users and celebrities in a dance competition with a difference.

Wheelchair Dance Sport is something many British people have never heard of, although it originated in this country. Dancing On Wheels hopes to change that and put the sport back on the UK map!

The lead choreographer, coach and expert on the show is Brian Fortuna, a professional ballroom dancer and semi finalist in this year’s Strictly. He has been teaching wheelchair dancing for the past eight years and will be putting the couples through their paces with help from his professional dance partner Kristina Rihanoff, who danced with Joe Calzaghe in this year’s competition.

Their challenge is to produce a pair of dancers good enough to represent the UK at the European Wheelchair Dance Sport Championships in Tel Aviv – in just nine weeks.

After an intensive five weeks of training, the couples will perform weekly before a panel of judges: presenter and Paralympian Ade Adepitan and Strictly’s professional dancers – James Jordan, and his wife and reigning Strictly champion, Ola Jordan. They will decide each week which pairs stay in the competition and, ultimately, who will be the couple selected to represent Britain in the European Championships.

The celebrities taking part are singer Heather Small, gold medallist swimmer Mark Foster, actress Michelle Gayle, actor Kevin Sacre, rugby legend Martin Offiah and presenter Caroline Flack. They will partner wheelchair users from around the country. And none have ever attempted wheelchair dancing before.

The wheelchair users are: Simone, a 22-year-old Cambridge graduate; Diana, a 49-year-old magazine editor and mother; 27-year-old Carolyne, who enjoys nothing more than a night out; James, a 31-year-old whose impressive acrobatic ability puts most able-bodied people to shame; Paul, a 24-year-old festival-goer who is looking forward to Glastonbury this summer; and 24-year-old Harry, who recently got married to a girl he met while travelling in Thailand.

They will all be learning from scratch the art of Wheelchair Dance Sport, a popular international sport where at least one dancer is a wheelchair user. It is practised widely by athletes in 22 countries, with competitions and championships held across the world.

In Dancing On Wheels the couples will compete in the “combi” event where a standing able-bodied dancer partners a wheelchair user. Through the competition they must learn all the dances, which include the cha-cha, paso doble, waltz, tango and rhumba. The winning couple will then represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel.

Brian Fortuna says: “Dancing On Wheels was the most challenging and rewarding project that I have ever worked on. It touched the lives of everyone involved and I hope that the show will prove to the public that physical disabilities are only as limiting as you let them be.

“Wheelchair Dance Sport is one of the only activities that brings together the disabled and able-bodied worlds. The level of dancing achieved by the couples far surpassed my expectations.”

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, says: “This is a really important project for BBC Three, and underlines our commitment to covering disability in a mainstream way following the success of Britain’s Missing Top Model last year. The series will be surprising, fun and glamorous.”

View the original post Brian Fortuna brings Dancing On Wheels to BBC Three on Unreality TV

Actor Kevin Sacre, rugby legend Martin Offiah and presenter Caroline Flack are also set to partner wheelchair users who have never danced before – with only five weeks to master everything from the cha-cha to the paso doble.

The wheelchair users are: Simone, a 22-year-old Cambridge graduate; Diana, a 48-year-old magazine editor and mother; 27-year-old Carolyne, who enjoys nothing more than a night out; James, a cocky 31-year-old whose impressive acrobatic ability puts most able-bodied people to shame; Paul, a 24-year-old festival-goer who is looking forward to Glastonbury this summer; and 23-year-old Harris, who recently got married to a girl he met whilst travelling in Thailand.

They will all be learning the art of Wheelchair Dance Sport, a popular international sport where at least one dancer is a wheelchair user.

Wheelchair Dance Sport is practised widely by athletes in 22 countries, with competitions and championships held across the world.

In Dancing On Wheels, the couples will be compete in the “combi” event where a standing able-bodied dancer partners a wheelchair user.

The winning couple will go on to represent the UK at the Wheelchair Dance Sport European Championships in Israel this autumn.

Danny Cohen, Controller, BBC Three, says: “This is a really important project for BBC Three, and underlines our commitment to covering disability in a mainstream way following the success of Britain’s Missing Top Model last year.

“The series will be surprising, fun and glamorous.”

Lead choreographer Brian Fortuna, a professional ballroom dancer who appeared in the last series of Strictly Come Dancing and who has been teaching wheelchair dancing for the last eight years, will be putting the couples through their paces.

Under the guidance of Brian and some of the other top names in dance, the couples will be trained intensively each week to compete in a variety of exhausting and challenging dance disciplines as they battle for supremacy.

A panel of judges will decide each week which couples stay in the competition.

The judges will then select the two strongest couples who will get the chance to take part in a final dance-off, before a winning couple is chosen to represent Britain in the European Championships in October 2009.

Dancing On Wheels will be made by Fever Media.

David Mortimer, Managing Director at Fever, says: “We’re so excited to be back in business with BBC Three and can’t wait to launch our search to find Britain’s best new wheelchair dance talent.

“Wheelchair Dance Sport is every bit as graceful, glamorous and entertaining as regular ballroom, so we can all look forward to some amazing action.”

View the original post Dancing On Wheels Coming To BBC Three on Unreality TV