2009 Dance For A Cure

On October 11, 2009 Aubree Marchione and I performed a Latin dance medley consisting of our Paso Doble, Samba, and Rhumba at the Dance For A Cure. Dance For A Cure was a breast cancer fundraiser, and it was held at the Stardust Ballroom in Bellmawr, New Jersey, on Sunday.

We were one of the showcases at the fundraiser and were given the chance to perform for the first time in front of that many people. This was my fifth weekend ever of wheelchair ballroom dancing, and here I was about to perform in front of hundreds of people. They announced me as the 2008 USA Wheelchair Heavy Weight Champion and 2009 Wheelchair National Heavy Weight Champion, but didn’t mention anything about bodybuilding, so everybody thought my titles were for wheelchair ballroom dancing. Instantly, they expected me to be great, and as I heard them introduce me, all I could think about was how not to screw this up!

Aubree and I put on an amazing performance. Our movements and connections were great and everything went as planned. We nailed our routine and the applause filled the air! At the end we even did our wheelchair lift, where Aubree runs towards me, grabs my legs, does a hand stand on my legs—and then I lift her in the air and let her down into the splits. People were shocked and didn’t know what to expect when I rolled out on the dance floor. Many people said they were memorized when they saw us dance and couldn’t believe what they had seen.

I couldn’t have done it without Aubree. She is a professional Latin dance champion and her dancing is breathtaking. I’m blessed to have such a great partner. Sandra Fortuna also plays a critical role in our routines. Sandra is the dance teachers' teacher. She is a registered judge with the NDCA and the WCD, and her dance articles and competition reports on major dance events have appeared in Dance Notes, Dance Beat, Top Line, Dance Week, and other national dance publications. She has been invited to staff dance workshops by the USISTD, Disco America, usadence, various dance schools, and many local, international, and national dance championships. Sandra is a former professional ballet dancer, and holds a BA in Dance and many top teacher awards and pro-am championship titles.

Aubree and I practice at her Universal Dance Studio in Collingswood, NJ.

Sandra and Aubree are amazing choreographers, and they come up with the routines. Their visions for wheelchair ballroom dancing are amazing, and I’m glad they believe in me and are willing to give me a chance. I meet Aubree back at the 2009 Arnold Classic Expo when I was working the Bodybuilding.com booth. Who would have guessed that this is where it would have lead, seven months later…

Something unexpected happened that morning of October 11, after I did my morning session of cardio. Two treadmills were the only equipment in the hotel’s fitness room, and using one of them, I just walked at my pace holding on for seventy minutes. After I was done and before I went to shower, I took off my shoe and brace and saw that my sock was tinted dark red. My brace had rubbed a bandage I had there (I had a blister in the same spot from walking the day before). The brace had rubbed the skin off my foot and the four-inch by four-inch bandage was a solid red from blood. For those who haven’t believed me in the past—there is your proof that I can’t feel my feet.