Meet the Japanese wheelchair dancer who dreams of performing at Olympics ceremony

Meet the Japanese wheelchair dancer who dreams of performing at Olympics ceremony

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Whirling, spinning, reaching, grasping - Japanese wheelchair dancer Kenta Kambara's emotive performances are wordless testimony to artistic passion and possibility.

Born with spina bifida, a disorder that paralysed his lower body, Kambara aims to perform at the Tokyo 2020 Paralympics opening or closing ceremonies, seeking to send a message to disabled and able-bodied people alike: it's okay to be different.

. Tokyo, Japan. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Kambara rehearses.

"If you can't walk with your legs, it's okay to walk with your hands. If there is something you want to do but cannot, it's okay to find another way," Kambara, 34, a computer systems engineer and father of a two-year-old daughter, told Reuters.

. Tokyo, Japan. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
School children touch Kambara's arm after listening a lecture he had given at an elementary school.

"These days, people use the keyword 'diversity' but not many people have experienced it themselves," he said. "I want people to understand by seeing me dance that it's precisely because my body is different that it is interesting. Then that will become a trigger to accept other people's differences."

"I also want them to think, 'Wow, that's cool!"

. Kobe, JAPAN. Reuters
. Mie, JAPAN. Reuters

Left: Kambara participates in an event for sports day at his elementary school in Kobe, Japan, 1997.
Right: Kambara poses with his friends during an elementary school trip at a station in Mie, Japan, 1996.

Kambara was in third grade at elementary school in Kobe, western Japan, when his mother told him he would never walk.

"It was a huge shock and I remember crying," he said. "But that was the trigger to think about how to confront my disability and find different ways to achieve my goals."

. Rio De Janeiro, Brazil. Reuters/Ricardo Moraes
Kambara (2nd left) performs on stage during the closing ceremony for the 2016 Summer Paralympics at the Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janiero.

Kambara, whose upper body is well-developed from propelling himself with his arms since childhood, began dancing five years ago and less than a year later, performed at the Rio Paralympics closing ceremony.

The self-taught Kambara's repertoire includes handstands on his wheelchair, serpentine moves of his lean, muscular arms and slender fingers, and dizzying spins on a collapsed wheelchair, itself an integral part of his performances.

. Yokohama, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Kambara hands their sleeping daughter Shiori to his wife Chie.

"I'd already come to terms with my disability before I began dancing so it's not as if dancing 'saved' me. But before I started dancing, I often felt my wheelchair was cumbersome in my daily life ...But when it comes to dancing, I feel my use of a wheelchair makes it unique," he said.

"Disabilities have a negative image, but when it comes to dance, this is something only I can do."

. Tokyo, Japan. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Kambara flexes his upper body muscles.

Although he had long tended to hide his paralysed legs out of embarrassment, that feeling changes when he dances.

"What I had been hiding becomes something unique that moves people's hearts," he said.

. Tokyo, Japan. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Kambara performs a dance as part of a lecture at an elementary school.

Kambara also performs and lectures at schools, where youngsters are clearly impressed.

"I thought it was amazing that someone born with a disability could do such an intense, cool dance," said eight-year-old elementary school student Konatsu Matsuo.

"Before I thought being in a wheelchair was really tough," she said. "Now I think that life with a wheelchair can be fun."

. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon
Kambara and his daughter Shiori pose for a photograph.

Besides aiming for the Paralympics ceremonies, Kambara harbours a bigger dream - to dance at the Olympics closing ceremony as a way to boost interest in the Paralympic Games.

"There shouldn't be a division such that if you are disabled, you can only perform at the Paralympics," he said, but noted that in contrast to the Paralympics, there are no open auditions for the Olympics ceremonies. Results of the Paralympics auditions are expected by the end of March.

Speculation, denied by organisers, is swirling that the Games might be cancelled due to the global spread of the novel coronavirus, but Kambara said he was not discouraged.

Video

"Even if the Games are cancelled, I will have another chance to stand on a world stage," he said.

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Slideshow

Kambara performs.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara performs.

The audience reacts after Kambara's performance.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

The audience reacts after Kambara's performance.

Kambara examines a stage.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara examines a stage.

Kambara laughs with another dancer during a break at a rehearsal.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara laughs with another dancer during a break at a rehearsal.

Kambara stretches.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara stretches.

Kambara rides an escalator.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara rides an escalator.

Kambara rides the Tokyo Metro on his way home.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara rides the Tokyo Metro on his way home.

Shiori sits on Kambara's lap as they make their way home after visiting the Japan Olympic Museum.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Shiori sits on Kambara's lap as they make their way home after visiting the Japan Olympic Museum.

Kambara shows Shiori Tokyo 2020 Paralympics posters displayed at a subway station.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara shows Shiori Tokyo 2020 Paralympics posters displayed at a subway station.

Kambara, his wife Chie and Shiori watch TV at their home.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara, his wife Chie and Shiori watch TV at their home.

Kambara's daughter imitates her father's sitting pose.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara's daughter imitates her father's sitting pose.

Kambara shows his legs.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara shows his legs.

Kambara uses a skateboard to move clothing back to his wardrobe after helping Chie with the laundry at their home.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara uses a skateboard to move clothing back to his wardrobe after helping Chie with the laundry at their home.

Kambara makes his way back home on his wheelchair.
. Tokyo, JAPAN. Reuters/Kim Kyung-Hoon

Kambara makes his way back home on his wheelchair.