Three days after education student Dwayne Scheuneman, 44, broke his neck in a pool diving accident, paralyzing him from the chest down, he woke up in the hospital to his friend saying, “Game on.”
“I didn’t think too much about the future … I took it one day at a time,” Scheuneman said of his adjustment to living his life in a wheelchair.
Nineteen years later, he received the Lightning Community Hero award for his work with disabled children and adults at his nonprofit dance company REVolutions Dance. Scheuneman founded REVolutions Dance along with Amie West in 2005 with the goal of helping those with and without disabilities move in their own way.
Scheuneman discovered his love for dancing while cross training for wheelchair racing. Before creating REVolutions Dance, he competed in the National Veterans Wheelchair Games in 2003 in California.
He returned to competing this past July at the Wheelchair Games in Tampa, winning four gold medals and three silver medals.
He competes in track and field and racing events. But competing can get expensive, requiring a different specially designed chair for racing, dancing and everyday living.
Dance is all about movement, and Scheuneman believes “everyone can move in some way.” He even helped choreograph a dance for a girl who uses a power chair so she could dance with her head and by moving her chair.
REVolutions Dance aims to help kids find their own movement and gives them a physical and therapeutic experience without setting specific goals or measuring anything.
“In the physical therapy setting, there’s a set plan and goals to be met,” Scheuneman said. “In the arts setting, it’s all about exploring.”
Kids and teens in the dance program practice at the studio in Oldsmar and often perform for local fundraisers like a recent Council for Exceptional Children event at the downtown Hilton Hotel and Shriners’ events.
Scheuneman was nominated for the Lightning Community Hero award by a friend and was honored at the Oct. 26 game. He was given a $50,000 grant to put toward enhancing REVolutions Dance and to donate to local charities of his choice like Great Explorations, the Center for Autism and Related Disabilities/USF Foundation, Hands Across the Bay and the Marcia P. Hoffman Institute/Ruth Eckerd Hall. He hopes the dance studio will become self-sustaining and continue to thrive after he is gone.
“It means a lot for me to give back to the kids. They have it tough these days,” Scheuneman said.
Scheuneman spent most of his time after his injury babysitting his niece and nephew, which led him to start his own home day care center. After ending his business, he began substitute teaching for Pinellas County Schools in the Exceptional Student Education classrooms. Scheuneman also spent nine years with the Great Explorations Children’s Museum as the director of the preschool.
Scheuneman still substitute teaches ESE classes while pursuing his bachelor’s degree in elementary education from USF St. Petersburg and teaching dance classes on Saturdays. He also practices with his adult professional dance group on Wednesday evenings.
For more info: Visit REVolutions Dance group at revdance.org or on Facebook at facebook.com/pages/REVolutions-Dance-Inc.
