Story 2
#2
The story of a dream stronger than a Parkinson’s diagnosis
The story of a dream stronger than a Parkinson’s diagnosis
What’s so special about Rutileia Campos? Everything, really. After all, it’s not every day you meet a ballerina with Parkinson’s.
A story that started with a girl’s dream (to be a ballerina), but only came true as a grown woman — she was 30 years old —, after a lifetime of struggling with financial worries and prejudice.
So when, at 38, Parkinson’s knocked on her ballet studio door,
Fig. 1 Rutileia Campos © Lázaro Pinheiro
Fig. 2 Hand bones
Fig. 3 Arthur Mitchell in The Four Temperaments, Martha Swope, 1959
Fig. 4 Swan Lake (excerpt), Tchaikovsky, 1876
Fig. 5 Human skeleton foot, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1897
causing her to lose balance on her left side, and seriously affecting her speech, Rutileia decided that she would just keep on fighting.
And so, when her feet started failing her, she traded her pointe shoes for a pair of wheels — and a matching pink chair — and just kept on spinning, sliding, dancing, and teaching underprivileged children to dance.
Later, when her hands started to close, Rutileia opened the doors to to arts and crafts, which helped her with motor coordination and concentration stimulation.
And today, at 42, she is a pedagogue, a dancer, a motivational speaker and a cultural agent: “My wings were pruned, but not plucked. I continue to fly — only in a wheelchair.”
Fig. 1 Rutileia Campos © Lázaro Pinheiro
Fig. 2 Hand bones
Fig. 3 Arthur Mitchell in The Four Temperaments, Martha Swope, 1959
Fig. 4 Swan Lake (excerpt), Tchaikovsky, 1876
Fig. 5 Human skeleton foot, Meyers Konversations-Lexikon, 1897
ON/JUN22/G/081
date of preparation June 2022