Thirty-year-old Latin dancer Shenaragh Nemani can’t walk or talk but she has an undeniable energy that has seen her charm audiences and perform in dance competitions around the world. Marae’s Leigh-Marama McLachlan caught up with her as they prepared for her next performance in Puerto Rico.
Watch the full story on TVNZ+.
Shenaragh lives with a list of limitations. The wheelchair-bound woman suffers from cerebral palsy, quadriplegia, scoliosis, and relies on a computer to communicate. But none of it stops her from dancing.
“What do I love about dancing? Feeling, moving, being included, the friends I make, the hot guys I get to dance with.”
She’s quite famous overseas in the Latin dance community, she said, cheekily offering her autograph if only she could write.
So how did it all start?
Her mum Cheryl said Shenaragh would have been around seven years old when she first danced.
“One day her uncle decided to just, like, grab her wheelchair and just push her around the room and let her be a part of the group. So she was doing that, but she had no movement. She was just watching, and then a really good song came on and she just started moving her hands, and it just sort of grew from that.”
She was seen dancing by the late legendary salsa dancer and promoter Albert Torres who invited her to perform in Miami at the World Latin Dance Cup in 2016, creating a new division for her called Limitless. The whānau managed to raise enough funds to go where Shenaragh won over the audience and judges, taking home first place.
“I just started crying because I was like, ‘oh my god, they love her!’” Cheryl said.
Shenaragh, now 30, has also performed in Los Angeles and New York and was preparing to head over to Puerto Rico earlier this month.
“I’m always excited when I get the chance to perform, wherever it may be,” Shenaragh said. “But going overseas is a plus – the guys are so hot and they always come up to me.”
It’s an expensive passion for the whānau who rely on fundraising, but for Cheryl, it’s worth it.
“She dances on stage in the same space as world champions. So I love to see everyone’s faces when they see her go on cause she’s in this wheelchair and, you know, you want to see her, honestly, her hands are gone, her legs are gone and she’s loving it.
“She just feeds off it, and I’m so proud of her, like any parent that would be proud, I’m like, beaming proud. I just love seeing her in that element.”
Overcoming challenges
Shenaragh, a wahine who loves watching TV, listening to music and using Facebook, has had to overcome huge challenges to get here.
Her mum said she’s been in and out of hospital all her life and has had “multitudes” of operations, followed by being on “multitudes” of medications and opioids.
She said it was hard to get help at times. Cheryl and Shenaragh’s dad, Sam, both work and due to the level of care Shenaragh needs, Cheryl has no choice but to take her along with her.
Shenaragh is on a special disability benefit and is often required to prove her disability.
“I literally walk her in the office and go, ‘Yep, she still can’t walk, she still can’t do anything for herself’. I literally have to do that,” said Cheryl.
“The doctors and the specialists and the nurses write letters and say ‘she will never be able to do this’ and it doesn’t matter.”
It remains a huge source of frustration for the whānau.
Living with disability ‘a pain in the a***’
When asked to describe growing up with a disability, Shenaragh is blunt.
“Growing up with cerebral palsy is a pain the a***. It’s frustrating. I’m limited to so many physical things and having to watch others it makes me sad.
“But the good side to it is me being able to educate others just by being me.”
She’s actively engaging in education herself and is studying business at the local polytech, as well as learning about rongoā Māori alongside her mum.
Cheryl said their goal is to make her life as “normal” as they can.
“If that means that we have to pull finger to fundraise to get her to do something she loves, then that’s what we’ll do, because physically she can’t do anything really and no one wants to give her a chance.
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including poll numbers paint grim picture for leaders, Trump sending the National Guard into Washington, and where have all the coaches gone? (Source: 1News)
“She’s wanted jobs, and I’ve tried to take her to job interviews, but people don’t want to hire her, and I get it. I get it. But she doesn’t get it.”
She said Shenaragh is like anyone else in that she experiences bouts of depression, and she and Sam support her through it. In the meantime, they are determined to help her achieve in life.
As for Shenaragh, she wants people to understand that she’s more than her limitations.
“I may be in a chair but please don’t judge me… I understand most things you say, and I can respond but you just need to have a little patience [as] I put my sentence together. I’m happy-go-lucky but also sensitive. Say hi, don’t be shy.”
Watch Shenaragh’s full story on Marae on TVNZ+.
