Sketchy
By Christopher Collett for The Stage

Owing to a congenital hip defect, Bill Shannon has spent most of his life walking with the aid of crutches. Yet, he has managed to turn his disability on its head, creating ‘the Shannon Technique’, an integration of street dance with crutches. As well as moving with surprising style and agility, he also boasts some awesome power moves in his repertoire, leading some to actually believe he is faking his mobility problem.

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To whom it may concern.
I was in an accident on March 30th. as a passenger in a taxi I was rear ended. I had whiplash and it threw myneck and back out and realigned my pelvis causing pain in my left hip. (the stronger hip) I went into physio, chiro/kineis and other resting in an attempt to be ready for CHicago Traffic at the end of April. I was very unsure about my performance level for Chicago. Over the following three weeks in April I was able to improve my range and mediate my pain to a functional though still painful and limited range of motion. I performed in Chicago three days of an hour each day. During the performances I was able to present a good show the adrenaline and the painkillers pulled me thorugh. The fourth day in the airport handling my own baggage my back went completely out. By compensating for my weaker left leg more with my right arm I had also begun to develop secondary injuries in my right shoulder and back.. namely my rotator cuff. I am now still trying to get my back to stop spasming and locking up when I skate and also trying to get my right shoulder back. I go to physio three times a week and am feeling stronger now but cautious about the viability of performing as intensively in the past. The UK tour of Sketchy I could not perform in due to my back, left hip and rotator cuff. It was a great disappointment to me. However the show itself has really been a crowd pleaser and I retained my role as narrator.
Upon my return from the UK I have tried to fully recover but am still experiencing some weakness and pain.

Obviously dancing on crutches has its own unique demands on the body. particularly the upper body. The only comparable pain I have experienced from dancing on crutches occured around 2000 when I started incorporating a lot of midrange movement (high-mids from Shannon Technique) that stressed the elbows to the point of extreme pain. This elbow pain turned out to be the soft tissue accomodating new pressures an d subsided in a years time.

I assume it might take as long or longerr for my body to recover from the accident ..

i have not taken on any dance work over this summer and am concentrating on writing and drawing.

below i have posted a link to a review of Traffic.
all the best.
bill shannon

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Hi Bill and thanks for the update - we're all rootin' for you here that things improve steadily for you, but take it steady.

I hope you saw the very positive review of your UK show by AlexR on page 1 of this topic.

All the best for a full recovery Bill, when I was in the audience for Sketchy I could not tell that you were in any pain and thought you performed brilliantly all the same. Hope to see you up and about and spinning on your crutches again soon.

Stuart Sweeney and AlexR

just wanted to drop a note and thank you for your enthusiastic review of Sketchy and your well wishes for a quick recovery.. as far as not being able to tell I was hurt thats a good thing.. the only show I actually did moves in was the last show in manchester because I knew then that I could have a long rest..

I think I am predispositioned to work through the pain based on my relationship to my hips which is they can hurt but its always like that so deal with it.. ( and look good dealing with it )

my upper body is different in that it will get better if i let it.. if I have shows it will never get better because I will inevitably push myself to the limit..

so if you didnt notice its because im good at hiding it. i hope to be 100 percent by april.. though I am good now as long as i dont have to sustain in the right shoulder..
anyway. more time on the computer and in the pool..

thanks again..
sincerely
bill shannon

Bill Shannon has made one of the best dance-based adverts ever, for Visa Europe. It's my first time seeing him and I was mesmerised.

The VISA site has three sections of film:

- the actual ad
- a 5-minute film about the making of the ad
- a link to a YouTube film about Shannon

Prepare to have your socks blown off:
http://www.visa.co.uk/bill/main.html

Thanks for sharing! Really amazing stuff.