'I love to dance - and dancing has literally saved my life'

Leo Haines is carving a magnificent career in dancing and modelling on the World stage despite severe disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, deafness, curvature of the spine and severe lung and eating disabilities
-Credit: (Image: Reach Publishing Services Limited)


A young man from Street is carving a magnificent career in dancing and modelling on the World stage despite severe disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, deafness, curvature of the spine and severe lung and eating disabilities.

Leo Haines has overcome the most extraordinary difficulties since birth and has grabbed the attention of talent spotters in the dancing, acting and modelling world in London and elsewhere.

He has been awarded a scholarship at the renowned Pineapple Dance Studio in London by owner Debbie Moore OBE, and he has recently been snapped up by a top model agency and has featured on the cover of a glamorous magazine.

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The future looks very bright for this talented young man who has overcome the most difficult of challenges to pursue his passion – dancing.

He has extraordinary energy and dancing is actually saving his life and mobility as without it he would be confined to a wheelchair.

His dance Anna Gifford said: “Leo has many disabilities, however it quickly became clear he had phenomenal energy, an abundance of passion and eye catching stage presence and confidence.

“I could see he was passionate about performing in front of an audience. “His witty, warm, and resilient character made me discover he was a dream to teach.” Leo was born at 25 weeks with a fragile weight of just 1.5 lbs. With the odds stacked against him, there were many moments his family very nearly lost him.

Leo Haines is carving a magnificent career in dancing and modelling on the World stage despite severe disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, deafness, curvature of the spine and severe lung and eating disabilities
Leo Haines is carving a magnificent career in dancing and modelling on the World stage despite severe disabilities including Cerebral Palsy, deafness, curvature of the spine and severe lung and eating disabilities

He was in and out of hospital a great deal and as he grew relied heavily on his wheelchair.

Although profoundly deaf, Leo loved to move and bounce to music, especially Beyoncé, until one day when he was around four years old, a Lady Gaga song came on the radio.

He couldn’t resist moving his body and found his dancing legs holding onto the sofa.

He has been dancing ever since.

Dance teacher Anna said: “Given the choice, Leo would dance 10 hours a day. “Although his movements were often limited, he would amazingly adapt and nail the choreography with determination.

“With challenging choreography he would try, try, and try again.” Leo also has pulmonary Vein Stenosis which is the narrowing of the pulmonary veins.

In his case he has lost the function of his left lung and the oxygen and blood flow to the left side of his heart.

He also has Neuromuscular Scoliosis, an irregular curvature of the spine associated with disorders of the nerve or muscular systems caused by his cerebral palsy.

Leo has a double twist at the top of his spine, this twist would normally continue through teenage years and could have led to him being completely wheelchair bound with life limiting expectations.

But his dancing has changed all that.

Anna said: “Amazingly, Leo’s back and core muscle strength is so muscular due to his dancing they are holding and supporting his spine, which has slowed the progression of scoliosis through his growth.

“The extent of movement Leo has is all down to his dancing.

“In a nutshell, dancing is saving Leo’s life.” Leo also has speech and language problems, which encompass Dysarthria and Dysphagia (difficulty chewing and swallowing, meaning all Leo’s foods are liquidised).

Leo Haines and Anna Gifford
Leo Haines and Anna Gifford

But despite all of this, Leo is managing to spend one week a month in London where he takes lessons from Anna and dances at the Pineapple Studio. Getting around can be challenging, he needs oxygen at night and his food needs to be liquidised, but his family are unbelievably supportive and are helping this extraordinary young man achieve his goal despite his many challenges.

His resilience and charm are capturing the attention of the world stage. Anna added: “Leo inspires not only those with special needs and disabilities but also everyone.

“He was born to inspire the world, and no matter what we think our capabilities are, Leo proves we can achieve anything if we put our minds to it.

“Life can be complex, but Leo leaves you with a message of hope. ”You can follow Leo on Instagram @leodancer2005 and read more at https://upmovement.org.uk/case-studies/leo/