On some Sunday evenings, the lights in the B Side Lounge in Cleveland Heights splash purple and red across the walls as local musician Sammy DeLeon lays down a beat on his congas for his popular Latin jazz orchestra, Sammy DeLeon y su Orquestra. Dance students from Cleveland Rueda, a local dance community, pair up and begin syncopated steps and turns as instructor Nadia Sanko invites 30-year-old Kimberly Ocampo to the center of the room. Ocampo spins in her wheelchair, arms and shoulders rippling to the rhythmic salsa beat.
A 2015 accident in Miami left Ocampo paralyzed from the waist down. She moved to Cleveland in 2021 to work with the Dancing Wheels Company & School, a group comprising dancers with and without disabilities. Today, Ocampo has moved on to new roles as a salsa dance instructor, a motivational speaker, a TED Talk presenter, a songwriter, and an inspiring influencer.
She is rapidly cultivating audiences throughout Northeast Ohio, sharing her personal story, and shining a bright light on the power of arts and culture to heal and connect. She encourages people of all ages to pursue their dreams, regardless of challenges or adversity. Her audiences have included nursing home residents, high school students, Cuyahoga County Public Library patrons, and audiences at the Julia de Burgos Cultural Arts Center in Cleveland, among others.
On April 16, she delivered a TED Talk at John Carroll University titled “Kindness = Accessibility.” The motivational talk was presented as part of the university’s “The Power of Good: TedxJCU” for its Entrepreneurship Program. During her talk, Ocampo relayed what she appreciates most about living in Cleveland. “Not every location I try out is wheelchair-accessible, but I’ve learned to ask for help when I need it,” she said. “Cleveland is such an accessible city for me because of the kindness of others.”
Like other cities throughout the country, Cleveland is paying closer attention to increasing disability awareness and accessibility as a way of being more inclusive of all its residents. There is work to be done and room for improvement. “Cleveland appreciates and respects its historic buildings. But my top need for enjoying a venue, new or old, is having an accessible front entrance and bathroom,” Ocampo says. “Without a ramp, I have to be carried in. And I have to remove my chair’s wheels to get into a bathroom stall that is too narrow.”
Ocampo pushes against her own limitations during her weekly physical therapy sessions at the Louis Stokes Cleveland Department of Veterans Affairs Medical Center. “Every day is different,” Ocampo says. “And for me, some moments are really painful. I focus on something that brings me peace of mind and joy – like dance. This new focus keeps me moving forward.”
Ocampo’s energy and optimism are contagious and inspiring to her audiences. “I don’t identify with any label because I’m just me,” she says. Ocampo blends the lines between the terms “ability” and “disability” through graceful dance movements, seated in her wheelchair or on the dance floor, rolling her body and extending her arms in rhythm. As a dancer, Ocampo visibly challenges perceptions about what it means to be live with a disability. “If I had to define the word “disability,” I would use the word “limitless,” she says.
Skipping a beat, then finding a new rhythm
Born in New Jersey to Colombian parents who were also dancers, Ocampo moved to Miami in 2014 to pursue a dance career, inspired by the culture of her childhood.
“Our family life was filled with Latin music, artwork, performing, and service in our church community,” her mom, Claudia Ocampo, says.
In Miami, Ocampo was featured in a music video with the artists Pit Bull and Ne-Yo, and she auditioned for the Miami Heat’s dance team. A breakthrough seemed imminent. But on July 19, 2015, a motorist ran a red light and struck Ocampo as she rode her bicycle to work, seriously injuring her spine and causing paralysis from the waist down. She also lost hearing in her left ear and was partially blinded in her left eye. She describes her injuries and recovery process in her recently published book, Stepp FWD: step forward.
Following a two-month hospitalization, Ocampo focused on the hard work of recovery to improve her level of functioning. “I focused on what was possible – and that’s always unknown,” Ocampo explains. Ultimately, her accident and recovery gave Ocampo new perspective on life, healing, and moving forward. Her weekly routines today include physical therapy, navigating in and around partially accessible environments, and driving her car, which was adapted for her physical needs.
Ocampo remembers moving into the historic Phyllis Wheatley Building on the border of the AsiaTown and Central neighborhoods in December 2021. Alone in the city, she didn’t feel safe during her first Cleveland winter. “One minute it’s sunshine and rainbows, and the next minute I’m bone cold and my car’s not turning on,” she recounts. “I stayed inside my apartment, trying to be creative.” She decided to make connections within her building to learn more about the city.
“In Miami, I was used to going out dancing every weekend,” Ocampo says. The building custodian gave Ocampo access to the gym whenever she wanted to dance. “I went on social media and Instagram to search for #salsacleveland, #salsaohio, #dancingsalsa. I was like ‘Where are you? You have to be here!’” she recalls. Ocampo found Just Dance CLE, which posts Latin dance events every week.
When the weather improved, she reached out to Letitia Lopez, executive director of the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center. Lopez connected Ocampo with new opportunities to present dance programs throughout the county, and her influence grew.
Tania Benites, adult programming assistant for the Cuyahoga public libraries, learned of Ocampo via the Julia De Burgos Cultural Arts Center and invited her to host a salsa dance workshop. “I am Latinx myself, so I know the cool program the center offers,” Benites said. “I just wanted to bring something fun for the members of the Latinx community that we serve in our (library) branches.” Kim allowed library patrons to experience the music as they felt most comfortable, whether by dancing or playing instruments, Benites says.
“I got to teach groups about salsa dance at many different Cuyahoga County library branches over several months,” says Ocampo. “Everyone who showed up for my program was able-bodied.”
One day, near the end of the series, 20 young adults living with disabilities showed up with their caregivers. “After our session, the caregivers came up to me and said, ‘I love that you didn’t make disabilities the focus. You treated them as normal teenagers,’” Ocampo remembers.
The exchange reminded her of how her father taught her to dance, using a sensory approach for a new rhythm. “He put a blindfold on me to teach me salsa,” Ocampo says. This allowed Ocampo to tune in to the music, connecting the rhythm to her muscle movements. That way, she could feel the music, instead of only imitating a step by watching. Years later, she recognized that her father’s unique style of teaching prepared her to teach anyone to dance, regardless of their abilities or disabilities.
More to come
Aside from dancing and doing motivational speaking, Ocampo is writing songs and giving salsa lessons to high school students as well as seniors living with memory loss and dementia.
“Kim has a ton of skills – dancing, feeling music, speak(ing) Spanish, (and) anecdotal sharing that could serve as an inspiration,” said Chad Komocki, a Spanish teacher and director of the Hawken Jazz Band at the Hawken Upper School in Gates Mills.
In February, Ocampo was invited to the school to present at the Artist-in-Residence program for the Hawken Jazz Band. Ocampo shared her story with an audience of 500 students and teachers. She also visited the school weekly to choreograph a Latin salsa dance for a smaller group of students. The resulting dance was part of Hawken’s Upper School Jazz Fest Concert on April 29.
“She’s really good as a motivational speaker and is willing to open up and answer any question, putting herself in a vulnerable space,” said Komocki. For the students, many of whom have little to no experience interacting with differently abled individuals, meeting Ocampo affirmed the power of diversity and inclusiveness. “Kim is just very open and cool,” he said.
Even so, Ocampo is aware that the nature of her audience varies, and she follows their lead to accommodate them. “A sweet lady came into the activity room. I got a little too excited to see her. She grabbed her walker and left the room,” Ocampo jokingly recalls of one of her senior dance students. In hindsight, the experience was a teachable moment. “I’ve learned how to adjust my behavior and goals in dance lessons.” Here, as ever, Ocampo finds the beat and keeps moving.
Find Kim Ocampo on Instagram and YouTube, and find her book on Amazon.
Cindy Hill was a participant in The Land’s community journalism program.
Editor’s note: An earlier version of this story misspelled Tania Benites’ name.
We're celebrating four years of amplifying resident voices from Cleveland's neighborhoods. Will you make a donation to keep our local journalism going?
