Article by: Oleksandr Nazarov

This is a story of motivation, self-esteem, faith and courage of the people who were able to find their place in this life.

“Any person can dance tango. You really don’t need a perfect body or long legs,” believes Oleksiy Havrys, Argentine tango teacher, Anti-Terrorist Operation (ATO) participant who has arranged a school for Argentine tango Aliento del Tango (“Tango’s Breath“) in Kyiv.

After his discharge Oleksiy decided to invite to his school the soldiers who have served in the east:

“As the discharge approached, I decided that it will be no problem for us if any of the ATO participants could come to us to take free lessons.”

Oleksiy’s opinion is that tango is an effective instrument of psychological and physical rehabilitation and adaptation: “I’d like to meet more and more of such people, i.e. serene and inspired who would adore Argentine tango. And I would like to see among such people more of those who have served in the army.”

Viktor Kardash lost one of his legs to a mine explosion in the east of Ukraine. However, this did not prevent him from starting to take tango lessons from Oleksiy:

“A month after the amputation I met this girl and three months after we first met I proposed to her and she said yes. So, I decided I must show her I can dance the first wedding dance at our own wedding. I believe anything is possible. It’s up to us, as they say. Maybe there are some limits, but by doing this anyway one can thus prove there are no limits to what one can do. The limits are in your head,” Viktor shares his thoughts.

Abilitation is a special documentary project of Hromadske.tv about the people who survived the war in eastern Ukraine and found courage and potential to live their life to the fullest and serve the society.

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Tags: culture, Donbas war (2014-present), News, rehabilitation, veterans