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"A woman from Devon has astonished crowds by performing a unique wheelchair dance routine underwater. Sue Austin, who has been in a wheelchair since 1996 after contracting ME, has been performing her piece &amp;#039;Creating the Spectacle&amp;#039; as part of the Cultural Olympiad during the Paralympics.  The artist, who has practised for months and performed in a swimming pool in Weymouth, Dorset last week, learned to scuba dive around seven years ago. She uses a modified NHS wheelchair with swimming floats, fins and propulsion units controlled by her feet to perform her art. Austin developed the special wheelchair herself with help from dive experts and academics. Its construction was with partly funded by the National Lottery&amp;#039;s Arts Council&amp;#039;s Impact Scheme. &amp;quot;When we started talking to people about it, engineers were saying it wouldn&amp;#039;t work,&amp;quot; she told the BBC. &amp;quot;[They said] the wheelchair would go into a spin, it was not designed to go through water - but I was sure it would.&amp;quot; After perfecting the chair&amp;#039;s buoyancy, Austin worked hard to build a system to both propel and help steer the vehicle. &amp;quot;If you just put a thruster under the chair, all the thrust is below the centre of gravity so you rotate,&amp;quot; she explained. &amp;quot;It was certainly much more acrobatic than I anticipated.&amp;quot; &amp;quot;I would love to create a version with hand controls,&amp;quot; she added, &amp;quot;but I need my arms to be free for the performance.&amp;quot;  The wheelchair, which has patents pending but is yet to be given an official name, is already in demand, said Austin. &amp;quot;We&amp;#039;ve had PADI [Professional Association of Diving Instructors] course directors and very experienced divers saying they would pay to hire it,&amp;quot; she continued. &amp;quot;The Oceanography department at the University of Plymouth, where I did a BA in fine arts, said it would make their courses accessible to students with disabilities.&amp;quot; Unfortunately, the chair&amp;#039;s frame is already beginning to rust. Austin says that now they have finalised the design, the next model should be constructed using titanium. Watch a video of Sue Austin&amp;#039;s underwater wheelchair dancing below:      "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/fun/news/a403294/underwater-wheelchair-dancing-a-hit-at-cultural-olympiad-watch/>