From a young age, Vitória Bueno has learned to navigate through the world a little differently. A congenital defect left her without arms, but to the 19-year-old dancer and social media influencer it is a small obstacle that doesn’t stop her from pursuing her passion and inspiring millions.
“For me, arms, they’re just a detail,” Bueno told Reuters. “I don’t feel like I need them at all.”
“It’s super normal for me to do things with my feet,” she shared on NBC’s America’s Got Talent. “I eat with my feet. I brush my teeth. I fix my hair. I live with my disability.”
At the age of five, Bueno’s mother enrolled her into dance classes at her physiotherapist’s suggestion.
“She asked my mom to take me to Academia De Dança Ândrea Falsarella for a trial class,” Bueno explained to The Epoch Times. “I come from a very humble family. At the time, my physiotherapist talked to my mother, she didn’t understand anything about dancing, but even so, she supported me and believed in my potential.”
“It was a new exciting thing to do with my feet,” she recalled.
Bueno has not only gained strength and flexibility through the discipline of ballet but has realized a dream that many would have called impossible.
“I always like to leave a message to people who have a dream, not just in dance but in any other area, for them to fight for their dreams,” she told ABC News. “Dedicate yourself and chase your dreams with all your strength.”
Her gifts and talents brought her to the America’s Got Talent world stage earlier this year after getting the golden buzzer and finishing as the second-runner-up in Germany’s “Super Talent” competition last year.
She was invited to the America’s Got Talent All-Stars where she received a standing ovation from the show’s judges and audience.
“You’re beautiful and you have so much poise, so much elegance,” said judge Heidi Klum. “When you dance it was so beautiful to watch and thank you for that.”
“I believe the sign of a star is someone who perseveres and then when they are on stage they light up the stage and you have both of those things,” Judge Simon Cowell shared. “I think the whole of Brazil and the whole of America is going to be rooting for you. You are an all-star.”
“I don’t know that much about dancing,” Howie Mandel admitted. But to be en pointe without arms makes it that much harder to balance and we didn’t even see a second of faltering. It’s amazing the amount of strength and elegance that you put in.”
Exposure from the show has changed her life.
She has more than a half million followers on social media, travels the world dancing in competitions, and inspires many.
“The internet is making me cross borders!” she said.
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Bueno is not only crossing borders but inspiring others to push boundaries.
“We are more than our disabilities, so we have to chase our dreams,” she told Reuters.
Bueno told Epoch Times she wants to encourage people to never give up.
She shared, “We know that the walk is often not easy at all, but we have the option to move forward or give up. Regardless of the difficulty, we have to make an effort, and dedicate ourselves to always do our best. We can do anything but give up!”
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