a diverse cast of dancers perform in "musical chairs", where armando and mia's relationship develops within the world of competitive wheelchair ballroom dancing—a dance form popular in europe and asia, but mostly unknown in the u.s. the dance troupe, outsiders in the world of feature-film, include a transgender woman and an iraqi veteran, highlighting dance as a form of self-expression available to everyone. laverne cox, who is transgender, has said that playing chantelle, a disabled african american transgender woman, in a feature film was a career milestone.