The Waterdance is a 1992 American drama film directed by Neal Jimenez and Michael Steinberg and starring Eric Stoltz, Wesley Snipes, William Forsythe and Helen Hunt. It was written by Neal Jimenez. The film is a semi-autobiographical story about a young fiction writer who becomes tetraplegic fully paralyzed in a hiking accident and works to rehabilitate his body and mind at a rehabilitation center. The title refers to a dream recounted by Raymond Hill, Snipes' character, about dancing on the surface of a lake. Since, in Raymond's dream, he must continue dancing on the lake to avoid sinking and drowning, the dream may be a metaphorical reference to the necessity of continually coping with the world.