Dancecast

Choreography for An Arm and A Half

PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN; PHOTOGRAPHY BY TIM ISOM AND TEXT BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Julie Crothers, a freelance dancer and emerging choreographer in the Bay Area. After dancing with AXIS Dance Company for three years, Julie began exploring her own choreographic voice. She describes the impetus of her piece Secondhand, which explores alternate uses of her collection of prosthetic arms. Julie shares stories and perspectives of what prosthesis has come to mean for her, and how she came to the decision in her early 20s to not use a prosthetic arm day-to-day. She goes on to explain how she feels able to dance more freely without filling in that space, and her growing curiosity about what her body uniquely does.

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Gretchen Pick, executive director of Young Dance in Minnesota’s Twin Cities region. Young Dance offers youth classes and performance opportunities, and started to include dance classes for children and adults with disabilities in 2010 after realizing nothing else was being offered locally. Gretchen shares her belief in recognizing the uniqueness of individual bodies and supporting that expression, her passion for teaching, and how she’d like to expand and build upon Young Dance’s All Abilities program in the future.

http://www.youngdance.org
http://www.croiglan.com
http://www.bodyshift.org
http://stanceondance.com

Rethinking Assistive Technologies

PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN
In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Merry Lynn Morris, assistant director of dance at the
University of South Florida. One aspect of Merry Lynn’s work has involved inventing new assistive
technologies for disability dance, including a rolling dance chair with remote control, height change and
omni directionality. In this podcast, she discusses the relationship between freedom and control, how
her father’s disability shaped her view of disability and technology, and the importance of embedding
disability dance in the college curriculum.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

https://usf.academia.edu/MerryMorris
http://www.graphicstudio.usf.edu/CAM/cam_artinhealth.html
http://artsanddisability.blogspot.com/
http://www.revdance.org/
http://bodyshift.org
http://stanceondance.com
https://keshetarts.org

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Dwayne Scheuneman of REVolutions Dance in Tampa, Florida, whose background in wheelchair sports led him to co-founding Tampa’s first integrated dance company. Dwayne discusses his passion for education and the difficulty starting classes for children with disabilities from scratch, his relationship dancing with AXIS Dance Company and how it has informed the development of REVolutions Dance, and his international work in Russia and China teaching community workshops.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

http://www.revdance.org
http://www.stanceondance.com
http://bodyshift.org
http://www.cvent.com/events/2018-vsa-intersections-arts-and-special-education-conference/event-summary-0d1758f71722482784e571550614075d.aspx

In Between Dance and Musical Theater

PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Meredith Aleigha Wells, a dancer with Dancing Wheels Company in Cleveland, OH. The Massachusetts native has a background in musical theater, and started using a wheelchair while in college. She discusses the support she received in college, how the process of translating able-bodied dance onto her body has given her technical and choreographic skills, and the similarities and differences between having a disability in dance versus musical theater. She recently ended her contract with Dancing Wheels, and looks forward to freelancing more in musical theater.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

http://stanceondance.com
http://keshetarts.org
http://www.meredithaleighawells.wixsite.com/home
http://bodyshift.org

Experimentation and Inclusivity

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Eric Kupers, a director, choreographer and performer in the Bay Area. He is the co-director of Dandelion Dancetheater and director of Bandelion (the interdisciplinary ensemble within the company). Eric discusses his experimental approach to dance-making, the creative significance of inclusivity (both in terms of different bodies as well as different artistic genres), his intro to performance through folk dance at his public elementary school and why exposure to dance is imperative in education, and his development of an inclusive dance program at Cal State University East Bay.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt and photo by Luiza Silva

http://www.dandeliondancetheater.org/
http://keshetarts.org
http://stanceondance.com
https://www.dancemagazine.com

Creating a More Inclusive World

PODCAST BY SILVA LAUKKANEN

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Marisa Hamamoto, founder and director of Infinite Flow, the first inclusive ballroom dance company in the US. She shares her myriad experiences with inclusion and why it became such an important concept for her, her difficult history pursuing dance before founding Infinite Flow, why the #MeToo conversation needs to be integrated more into the dance world, and how the discovery of ballroom put her on a new trajectory empowering herself and others to dance.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

http://stanceondance.com
http://keshetarts.org
http://www.infiniteflowdance.org
https://www.danceusa.org
http://bodyshift.org

Embodying the Conversation on Arts and Social Justice

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Adam McKinney, cofounder of DNAWORKS, an arts and service organization committed to dialogue and healing through the arts. He discusses how he became involved in race and trauma work; how dance can build community and address oppression; DNAWORKS programming exploring layers of identity; and the importance of keeping intersectionality in mind when teaching and leading.

Adam McKinney is a classically trained dancer and former member of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Béjart Ballet Lausanne, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet. He holds an M.A. in Dance Studies with concentrations in Race and Trauma theories. Adam served as the inaugural Chair of the Dance Department at the New Mexico School for the Arts in Santa Fe for six years, and is currently an Assistant Professor of Dance at Texas Christian University in Fort Worth.

Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

http://dnaworks.org
http://keshetarts.org
http://stanceondance.com
http://bodyshift.org
https://finearts.tcu.edu/dance/

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Adam Benjamin, a pioneer and much esteemed choreographer and teacher in the field of integrated dance. Based in the United Kingdom, he describes his introduction to disability through a visual arts residency at a spinal injury clinic, and how it led to a moment of a woman in a wheelchair supporting himself, an able-bodied man, subverting gender and able-ist norms, and thus initiating CandoCo Dance Company. He discusses the importance of marrying choreography with education, the question of who can and can’t dance professionally with regards to learning disabilities, the process of making a university dance program accessible to students with disabilities, and the value of writing about his work and sharing it with others. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

http://stanceondance.com
http://www.bodyshift.org
https://www.adambenjamin.co.uk
http://www.candoco.co.uk
https://www.facebook.com/Integrated-Dance-Company-響-Kyo-356292594582053/

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Wagner Moreira, a Brazilian dancer, choreographer and teacher living and working in Dresden, Germany. Wagner and Silva discuss the in-between place of living in one country but being from another, the role of Wagner’s father in helping him find dance and his choreographic tribute to him 18 years after he took his own life, the use of nudity in dance and the idea of provocation instead of confrontation, the process of making/becoming/identifying as a dancer, and how technology is changing our modern concept of time.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

https://wlmoreira.wordpress.com
https://keshetarts.org
https://stanceondance.com
https://bodyshift.org

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Douglas Scott, artistic director of Full Radius Dance in Atlanta, Georgia. Silva and Douglas discuss, among other things, the importance and challenge of transposing movement for bodies of different abilities, the choice of the word “transposing” and how it is borrowed from music, the need for a university dance program that welcomes disabled students, and the development of the Dance and Disability Affinity Group with Judith Smith (found of AXIS Dance Company) and Dance/USA. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

Headshot - photo by Bubba Carr

https://www.fullradiusdance.org
https://www.stanceondance.com
https://www.keshetarts.org

In this episode I speak with Maija Karhunen about her work and life as a dancer.

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Maija Karhunen, a dancer and performer based in Helsinki, Finland. Maija discusses the practicalities of touring as a disabled dancer, attitudes in Europe toward disability, how to navigate the special attention that disability voices receive, and her desire to grow in both her professional and personal identity. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt.

Maija Karhunen is a dancer and performer based in Helsinki. She works with choreographers and directors in Finland and Europe. She studied dance and choreography in Finland, the Netherlands and Germany. Karhunen's interests lie in the all-encompassing performativity of the human, questions of power, intimacy, the personal and the grotesque. She works also in the field of (dance) writing and critique.

http://keshetarts.org
http://danceabilityfinland.com/kaaos/?lang=fi
https://vimeo.com/196710873
http://stanceondance.com
http://www.bodyshift.org

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Monika Požek, founder and director of MeetShareDance in Madrid, Spain. MeetShareDance is an annual festival that takes place in a different country each year, and that was created with the aim of supporting integrative dance as well as building an international network of integrated dance professionals. Silva and Monika discuss the evolution of the festival, Monika’s background, and the spread of integrated dance both in Europe and the United States. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt.

Monika Požek, founder and artistic director of MeetShareDance, received her first dance training in Slovenia, dancing and competing hip hop for 12 years. After obtaining a degree in continuing education, she moved to Argentina where she began training in contemporary techniques, as well as studying dance movement therapy (at AADT and Maria Fux method) and integrated dance at IUNA with Susana Gonzales. She continued with Danceability teacher training in Finland, workshops with Adam Benjamin, CandoCo and collaborating with a wheelchair dance group Zebra (Slovenia) and DanZass (Madrid). In 2012, she started MeetShareDance. In 2014-15, Monika was a Fulbright Schuman researcher on integrated dance, traveling to Atlanta and working with Full Radius Dance. In 2017, MeetShareDance festival was winner of the #BeInclusive EU Sport Award. Monika lives and works in Madrid.

http://stanceondance.com
http://keshetarts.org
https://meetsharedance.com

Interview with Violeta Fatas.

http://www.paressueltos.org
http://www.keshetarts.org
http://www.bodyshift.org
http://stanceondance.com
https://www.adambenjamin.co.uk
https://www.plymouth.ac.uk/courses/undergraduate/ba-dance
https://meetsharedance.com

In this episode I spoke with my dear friend and colleague Tanya Winters about her career and our visit to Berlin, Germany where we took part in couple of integrated festivals.

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Tanya Winters, a dancer in Austin, TX. Tanya found her way into the world of dance in the early 2000s before becoming certified in DanceAbility in 2011. She currently performs with Body Shift. Tanya shares a bit of her journey claiming dance with a disability, from overcoming insecurities to finding her own voice. Text by Emmaly Wiederholt.

A Chicago native, Tanya Winters fell in love with Austin after a weekend trip. She loves creating and pushing the boundaries of art and disability. Tanya’s career as an artist began in theater in 2005 and shifted to dance in 2007 thanks to a wooden chair and the desire to tell a story. As a student of Austin Community College, she gained extensive background in improvisation and choreography. Tanya became a certified DanceAbility instructor in 2011. Currently, she dances with Body Shift. She hopes that her work will motivate other dancers to think outside the box and erase the line between ability and disability.

https://meetsharedance.com
http://www.tanzkoerper-erweiterung.de/en/home/
http://www.bodyshift.org
http://stanceondance.com

n this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews Nancy Bain, who has spent her life working in dance education. She shares some of her most unique teaching experiences, including addressing war with students through dance at a public elementary school for the arts. Nancy also discusses why she never opted to open a dance studio, how she helped her alma mater start a dance department, how she developed an injury awareness class, and her myriad work with special needs students. She believes dance is for everyone, and her rich career reflects this.

Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

In this episode I was talking to my good friend Julie about her work within the integrated dance scene as well as her time in Java.

Liv is a multidisciplinary artist and educator based in the Bay Area. Liv graduated from Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA Program at Dominican University of California in 2013, and spent the 2013-2015 seasons dancing with DanceWorks Chicago under direction of Julie Nakagawa. Liv embraces employment opportunity nationwide; developing integrative arts curriculum, educating dancers, performing, and creating choreographic commissions with organizations such as Youth Art Exchange, Jacob's Pillow Curriculum in Motion®, The JUNTOS Collective, Western Michigan University, Southern Exposure, and Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA & Summer Programs. You can currently spot Liv dancing with AXIS Dance Company, where she joined in August of 2016.
Photo of Liv by David DeSilva

http://www.aliviaschaffer.com
http://stanceondance.com
http://www.axisdance.org
http://www.bodyshift.org

Sandra Paola López R. is a dancemaker, improviser and performance activist. Her work is characterized by the investigation of complex issues such as relationship, gender, race, identity, awareness, kinesthetic listening and perception, and it has taken her through the US, Colombia, Brazil, Cyprus, France, Canada and Mexico. Since moving to the United States from her native Colombia in 2004 she has developed her art practice to integrate her creative process and her cultural organizing efforts. Driven by her commitment to social justice, Sandra Paola co-founded and now directs in2improv – an organization empowering diverse populations through performance and improvisation in the US/Mexico border. She has taught widely in both formal and informal education settings and is currently dance faculty at the University of Texas at El Paso and a candidate in the MFA program in Interdisciplinary Arts at Goddard College.

http://www.sandrapaolalopez.com
http://www.bodyshift.org
http://www.stanceondance.com
http://www.in2improv.org

In this episode of DanceCast, Silva interviews 22 year-old Hanna Tams, founder and director of Douban Dance Company in Jerusalem. Hanna is dedicated to reaching at-risk Palestinian youth through dance, thereby using art for social change. Hanna shares the cultural obstacles he has overcome, the political implications of sharing dance with his community, and the power of dance to bring joy and heal.
Text by Emmaly Wiederholt

https://www.facebook.com/douban2012/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKv0r7VyfP4
https://bodyshift.org
https://stanceondance.com