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NDEO Online WebinarsDisability 101Teaching Integrated DanceFilm Discussions
 

Dance & Disability

The following workshops and film discussions were hosted NDEO's Dance & Disability Task Force and made possible with support from the Theresa Foundation. The Disability 101 workshops took place during the 2020 NDEO Virtual National Conference.

Disability 101 Workshops

The Americans with Disabilities Act is celebrating its 30th year in 2020. Much has occurred in American disability culture, regulation and societal understanding since 1990, and much remains to be done. These 1.5-hour workshops and panel discussions address introductory concepts for dance educators to understand language, history and tools needed to bring accessibility and inclusion into their classrooms and community. Presented each day of conference with a different panel, Disability 101 addresses 3 dance constituencies.

Community and Professional Dance (aired 10/23/20)

Featuring Ellice Patterson, Founding Director of Abilities Dance and Teri Wagner, Founding Director of Spoke N Motion Dance



K-12 Applications (aired 10/24/20)

Featuring Sidiki Conde, Founder of Tokounou All Ability African Dance and teacher for Cerebral Palsy Association of Nassau County and Brandy Mimms, Deaf dancer, choreographer, teacher, and Founder of Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe

Dancing Across the Life Span (aired 10/25/20)

Featuring Myna Majors, dancer, educator and former member of Baba Olatunji Drums of Passion and Ginger Lane, Coordinator of the Arts & Culture project at Chicago’s Access Living, the foremost Disability Rights Organization in the U.S



Teaching Integrated Dance

Dancing Wheels: Physically Integrated Dance Teacher Training (aired 2/6/21)
featuring Mary Verdi-Fletcher, Sara Lawrence-Sucato, and Mark Tomasic


Dancing Wheels Company Master Teachers will present an introductory physically integrated dance teacher training based on methodologies rooted in scientific research and artistic inquiry. The session will cover disability movement characteristics, translation, and adaptive approaches used in the company’s published manual and recent developments in the Dancing Wheels Company Teacher Certification programs. The teacher training will be led by Founding Artistic Director Mary Verdi-Fletcher, Artistic Advisor Mark Tomasic, and Rehearsal Director Sara Lawrence-Sucato.

ReelAbilities Film Discussions
Films courtesy ReelAbilities Film Festival, dedicated to promoting awareness and appreciation of the lives, stories and artistic expressions of people with different disabilities.

Revel in Your Body, JMaxx and the Universal Language, and Dancing on Wheels (aired 10/22/20)
featuring April Fan (director) and Kitty Lunn of Dancing on Wheels; Alice Sheppard and Laural Lawson of Revel in Your Body; and Jarell Sullivan and Ryan Mayers (director) of JMAXX and the Universal Language

Films in discussion:
  • Dancing on Wheels - Kitty Lunn, a paraplegic dancer has been teaching students with disabilities for the past thirty years
  • Jaxx and the Universal Language - Jarell is a teenager with autism who has learned to use hip-hop dance as a means to communicate his true self to the world.
  • Revel in Your Body - A short film experience of the joy of flight featuring disabled dancers Alice Sheppard and Laurel Lawson.


College Dance and the Fall Semester: Administrative Challenges Due to Covid - Q&A (aired 11/16/20)

Featuring Heidi Latsky from Heidi Latsky Dance, Mark Travis Rivera from AXIS Dance Company, Dr. Christopher Boulton from University of Tampa, Dwayne Schneuman from REVolutions Dance and Douglas Scott from Full Radius Dance.Click here for support materials

Films in discussion:
  • Solo Flight Ada30 and We Are Right Here - Heidi Latsky Company in performance
  • The Gift of (Impermanence) - AXIS Dance Company in performance
  • Every Body Dances - a short documentary sharing the rehearsal and performance process of a dance program for older adults
  • Reemerge - Full Radius Dance in performance