Calling Up Justice member Jesenia [@NeuroSpicyNetworking] travelled to NYC to support a Calling Up Justice Collaborator India Harville and their dance intensive as part of Embraced Body. How We Move is a disability dance intensive centering disabled body-minds in creating inclusive movement education spaces!
Image from Embraced Body’s Instagram Post [Image Description: How We Move artists rehearsing majorette dance in the studio. Featured are Hector Machado, Jackie Robinson, and Kayla Hamilton. Everyone is masked with their left arm and index finger pointing outward to the side, and their right hand on their hip. The shot is taken from behind the dancers. In the front, captions are being shared on a large TV screen.]
Disability Justice in Dance
The two week intensive included Artist-led workshops, adaptive movement exercises, quiet spaces, catered lunches meeting all the various dietary and allergy needs, and accessible studio and transportation! The amount of coordination and planning needed to make this as accessible for the artists and team was astounding and impressive! India included a celebration for Juneteenth as well as a private tour of the Christine Sun Kim: All Day, All Night exhibit at the Whitney Museum! We ended the intensive with an artist showcase and panel discussion that was fully masks REQUIRED made for an accessible and covid-safer gathering! ASL and Cart captioning were included and multiple seating options were available.
How We Move is our opportunity as Disabled dancers to figure out what we want to create outside of a mainstream dance lens—while unpacking our own internalized ableism. What’s possible when we stop assimilating to a non-disabled dance world? What happens when we move from the margin to the center? Together, we’re about to find out.
India Harville, Executive Director of Embraced Body and Co-creator of How We Move
Thanks to @India Harville and Embraced Body team and artists! @theoriesofcare for your support in keeping me functional and @One Free Community for keeping Accessible Virtual Pride planning going while I was away! @Dev Hill @Calling Up Justice Also the reunion at @backstageaccessdallas event! #maskup#disabilitypridemonth#makeprideaccessible#whymask#maskingiscaring
HWM hired me to support them as their Production Manager and Support Access Doula. We all worked seamlessly together to ensure that all tasks were covered, playing to our strengths, and honoring each of our limitations and capacities. This Disability Justice in praxis was such an honor and privilege to help India’s & Kayla’s vision come to life!
[Image Description: Jesenia, a native brown skin woman with black Mohawk haircut, wearing a blue dress, yellow kn95 mask, and gold and green tiara, is sitting at a desk covered in name tags on lanyards, gesturing to someone off camera.]
[Image Description: Left, NYC building and skyline on a gloomy overcast evening. Right, People walking around in Penn Station. Rainbow banner on the ceiling.]
This intensive was unique as it included bringing our Personal Care Assistant (PCA) for artists and staff, which is rare for many programs and while usually an afterthought, HWM made it a priority! We had several meetings ahead of gathering to ascertain access needs, come up with community agreements, scent-free policies, covid protocols, and artists orientation. Embraced Body also provided masks, daily covid testing supplies, swag bags, meals, travel and accommodations for all the artists, staff, and PCAs. All of which was made possible by the generous support of the Mellon Foundation.
[Image Description: JJ, Jesenia, and GJ wearing masks in the Whitney Museum.]
The drive up was harder than expected on us. My PCA, GJ Hodson of Theories of Care, and I drove up from Texas to NYC, taken in 3 days. From our mistakes leaning to unintentional set-backs, to outright discrimination, we didn’t arrive to NYC until dawn a day later than expected. But it was pretty amazing to see the city at dawn with the sunrise pouring through the buildings while vendors set up for the famers’ market at a square across from the hotel. We checked in and slept, but even with a full day of scheduled rest, we didn’t quite feel ready to go when the dancers began to arrive the following afternoon. But that is the life of a spoonie producer!
Access is love
We share our love for our disability community by making space for access! The artists were creative, thoughtful, and open to deep and meaningful discussions of what access looks like in their artistry and practice. We had daily access check-ins, skill sharing and movement work, as well as space for sharing our lived experiences and connection to body-mind-spiritual practices. This was a group of People of the Global Majority (PGM) feeling comradery and connection, as well as disability joy and radical acceptance of discovering our needs and examining our conditioned internalized ableism.
[Image Description: Three pictures with two artists in each frame, purple backgrounds with the names of all the artists below their names. Assaleh Bibi (they/them), kumari giles (they/them), Devin Hill (they/them), Hector Machado (they/she), Jackie Robinson (she/her), Zen Spencer (she/her). ]
This amazing team of people were pivotal in making How We Move the amazing and accessible program that it is. Every one brought their strengths and their passion for disability access doula work to this space. We shifted and were adaptable to emerging needs, broken ACs, medical attention, and meltdowns. We worked with grace and the fluidity that comes with access intimacy. It was an honor and a privilege to get to work with such amazing collaborators and humans!
[Image Description: Orange backround with round frames of the team of How We Move! INDIA HARVILLE | Program Director & Co-facilitator (she/her), KAYLA HAMILTON | Co-creator & Co-facilitator (she/her), JJ OMELAGAH | Program Manager & Access Doula (they/them), ZIIOMI LAW | Production Assistant (they/them/themme), JESENIA | Intensive Production Manager (she/any), & MOVEMENT RESEARCH | Venue Partner.]
Centering Joy in disability dance
We practiced access negotiations in real time by adjusting schedules and moving team members around to meet the needs even when there were conflicting access needs, such as lighting or sound considerations. The showcase will be rolled out in the future, so check back in to catch those releases!
[Image Description: How We Move artists rehearsing majorette dance in the studio. Everyone is masked with their arms moving to put both hands behind their heads. The shot is taken from the side of the dancers.]
Exploring NYC
We had a group field trip to the Whitney Museum to see the Christine Sun Kim: All Day, All Night exhibit. A blind artist sharing their experience of ablism in modern art and travel.
[Image Descriptions: Three Images, Left: Jesenia wearing pink shorts and a green backpack walks through a crosswalk to join the anti-genocide protesters for the No Kings protests. Center, neon purple sign that reads, “Eat. Drink. Start a Revolution.” over the entry of a building. Right, Jesenia sitting in an ornate lounge with gold walls and blue couches, working at a laptop surrounded by colorful gold and blue pillows]
We didn’t have too much time or spoons for exploration, but my PCA and I were able to eat a lot of easily accessible and Gluten Free food! Lot’s of yummy crepes, GF pasta, pizzas, and Halal street food! We went thrift shopping, joined a protest, and even took a train to the Bronx on our day off to meet other fellow community organizers! We even hosted a karaoke party with PCAs in our hotel room since we had been super strict about masking and testing daily. “We never had as much energy as we wanted, but we tended to have as much as we needed.” ~ GJ
[Image Description: Networking in the Brox! pictured Joshua of usirconsulting on the left, Skully in the center and Jesenia and GJ on the right, all wearing masks at a cafe, with a HEPA filter in the middle.]
Watch a video recorded during my time in NYC below.
[Image Description: Left: a railroad track with overgrown plants converted to a boardwalk High-line surrounded by tall silver skyscrapers. Right: Jesenia wearing a mask and holding a fan on an escalator leading out of a NYC subway.]
On the drive back were were able to visit CUJ practice member Ry for a quick masked hug and chat while we grabbed some snacks for the train!
[Image Description: Jesenia on the left wearing a yellow mask and pink glasses, Ry in the center wearing a white duckbill mask and a grey shirt, and GJ on the right wearing a flannel blue shirt, a duck bill and wire glasses.]
Jesenia, a collaborator with Calling Up Justice and cofounder ofOne Free Community, is working to build a more equitable and inclusive world via collective action by building communities. Learn more on herWebsite orRead Jesenia’s Bio.
