#disabilitydanceartistry

[jadeitude]

Everyone Can Dance

1)

I have been surrounded by people disabilities since I was about 8 years old. My mom is a special education educator and would bring me to her classroom to play with her students sometimes. Back then, people at my school would still use the word retard which always bothered me because I thought of people with disabilities at a young age as just the same as everyone else. I did not judge people by their capability or how they looked. 5 years ago I decided to apply to be a para educator. I have been working with students with disabilities both physical and mental in the Edmonds School District of ages 3-7 and 18-21 ever since. I have a background of dance of 13 years specifically in ballet, some jazz and some hip hop. I stopped dancing professionally when I went to high school, right before I was ready to go on pointe shoes. I loved being more expressive with my dance moves whereas ballet is very structured and perfected. I attended events called Jimz where everyone would dance how they wanted in dark rooms with rap and hip hop music. I then started to attend raves at the young age of 14 (and still today). At raves, I saw people in wheelchairs which inspired a thought that, oh yeah everyone CAN dance and should be included no matter the circumstance. In the preschool classrooms I have worked in the last 3 years. Physical therapists have come into the classroom to teach yoga and a circle time the teachers encourage standing up to dance to songs. This continued to inspire the idea that everyone can and should dance. This year I learned about ecstatic dance. This changed my world. I no longer hid in dark rooms to dance or felt the need to be part of the drug and alcohol culture to really get into my body and move. I took an intro to dance class Winter quarter and would dance the entire time I waited for the bus, something I always envied. When I saw people just let it all out and dance on the street. I became that person. I am still, of course, working on being comfortable to move my body whenever I feel like it in however way I want without feeling sexualized for it or labeled. I believe movement is medicine and can benefit all people. I have started to have dance parties with the 6 year old that I am a respite care provider for, who cannot walk without a walker and his disability also affects his fine motor skills. I encourage him that he can do anything he puts his mind to and that dancing/moving feels good and is a way to express yourself. 

I feel connected to the video that I choose (thank you Professor B for showing me this video)  because one of the dancers has a physical disability that we can see and you can visibly see that this is a diverse group. 

2)

I love how each dancer has their own style but also the dancers vibe with each other and you can tell they are having so much fun. This expands on the Camille Brown video because my first video is a representation of social dance. It emphasizes the fact that anyone can dance as well you can see how the group is vibing together showing how dancing can be social. The song that is played is “Lay Up” by Future and everyone has baggy clothes on which provides the opportunity to move more freely. In the video I chose, the person front and center will do their own dance which represents polyrhythm and then together on a certain beat of the song the entire group will do the same dance move, to me, makes the group look like a community of dancers. I think the video I chose does challenge the Camille Brown video because even though the artist who the group chose to use to dance to is African American, and a majority of the dancers are African American, there is a white person dancing with them as well. I am still learning about the idea of what kind of dancing is racial appropriation especially as a white person myself. I never want to offend culture or other people's history through my language or through my dance. I will admit that I don’t understand how dance can be racial appropriation when it is a way of expressing oneself which also makes me feel uncomfortable to say and makes me feel like I am ignorant.

[jadeitude]

Hip Hop Dance and Disability

I decided to research Hip Hop Dance and Disability for a number of reasons. 

I was inspired to learn more about how hip hop dance is a personal form of expression as well as an inclusive form of dance style and how people of different body abilities use dance to empower their individuality and their own special body. 

“Limitation can be a source of creativity.” This was a statement made in class by Professor Bragin. I want to embrace this idea through the posts I blog about. This relates to Hip Hop Dance because through history enslaved African Americans used dance as a way to heal, communicate, and create a community without the use of words or language barriers, instead through dance, clapping, rhythm, and movement. When humans have limitations whether it is to access, social injustice, being born with different bodies, we can all celebrate and express our differences through the power of dance and movement. A song or a rhythm is all we need to come together and dance or dance alone and record it and post it on media for the world to see. 

I believe that movement is medicine. I think that through all forms of movement and dance, there is a strong possibility for personal healing to come forth for each individual. Dance can be a form of self care, a de-stresser. I definitely use dance to relieve stress, to get out of my head and into my body. Our bodies are essentially our homes, one thing no one can take away from us

Lastly, I am going to school to become properly educated to be a certified developmental special education teacher, specifically for early childhood development. I think it is important to teach all youth to use their bodies and express themselves through dance and movement which started through hip hop dance. I have worked for five years officially with children with disabilities. I have been exposed to kids with physical and mental differences since I was 8 years old. I learned at a very young age that everyone is capable of succeeding in their own way and I have always embraced this belief. I want to showcase through this blog that very idea, everyone can dance! I did ballet for 11 years, a structured and strict style of dance which gave me experience and exposure with one dance style at a young age. I now love to shake my body and dance however I please, more of the ecstatic style of dance inspired by hip hop dance and other traditional dances from all over the world that I have learned about in my previous Intro to Dance class and through social media. I especially resonate with the beat of a drum and cowbells.  

I want to always be able to embrace and make it apparent to kids in and out of the classroom that dance and movement is important especially with my work as a future educator. 

I work as a respite care provider with a 7 year old with a physical disability. He loves to sing and dance to music, he lights up. So, we have dance parties all the time. This experience helped me realize how important it is to show all kids about dancing and movement. In the classroom setting at circle time I have seen how excited and determined most kids get about Yoga time or sing and dancing at circle time.