When: Wednesday, June 23, 2021, 6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. (EST)
Where: Online Registration is required. All conversations are free and open to the public. 
Registration: This event is part of the Aesthetics and Artistry Series. Registration was required. All conversations are free and open to the public. Attend one or multiple town halls.

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re-experience disability aesthetics town hall

Accessibility:

  ASL interpretation will be provided by SignNexus.
   Closed Captioning services provided by The Viscardi Center.

If you require additional reasonable accommodation, please contact Brinda Guha at least two weeks prior to the event via email at sympcoordinator@dance.nyc or call 212.966.4452 (voice only).

About: Dance/NYC is pleased to host a conversation on Disability Aesthetics with Jerron Herman, Kayla Hamilton, Laurel Lawson, and Yo-Yo Lin. As disabled artists and dance companies continue to develop and codify their artistic methods, Disability Aesthetics will consider the evolving aesthetic frameworks within disability artistry, and how disabled artists are challenging existing notions of technique, training, and cultural practice. This conversation will explore each artist's approach with the intention of building informed, supportive networks around disability and art.

Series: Aesthetics and Artistry Town Hall Series

Series Description: As June is a month of many commemorations including Immigrant Heritage Month, LGBTQ+ Pride Month, Caribbean-American Heritage Month and Juneteenth, Dance/NYC is bringing attention to the artform of dance as the throughline that connects these celebrations. Dance/NYC hosts a two-part Aesthetics and Artistry town hall series that focuses on investigating practices of artistry within the New York City dance community. Part one will focus on Disability Aesthetics on Wednesday, June 23, 2021 and part two will focus on Immigrant Artistry, Resources, and Community, in partnership with the Center for Traditional Music and Dance, on Wednesday, June 30, 2021.


Confirmed Speakers - Click speaker names to access their bios:

Resources: 

• Jerron Herman: Many Ways to Raise a Fist (Excerpt) | Runtime: 3:26 minutes
  • Description: A solo performance by Jerron Herman analyzing the fraught relationship between "the fist" and the host, both exhibiting its power, subversion, and grace. Jerron dances on a warm stage with large paneled windows bringing in natural bright light. A blue bench with text sits in the center and audience heads are visible. Jerron, a dark-skinned Black man, moves in silhouette on the right side. His upper half is most visible. 
  • Credits: Many Ways to Raise a Fist, 2019, The Whitney Museum of American Art. Conceived & Performed by Jerron Herman. Featured bench by Shannon Finnegan. Filmed by Mason Auguste.
  • This video includes captions, ASL interpretation, and audio description.
• Kayla Hamilton: 2021 Choreo-Lab Sharing | Runtime: 11:13 minutes
  • Description: Kayla Hamilton shares a new work-in-progress on Zoom for the 2021 AXIS Virtual Choreo-Lab. After a brief introduction by Kayla, the video switches to a light-filled studio. Two dancers appear, one after the other, performing a brief movement and then covering the camera with their hand. This repeats for about three minutes. After this sequence, the screen is black for about a minute, then a series of video clips play. In these clips, a person in a wheelchair hangs up a shirt in their closet, then feet walk in a grassy field, then a person brushes their teeth, then more footage of feet walking in a grassy field, then a person’s feet in a wheelchair as they pull on a pair of green pants. The screen goes black again for another minute before switching to a clip of a dancer whose hand is covering the video camera. They step back, revealing the studio from the first sequence, and walk backwards and out of the right-hand side of the frame. 
  • Credits: Choreography: Kayla Hamilton. Dancers: DeMarco Sleeper, Sonsherée Giles, JanpiStar, Yuko Monden Juma. Choreo-Lab Mentor: Alice Sheppard. The 2021 AXIS Choreo-Lab is sponsored by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
  • This video does not include captions or ASL interpretation. Descriptive language is used throughout, but audio description is not available.
• Laurel Lawson: Lissajous 0.7  | Runtime: 5:07 minutes
  • Description: Part of a series of works exploring named mathematical equations in choreography, nature, and disabled embodiment, this mid-pandemic process exploration takes Laurel in multiple and superimposed site-specific workings.  
  • Credits: Commissioned in part by Mathematics in Motion
  • This clip is audio described. There is no other audio.   
• Yo-Yo Lin: the walls of my room are curved | Runtime: 15:10 minutes
  • Description: Yo-Yo dances in a sunlit studio. There are wires attached to her body, which connect to a soundboard that is being operated by the electronic musician Despina. The video then transitions to a dark theater. Yo-Yo stands in the center inside a translucent fabric room. She is lit by soft, purple lighting as she rotates her arms in a circular motion. The fabric is swirling with white projections, apparition-like. Despina, operating a soundboard, is silhouetted in the foreground.
  • Credits: Directed and Choreographed by Yo-Yo Lin. Music by Despina. Performed by Yo-Yo Lin and Despina. Costume Design by Bao Nguyen. Webcam Shader by Avneesh Sarwate. Lighting by Beaudau Banks. Produced by Morgaine DeLeonardis. Video Documentation by Steve Dabal and Jesse Sperling. Production Assistance by THE FAMILY. Video Background Music by David Britton. This performance was made possible by the support of Dance/NYC and Eyebeam. Performance and rehearsal space made possible by Gibney Dance.
  • This video includes closed captions via Vimeo auto-captioning. This video does not include ASL interpretation. Descriptive language is used throughout, but audio description is not available.

Please fill out our post-event survey. 

Resources During Live Session:

• Alice Sheppard
• Krishna Washburn
• Pelenakeke Brown
• Carolyn Lazard
• Lisa Bufano
• David Toole
• John Callahan
• Frida Kahlo
• Leah Lakshmi
• Stacey Milbern
• Jordan Lord
• Iele Paloumpis
• Movement Research Journal 52/53
• Constantina Zavitsanos
• Shannon Finnegan
• Ezra Benus
• Mana Hashimoto
• Simi Linton
• Kevin Gotkin
• Kazuo Ohno
• Christopher Nuñez
• Despina (sound artist)
• Alicia Alonso
• Information on Subpacs
• Kinetic Light: Wired
• Audimance - App by Kinetic Light
• Rotations (collaborative movement practice for and by disabled dancers)
• Amanda Williams' "Embodied Sensations" at MoMA, with: 
• Nic Kay
• Jonathan Gonzalez
• Anna Martine Whitehead
• Angie Pittman
• Devyn Emory
• Leslie Cuyjet

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Dance/NYC's justice, equity, and inclusion initiatives are made possible with leadership support from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Dance/NYC convening is made possible, in part, by support from the Howard Gilman Foundation and the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, and by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, the New York State Council on the Arts and from the National Endowment for the Arts.
 

   

   
 

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Dance/NYC seeks partners and speakers with a variety of viewpoints for its events with the goal of generating discussion. The inclusion of any partner or speaker does not constitute an endorsement by Dance/NYC of that partner's or speaker's views.