Ellice Patterson based Skills Dance Boston in 2017 in response to the shortage {of professional} alternatives she encountered within the larger Boston space for dancers with disabilities. At the moment she serves as each creative and govt director for the small-but-growing group. Along with its skilled performing firm, Skills Dance Boston works to disrupt ableist stereotypes through neighborhood engagement, cultural capacity-building, and political advocacy.
Skills Dance premieres its newest work, Tales from the Crips, in individual and through livestream on November 8 and 9 at Boston’s Strand Theatre. The ballet reframes incapacity narratives inside acquainted fairy tales—for instance, a Sleeping Magnificence with lengthy COVID or persistent fatigue—centering every character’s expertise as one thing to rejoice quite than cover. Patterson took a second to debate Tales from the Crips and Skills Dance’s broader mission.
How do the completely different branches of Skills Dance replicate your creative imaginative and prescient?
I establish as a multiply disabled, queer Black girl, and all of these identities come via in our creative and advocacy work. We’ve got knowledgeable firm that features Disabled and non-Disabled artists, and the numerous various identities that people carry into the area contribute to the material of the work. We even have an engagement program that brings adaptive dance schooling courses for college kids and elders to quite a lot of neighborhood areas. Our entry group offers providers like ASL and audio descriptions. Relying on the present, multi-genre artists like animators will contribute as nicely. What’s most essential, although, is that we come collectively to make use of dance as a instrument for advocacy.
Have you ever seen any change within the dance subject relating to incapacity, ableism, and alternatives for Disabled artists?
We’re all on an entry journey. I’ve seen cultural competency change over time, not only for myself however rippling outward within the larger Boston arts and tradition sector. It’s extra widespread to see entry measures applied, from captioning and ASL to sliding scales and livestreams. It’s thrilling as a result of it means of us don’t need to rely solely on our exhibits, or the work of different disability-centered organizations.
Arts leaders have a deeper understanding about help not solely audiences and college students but additionally their very own groups. I see extra Disabled hires locally. We’ve got been chronically under- or unemployed, and seeing extra Disabled of us promoted into management positions means they’re making selections based mostly on lived experiences.
You’re balancing creative and govt management with culture-making and political advocacy. How are you managing all these roles?
It’s onerous. Historically, as a frontrunner, you’re conditioned to tackle additional accountability when people are at capability. However what in case you’re the Disabled chief who additionally wants help? We’re having conversations internally about share entry wants. I’ve household to vent to, and chosen household. We’re all attempting our greatest to observe interdependence.
What units Tales from the Crips other than different fairy story ballets?
This ballet is impressed by a e book referred to as Disfigured, by Amanda Leduc. Her e book investigates fairy-tale tropes and the way they impression our understanding of the world. Who will we see because the hero? Who will get to be stunning and who’s “ugly”?
We reimagined these fairy tales by placing ourselves within the narrative and eradicating the ableist tropes. The storylines come collectively to debate incapacity as one thing to be embraced and welcomed. For instance, I’m enjoying the Little Mermaid character, utilizing crutches and aerial silks to contribute to the story and prolong my motion. I contemplate my crutches to be an extension of my physique. It’s solely pure that they be included in my motion observe.
Is Tales from the Crips particularly for Disabled viewers members?
We’re addressing entry wants in quite a lot of methods, together with a sliding scale, captioning, ASL interpretation, and extra. Primarily based on the title, non-Disabled individuals won’t assume the work is for them. However there are components on this present for non-Disabled viewers members to study from. This ballet may also help individuals take into consideration be extra inclusive in their very own communities.
