iDance colloquium #1

iDance colloquium #1

Providing access to contemporary dance education for people with disabilities

On December 3rd 2017, the International Day of Persons with Disabilities, Onassis Cultural Centre is staging a colloquium addressing access to contemporary dance education and professional development opportunities for dancers with disabilities with the participation of speakers from Greece and abroad.

How can we make culture more accessible to people with disabilities?

Open dance workshops will be held in parallel with the conference, giving attendees an opportunity to experience the educational tools and methods of the iDance programme for themselves in mixed groups of people both with and without disabilities.

The conference aims to bring together artists, researchers, social activists, cultural professionals and the general public from Greece, the U.S. and the UK to discuss experiences and best practices and explore issues such as:

How can we make culture more accessible to people with disabilities?
How can we challenge conventional understandings of access within the context of cultural organizations?
What is the relationship between the artist and the institution?
What are the physical barriers to practice?
Is there a value in re-thinking the language used to critique and talk about dance?
How can the knowledge that exists in disabled artists be disseminated?
And how can disabled artists progress into leadership roles?
Following the keynote presentations, open access workshops will be held addressing artists, researchers, social activists, cultural professionals, students and the general public, giving attendees an opportunity to experience a new, relational model for accessibility called Open Access and the dance educational tools and methods of the iDance programme in mixed groups of people both with and without disabilities.

 

PROGRAMME
Talks | Upper Stage

12:00-12:45 | iDance_Providing access to contemporary dance education for people with disabilities
Panel Discussion:
Myrto Lavda, Head of Educational Programmes at the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens
Dora Vougiouka, Networking & Outreach Coordinator at the Onassis Cultural Centre-Athens
Eirini Kourouvani, Dancer
Maria Koliopoulou, Choreographer/Dancer
Konstantina Barkouli, Dancer

12:45-13:30 | The role of the artist and the institution 
Speakers:
Carmen Papalia, artist and disability activist (USA/Canada)
Georgia Krantz, Independent Accessibility Trainer and Consultant (USA)

Talk: “How to Close Your Eyes” | Carmen Papalia
In 2010, Vancouver-based social practice artist Carmen Papalia started resisting support options that promoted ablest concepts of normalcy and self-identified as a “non-visual learner”. The choice was in line with an effort to distance himself from marginalizing language like “blind” and “visually impaired” and helped Papalia realize the position that he occupied as a liberatory space. In this survey of Papalia’s socially-engaged work over the last ten years, the artist will illustrate the various ways that he has employed organizing strategies and improvisation to establish a space for himself within a field that has privileged visual experience for centuries.

Talk: “Collaborations with disabled artists/scholars” | Georgia Krantz
As an art educator, art historian, trainer and consultant, Georgia Krantz has worked for over a decade to create more accessible museum experiences for people with disabilities.  In her educational programs, she stresses the importance of visitor interaction as a means to level the participatory field of engagement, empower visitors with awareness of their own abilities and diversify the resources and knowledge base for close looking, discussion and interpretation.This idea of collaboration extends to the central role of artists in Georgia’s teaching and programming.  Many artists consider themselves to be educators and it is this tie between art as a practice and art practice as an educational tool that Georgia seeks to explore.  In this talk, she will present three different examples of collaborations that she undertook in order to expand the discourse around art and education.
The talk of Georgia Krantz happens with the support of the Us Embassy in Athens.

13:30-14:15 | Empower future leaders 
Speaker:
Kate Marsh, disabled artist/researcher (UK)

Talk: “Dance Artists as Agents of Change” | Kate Marsh
As part of this presentation, Kate will present an ‘insider’ perspective relating to the film produced within the project Resilience and Inclusion: Dance Artists as Agents of Change. The creation of this film enabled her to adopt an artist-researcher position during filming. This unique role meant that she could ask questions and attempt to explore them through practice with her peers. She will present her experience as both a disabled dancer and choreographer and researcher on a project which at its core seeks to uncover the ‘realities’ of dance practice for disabled artist. In addition, she will offer a reflection on the benefits of intensive practical research in gaining a valuable insight into the ‘real’ experience of disabled artists in practice.

14:15-15:00 | Networking & lunch 

Following the keynote presentations, there will be three workshops open to artists, researchers, social activists, cultural professionals, students and the general public:

WORKSHOPS | 15:00-17:00

Workshop 1
“Open Access: A Demonstration”
Carmen Papalia, artist and disability activist

In English, with parallel translation into Greek. Greek sign language services will be provided if there is interest from deaf & hard of hearing participants.

In 2015 – as a reaction to the failures that he experienced as a recipient of institutional disability support services – Vancouver-based artist and disability activist Carmen Papalia produced a new, relational model for accessibility called Open Access.
Consisting of five tenets that describe a relational practice concerning the agreement to support others, Open Access establishes a space for considerations of agency and power across social, cultural, and political boundaries. In this participatory workshop about organizing for accessibility and mutual aid, Papalia will introduce participants to the Open Access framework. Since first proposing it in 2015, Papalia has employed Open Access as: a private agreement for support, a visibility campaign for social accessibility, and a methodology for assessing the conditions of institutional access and publicness.

Workshop 2
Dance workshop for people with and without disabilities
Maria Koliopoulou (choreographer/dancer), Andreas Kolisoglou (dancer), Eirini Kourouvani (dancer)

In Greek. Greek sign language services will be provided if there is interest from deaf & hard of hearing participants.

The European iDance programme aims to provide access to contemporary dance education for people with disabilities by offering dance workshops for mixed groups of people with and without prior engagement in dance. In this workshop, participants with different type of disabilities or not will have the opportunity to try some of the techniques used in the inclusive dance workshops organised annually by OCC and experience how we can all access culture through dance.
This workshop is open to people who haven’t experienced a similar inclusive dance workshop at the OCC (open to new participants).

Workshop 3
Training and working in dance as a disabled artist
Kate Marsh
 (disabled artist/researcher) 
In English, with parallel translation into Greek. Greek sign language services will be provided if there is interest from deaf & hard of hearing participants.

A dance and movement workshop for anyone of any level of experience, disabled, non-disabled, professional and first-time dancer. We will work from each person’s individual movement vocabulary to explore and develop possibilities and potential around ways of moving and liberating vocabulary in the body. The workshop will be both improvisational and guided with opportunities to work individually and as a group, learning from each other as well as focusing on and from oneself.
In this workshop priority will be given to people who have participated in similar inclusive dance workshops at the OCC.