[Image Description: A circle of different colored moons in yellow, orange, and purple hues each in a different phase of the 8 moon phases. In the middle of the moon circle is the word Rotations in a pale lavender color. The background is a dark night sky brimming with tiny glowing stars.]
ROTATIONS is a collaborative movement practice working towards deepening and challenging our understanding of artistry, disability, and access.
The vibe:
ROTATIONS acts as an exploratory online workshop space where the priority is being together and learning from one another.
ROTATIONS moves in cycles. Each cycle consists of a series of 8-9 movement classes taught by different practicing movement artists. Our first cycle runs from October 22- December 17 2020 (US) / Oct 23- Dec 18, 2020 (NZ), once a week on Zoom.
As a means to create a collective resource, all techniques and curricula are open-source and created and taught by Mad, Deaf/deaf/HoH, chronically ill, sick, and disabled dancers.
ROTATIONS embraces connecting internationally in true crip fashion through the Internet, therefore, ROTATIONS teaching artists are currently practicing from Lenapehoking (New York City area - EST), Aotearoa (New Zealand - NZT), Atayal Territory (Taipei - Taiwan Time), and Berlin, Germany (CET).
Principles of the practice:
Open ended commitment: Collaborators can leave + join as you wish (time/energy/commitments allow).
We work in and work with crip time.
Learning and being together is priority.
The Internet has been and continues to be a space for care and intimacy.
Value wholeness and nuance of lived experience. Knowledge and wisdom come in many forms.
Share and cultivate processes that are: perspective-driven, task-based, generative, inter/multidisciplinary, trauma-informed, decolonizing, re-imagining, access as aesthetic, BIPOC-centering, among others.
Techniques and curricula taught can be shared / open-source with permission.
Commit to honoring and working towards justice across disability, race, class, gender, sexuality, immigration status, among others.
No gate-keeping allowed. Ideas of hierarchy in dance or disability are not welcome here.
Access is an ongoing, intersectional process and we are always learning.
We work to host teachers that reflect the identities and access needs of participants.
On disability
We acknowledge the fluid nature of disability, that disability is not a binary, it cannot fit into a yes or no check-box. We acknowledge that disability identity language helps bring us together, yet also exists as a barrier for many– particularly BIPOC and immigrant communities– who do not use disability identity language. We welcome anyone who holds a relationship with illness/ disability, which includes those who are unsure about their disability status.
On dance
We welcome anyone with a curiosity for movement expression. ROTATIONS works to re-imagine the dance learning space as one that both serves experienced dancers and those with little or no experience. We hope to foster new and generative forms, outline our own criteria for skill and rigor, and integrate multimodal, interdisciplinary modes of learning and creating. In short, we’re here to learn from each other and invent our own dances. Join us in the practice.
About us.
We welcome ROTATIONS as a movement, not a static entity, group, or space. We welcome ROTATIONS as an on-going practice.
ROTATIONS reflects the cyclical nature of the crip bodymind, refusing the bounds of space and time as dominant culture knows it. In this practice, we work towards honoring our shifting motions in their wholeness. In this practice, we turn together.
ROTATIONS is a dream collaboration founded by multidisciplinary artists Pelenakeke Brown and Yo-Yo Lin. It is developed in partnership and with administrative and strategic support from Touch Compass and Brooklyn Arts Exchange. Lead funding is provided by the Ford Foundation.
