DanceAbility brings eclectic dance to Florence
“Don’t Leave Me” is an enthralling
modern dance performance that celebrates
creativity and the potential that is only
possible when people with and without
disabilities work together as equals. This
is the fi rst professional mixed-abilities
performance ever to be shown in Florence.
It is also the fi rst time that DanceAbility
International will perform in Florence.
“Don’t Leave Me” is being presented
by the DanceAbility International dance
company, in collaboration with the
University of Oregon School of Architecture,
which designed the set structures. The show
explores how we are all dependent on each
other and how space determines action and
vice versa. The dancers use the ever-changing
set design as apparel, as furniture and as
architecture. The human and architectural
bodies act as a symbiotic community.
This cross-discipline collaboration
of dance and architecture takes risks with
frames and bodies. During a rehearsal, one
of the dancers was high up on the designed
structure and felt it start to shake. She
immediately called out to the dancers below
her “don’t leave me!”
This became the title of the piece.
It speaks to our interdependence and
also the DanceAbility method belief that
nobody should be left
out or left behind. This
performance will open
audience’s hearts and
minds. It shows the
unlimited
potential
of
people
when
disabilities are not
viewed as something
inferior. The dancers
with
and
without
disabilities create and
express together as
equals.
and delight, as they dissolve labels and
barriers.
This project is made possible in part by
Western Lane Community Foundation, Plum
Creek Foundation, and Lane County Cultural
Coalition, with operating support from Lane
Arts Council and Oregon Arts Commission.
“Don’t Leave Me” will be performed at
the Florence Events Center June 10, at 7 p.m.
DanceAbility International’s mission
is to create opportunities for people with
and without disabilities to dance and move
together. Its vision is that through dance
and movement, people from very diverse
backgrounds experience the art of being
together. The DanceAbility method began
forming in 1988. The DanceAbility method
uses improvisational dance to promote
artistic expression and exploration between
people with and without disabilities.
The method supports self-empowerment
by offering ways that all individuals can
participate fully in expressing their creative
choices, including respecting one’s own
limits. Following one’s own interest and
desire, and applying that to the benefi t of
one’s community is a basic DanceAbility
teaching. Alito Alessi, the founder of
DanceAbility International, based in Eugene,
Ore., has been involved with the evolution
of contemporary dance for the past 35 years,
and is internationally known as a pioneering
teacher and choreographer in the fi elds
of contact improvisation and dance and
disability.
He teaches month-long DanceAbility
Teacher Certifi cation Courses once or twice
a year around the world. He is a Guggenheim
Fellow and award-winning choreographer.
First, his choreographic/performance
work with Karen Nelson, Mary Oslund and
others broke gender barriers in the early 80s,
with women lifting men and vice versa.
Since the 90s, he has focused more on
choreographing with a mix of dancers with,
and without, disabilities. Their vision is that
through dance and movement, people from
very diverse backgrounds experience the art
of being together.
In addition to performing, they conduct
recreational classes and workshops and
train dance educators to be able to be more
inclusive.
For more information or to interview
founder Alito Alessi, contact Kathryn
Gaines at 541-731-1643 or email kathryn@
danceability.com.
For tickets to the June 10 performance
at the FEC, visit www.eventcenter.org or call
the box offi ce at 541-997-1994.
DanceAbility
International
performances surprise
Page 4
The Florence Events Center website: www.eventcenter.org