See Chicago Dance - June 2022

4 SEECHICA GODANCE .COM FEATURED EVENT ReinventAbility: CounterBalance 2022 Underscoring the beautiful creations of choreographer Ginger Lane is the spirit of a fighter who was arrested for demanding civil rights for people with disabilities and the tenderness of a holocaust survivor orphaned by the horrors of Auschwitz. “Disability is a vantage point, a perspective, a way of experiencing the world,” Lane said. “Disability culture includes the arts, sports, all aspects of society—it’s about shattering stereotypes and sharing the disability experience, something that touches us all at some point—whether it’s permanent or temporary, from birth or due to old age, themselves or through someone they love.” Lane is a dancer, choreographer, teacher, disability rights activist, wheelchair user, mother, grandmother, mentor and friend. She is the artistic director of ReinventAbility, a dance inclusion organization that shares the joy of dancing with disability. “Dance always seemed part of my life,” Lane shared. “At six years old, I arrived in the U.S. with limited English skills; movement allowed me to express myself freely. As a disabled adult, an opportunity to perform with the Joffrey spurred me to create movement for other disabled artists as well as myself.” About becoming a disability rights activist, Lane said, “I have been using a wheelchair since 1984 due to a skiing accident. Suddenly I found much of the world inaccessible, especially dance studios and performance stages. Witnessing and experiencing so much discrimination motivated me to improve the lives of people with disabilities. It took years, but when I finally discovered disability arts and culture, I found my calling.” In 2008, Lane conceived and produced the first CounterBalance: the Power of Integrated Dance, an accessible and equitably inclusive annual showcase, which has grown from a small show in a conference room to a critically acclaimed theatrical production. Dance>Detour, the first mixed- abilities dance company in Chicago, joined dancers from the MOMENTA Dance Company for that first presentation. Now in its 12th production, CounterBalance 2022 will highlight the next generation of disabled creators and dancers and feature a work by the inaugural recipient of the Ginger Lane Fellowship (to be announced in June). In 2020, Lane retired from producing and appointed Ladonna Freidheim, a wheelchair dancer, presenter/producer and founder of ReinventAbility, to continue her legacy. “As far back as I can remember,” Freidheim said, “a dancer is who I was. When degenerative disability ended my ballerina life, I recovered from surgeries with future paralympians. They taught me wheelchair sports, and I taught them to dance in their chairs.” Freidheim mostly uses leg braces and a cane, but her wheelchair allows her to dance. “We may live our lives with disability, but it is the people who make choices that exclude and discriminate against the disabled that handicap us. Make your programs accessible, not because of a law, but because you believe in equity for all people. Allow us to join in the dance, and together we will expand the horizons of our art form to be truly diverse, equitable and inclusive.” CounterBalance 2022 takes place September 24 and 25 at Center on Halsted. For information, visit momentadances.org . PC: ANDREW GLATT For The Seldoms 20th Anniversary, we’re thrilled to bring you Floe —a dynamic work for Art on theMART that spotlights climate change, vanishing ice, bodies of water and, ultimately, the human body. Directed by choreographer Carrie Hanson with an acclaimed team of collaborators, including visual designer Bob Faust and fashion designer Maria Pinto. theseldoms.org