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Aesthetics of Access in Dance
April 21, 2022 @ 4:00 pm - 5:30 pm
Join Us for A Conversation On
The Aesthetics of Access in Dance
With
CHRISTOPHER “UNPEZVERDE” NÚÑEZ
&
YO-YO LIN
Moderated by
Kayla Hamilton
Thursday, April 21, 2022. 4:00 –5:30 p.m.
Credit: Walter Wlodarczyk, courtesy of The Immigrant Artist Biennial
An emerging genre of disability art explores “the aesthetics of access.” These artworks (whether dance, video, painting, or sound) take accessibility practices such as captioning, alt text, and description to be aesthetic ones. Yo-Yo Lin and Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez discuss the ways aesthetics of access in dance reimagines audiences, performance, and media.
Christopher “Unpezverde” Núñez is a visually impaired choreographer and dramaturg who traces the ideological narratives contained in immigrant and disabled bodies. From the autobiographical, he explores how imagination constructs meaning and personal mythology from the devastating events, violence and trauma experienced during his childhood in Central America. Núñez Audio Description practice is manifested through storytelling, as a form of resistance, preservation, cultural continuity, and perseverance. As Costa Rican born, of Nicaraguan and Garífuna descent, he is inspired by experiences of displacement, family migratory journeys, herbal medicine, indigenous dances, craftsmanship and folktales and how they intertwine with disability. Núñez choreography nurtures spaces for immigrant, disabled, and undocumented Latin American ancestry to flourish and be celebrated.
Yo-Yo Lin 林友友 is a Taiwanese-American, interdisciplinary media artist who explores the possibilities of self-knowledge in the context of emerging, embodied technologies. She often uses video, animation, live performance, and lush sound design to create meditative ‘memoryscapes.’ Her recent body of work reveals and re-values the complex realities of living with chronic illness and intergenerational trauma. She creates openings into these realities in the form of spaces, performances, or tools. Her practice often facilitates sites for community-centered abundance, developing into physical and virtual media installations, workshops, access-centered nightlife parties, and artist collectives.
Kayla Hamilton grew up in Texarkana, Texas, to a family of cattle farmers. She was an active child, and wanted to be a soccer player, but since she had low vision, her parents thought dance would be the safest physical activity for her. Kayla says movement allowed her to be in relationship with herself, others and the world simultaneously. This sense of alignment led her to want to pursue it professionally. She moved to New York to become a performer, and found communities she is deeply grateful for. Hamilton notes that she has worked with some phenomenal Black women – Gesel Mason, Paloma McGregor and Alice Sheppard. Their guidance, and the need to have more agency and access over the theatrical elements and processes she was a part of, catalyzed both her performance making and middle school teaching practices– carving out spaces for Black and Disabled folks to exist in the world more fully.
Co-sponsors:
Proclaiming Disability Arts
NYU Center for Ballet and the Arts
NYU Office of Global Inclusion, Diversity, and Strategic Innovation
This is a Zoom webinar. CART and ASL are provided. (Please note: if you require captioning and ASL simultaneously, we recommend using a laptop or desktop computer, and not a tablet or smartphone.) For other accommodations, please indicate on your RSVP form.