ReinventAbility to Host DISFEST 2023 This Month

ReinventAbility, the organization that engages and entertains while contributing to a more universally accessible future, announces the inaugural DisFest, a free celebration of accomplished artists and performers with disabilities, Saturday, July 22, from 1:30 to 5:30 p.m. at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 E. Washington St, ramp entrance on Randolph at Garland. DisFest is presented in partnership with the City of Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and collaborators MOMENTA Dance Company, Bodies Of Work/UIC and the Disability Pride Parade. The inaugural, free DisFest is fully accessible including wheelchair access, ASL, captioning, audio description, a quiet space and “What To Expect” preview. More information and a complete schedule of events, may be found at ReinventAbility.com.

“July is Disability Pride month, and we are celebrating with free and accessible events at the Chicago Cultural Center,” said ReinventAbility Executive Director Ladonna Freidheim. “We invite all of Chicagoland to come and experience the remarkable contributions of leading artists and performers with disabilities and have fun with short-films, interactive activities, pop-up performances, family-focused events and more taking place all afternoon. We hope you'll join us on Saturday, July 22; it's going to be great!”

DisFest's schedule of events currently includes:

ART ON DISPLAY (all day)

Perspective by Molly Joyce

Randolph Staircase 

Perspective is an ongoing project featuring disabled interviewees responding to what access, care, interdependence and more means to them.

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Mouth Painting with Mariam Pare

G.A.R. Rotunda

Live creation demonstration

A Memory Of Joy by Genevieve Ramos

G.A.R. Rotunda

SHORT-FILM MINI-FEST (1:30 - 5 p.m.)

A curated mini-fest of short films created by and/or about disabled artists and performers, including the following films:

“Are They Really Scary?” from Fun4Disabled

“A Critter Fable” from Grace Fisher

JMAXX and The Universal Language from Ryan Meyers

“A Memory Of Joy” from Liz Sung Productions and featuring  choreography/concept by Robby Lee Williams

“Lost In The Woods” from Gaelynn Lee

“Push Pull Entangle” from MOMENTA Dance Company choreographed by Connor Cornelius and Directed by Sarah Najera

POP-UP PERFORMANCES (2 - 5:30 p.m.)

G.A.R Hall 

Pop-Up performances include a variety of dance forms and styles including

Tango, Contemporary Dance, Hip-Hop, Indian Dance, Classical Music, Latin Percussion, Jazz Blues, Comedy Improv and Acrobats. Performances include:

Bringer of Your Hair (BOYH)

Composed by Rylan Gleave, Choreographed by Julia Cox

 BOYH aims to explore the intimacy that caring for a partner brings, the swapping of caregiving roles, especially when considering Disability. Patterns form from repetitive daily actions, the pulling of hair strands from the carpet, the morning coffee brought to bed and echo differently when the contexts are changed. This piece navigates through grief, love and struggle in a relationship where caretaking can become compassion fatigue.

Bo(ix)y(e) Division

Performed by Ashaand Simone and Luke Greeff

Bo(ix)y(e) Division is an intimate recounting and re-experiencing of physical and neurological evolutions related to trans-masculine identities. This extended duet exposes the intricate practice of controlled, curated metamorphosis, the witnessing of which places the audience in an intimate relationship with the process of gender realization and affirmation. Originally premiered in 2022 at the Chicago Circus & Performing Arts Festival, the full work extends 60 minutes long, pushing its two performers to the brink of exhaustion and consequential vulnerability through a test of physical, emotional and mental stamina in front of an audience of witnesses.

Ahona Mazumder will perform her latest original song, “Outside The Lines.”

Feelin’ Good from the Center for Kathak and ReinventAbility featuring Ladonna Friedheim, Shiwali Tenner and Meredith Wells

Tango Tech with Tango 21 featuring Ladonna Friedheim, Jorge Niedas, Liz Sung, Liz Sung and Robby Williams

INTERACTIVE ACTIVITIES (3 - 5:30 p.m.)

"YES, AND..." with A.B.L.E. 

In this taster session, participants of all abilities are invited to play along with A.B.L.E.'s team of Teaching Artists and Creative Associates as we explore one of the big rules of improvisation: saying "yes" to each other's ideas. Along the way, you'll also get to experience A.B.L.E.'s unique approach to making theatre for, with, and by actors with intellectual and developmental disabilities, and ensuring that everyone is ABLE to connect, to contribute, and to create.

Hip Hop Workshop with JMAX featuring Jonathan St. Claire, Jarrel Sullivan and Robby Willams

BeMoved Seated Dance Class with Jennifer Edgcomb

Echo Tech in Dance Studio with Chris Knowleton, Bill Parod, Andy Slater,

Tech in the Arts (3 and 5 p.m.)

Demonstration of recent digital, video, sound and movement experimentation and how it can be applied to enhance inclusion of people with disabilities.

Hip-Hop Interactive (4:30 p.m.)

Join in energetic movement exercises or watch our skilled dancers perform

DIY Access (1:30 - 4 p.m.)

Learn how to turn on AI captioning on virtual platforms and add Alt-Text to images

For updates to the DisFest schedule, go to ReinventAbility.com.

ABOUT LADONNA FREIDHEIM, Founder of ReinventAbility

Ladonna Freidheim is passionate about inclusion, dance, science and joy. She is an award-winning leader and advocate for arts inclusion as well as a formally trained wheelchair dancer. Freidheim is a Chicagoan, born and bred, who spent her bun-headed ballerina youth on the south-side, an enormous dance bag slung across her shoulder, riding the CTA across the city. A degenerative disability ended her ballerina life and she recovered from surgeries with future paralympic athletes who introduced her to disability culture. With the aid of braces and a cane or crutches, Freidheim is able to navigate the world much of the time, but it is her wheelchair that has restored her dancer's soul. A masters degree in occupational therapy contributes considerable expertise to her work adapting choreography and promoting inclusion. In 2006, she joined Dance>Detour, the first professional physically-integrated dance company in Chicago. She currently performs with the MOMENTA Dance Company. Freidheim received the 2023 Leadership in Dance Award, has been nominated for 3Arts Awards in dance and education, is a Make A Wave recipient, serves on the See Chicago Dance Board of Directors and the Chicago ArtsEd Leadership Committee.

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