Note: Please be advised that this program takes place at The Bentway Studio, located at 55 Fort York Blvd, Toronto, beside Canoe Landing Park.
As disabled people, our bodies hold infinite knowledge about our experiences. However, all too often, disabled people are encouraged to disconnect from and/or ignore the knowledge that our bodies share with us through our experiences with pain, fatigue and limitations.
In this workshop facilitated by artist Shay Erlich, participants are invited to reach through the ableist forces that seek to separate disabled people from their embodied experiences and to rediscover their bodies and internal experiences as sites of wisdom and information to be honoured and respected.
Participants are offered the time and space to reflect on the ways that they have experienced this pressure to disconnect from their bodies. Then, drawing from active mindfulness practices, participants will be guided as a group to experience the wisdom of our bodies and will have the opportunity to reflect on and develop strategies for how they can make more space to be present and embody experiences in their day-to-day lives.
Accessibility accommodations are available for this program. If you have questions about attending a program, would like assistance securing tickets, or have accessibility requests, please email programs@torontobiennial.org.
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This program is part of Keeping Time, a workshop series that centres embodied learning by inviting intergenerational audiences of all abilities to pay special attention to time, space and movement through somatic learning and unlearning.
This program is presented in partnership with The Bentway.
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Accessible Public Movement Teaching
This webinar focuses on how movement facilitators can shape their public presentation practice to be more accessible to disabled participants. Focusing on techniques and strategies to increase access for outreach materials, public lectures and open movement invitations, facilitators will gain confidence in simple changes to their facilitation practice that dramatically increase accessibility of public offerings.
October 18
6:00pm – 8:00pm
This venue is wheelchair accessible.
This program has live ASL Interpretation.
This venue has a Quiet Room.
Artist Bio
Shay Erlich
Shay Erlich (they/them) is a disability justice world builder whose film, dance and community-arts work imagines a disability-centered world where disabled people are empowered to love themselves and live free from stigma, shame, and ableism. They are the Founder and Program Lead for Pushmakers, an initiative focused on excellence in manual wheelchair dance. They are also the Founder of Ready For Access, a disability experience firm.
Some of their recent notable works include Cycles of Care (2023), Landscapes: Love Letters to Willow (2023) and A Provocation on Wheels (2019) with The Cyborg Circus Project.