Light Motion Dance Company

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Light Motion Dance Company is a two-woman integrated dance company based in Seattle, combining a wheelchair dancer and an able-bodied dancer in performances.

Seattle City in Washington, United States

Seattle is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With an estimated 730,000 residents as of 2018, Seattle is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region of North America. According to U.S. Census data released in 2018, the Seattle metropolitan area’s population stands at 3.87 million, and ranks as the 15th largest in the United States. In July 2013, it was the fastest-growing major city in the United States and remained in the Top 5 in May 2015 with an annual growth rate of 2.1%. In July 2016, Seattle was again the fastest-growing major U.S. city, with a 3.1% annual growth rate. Seattle is the northernmost large city in the United States.

Contents

Overview

Light Motion Dance Company was founded in 1988. The creative forces behind the company are Charlene Curtiss and Joanne Petroff. Performances feature both choreography and improvised dance. Light Motion Dance tours throughout the United States and internationally. [1] Workshops for school children and adults are also part of Light Motion Dance's initiatives. [2] Performances feature the choreography of Curtiss, who developed "front-end" wheelchair manoeuvers through her own experimentation and practise. Performances have been described as "virtuosic". [3]

Charlene Curtiss began using a wheelchair after a gymnastics accident resulted in her becoming paraplegic at age 17 (Curtiss has T12 paraplegia). She became a lawyer, but her interest in wheelchair dance led to her leaving law, and forming the Light Motion Dance Company. In 1990, Curtiss added able-bodied dancer Joanne Petroff to the company. Curtiss has several years' experience as a college-level competitive swimmer, and as a wheelchair athlete in track and field competitions. She also occasionally delivers training in wheelchair aerobics and front-end chair control techniques to inpatients and outpatients at the University of Washington Medical Center. [2]

University of Washington Medical Center Hospital in Washington, United States

The University of Washington Medical Center is a nationally renowned hospital located along the Montlake Cut and Portage Bay in the University District of Seattle, Washington, USA. It is one of the teaching hospitals affiliated with the University of Washington School of Medicine. With the addition of the state-of-the-art eight story Montlake Tower which opened up in September 2012, the UWMC grew from 450 beds to over 570. The 210 million dollar addition offers additional Oncology, Neonatal, Transplant and ICU and Radiological Imagining space.

In addition to performance work, Light Motion Dance Company has helped in the establishment of other integrated dance companies in the United States and around the world. [1]

See also

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Disability in the arts

Disability in the arts is an aspect within various arts disciplines of inclusive practices involving disability. It manifests itself in the output and mission of some stage and modern dance performing-arts companies, and as the subject matter of individual works of art, such as the work of specific painters and those who draw.

Paraplegia is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek παραπληγίη "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neural (brain) elements of the spinal canal. The area of the spinal canal that is affected in paraplegia is either the thoracic, lumbar, or sacral regions. If four limbs are affected by paralysis, tetraplegia or quadriplegia is the correct term. If only one limb is affected, the correct term is monoplegia.

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Rick Hansen Canadian wheelchair racer

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Wheelchair racing racing of wheelchairs in track and road races

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Summer Paralympic Games international multi-sport event where athletes with physical disabilities compete

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T54 (classification)

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References

  1. 1 2 "Light Motion Dance Company". National Arts and Disability Center, University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Spinal Cord Injury Update (Fall 1997): Dancing on Wheels". Northwest Regional Spinal Cord Injury System. Retrieved July 14, 2012.
  3. ↑ Albright, Ann Cooper (1997). Choreographing Difference: The Body and Identity in Contemporary Dance. Wesleyan University Press. p. 76. ISBN   9780819563156.


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