Forward Motion Festival Celebrates the Power of Inclusive Dance

Karen Peterson and Dancers host the seventh edition of the Forward Motion Festival on Saturday, May 16 at the Sandrell Rivers, 6103 NW 7th Ave., Miami.  (Photo by Lisa Nalven)

tell stories in myriad ways, and dancers with disabilities turn these into distinctive art. For many of her 35 years among South Florida dance notables, Karen Peterson, a non-disabled choreographer and director of her own company, has added to the quality and spread of physically-integrated dance, which brings together creators and performers exhibiting a range of mobility.

A primary endeavor for Peterson has been the Forward Motion Festival, now in its seventh year. The event, which has gained international attention, brings together established and emerging mixed-abilities dance artists, offering a snapshot of how the form has evolved over the past five decades.

Performances are Saturday, May 16, at Miami’s Sandrell Rivers Theater. Workshops and a roundtable discussion led by Silva Laukkanen, director of integrated dance at Art Spark Texas, follow on Sunday. Also at the conference is Joel Brown, former artist from London’s Candoco Dance Company

“(It’s) a huge undertaking even for someone who’s been at it for so long,” says Peterson, noting that producing this seventh edition involves logistical as well as artistic challenges. Because of the uncertain funding climate, she chose not to invite participants from abroad this year. She says, however, the National Endowment for the Arts ultimately awarded support for the festival.

With artistic director Dwayne Scheuneman, center, the men of REVolutions Dance bring power to the network of moves in “Propel.” (Photo by Cliff Roles)

“We may have a smaller audience but do significant work with a loyal following,” emphasizes Peterson.

In addition to Karen Peterson and Dancers, the lineup brings three premieres from Tampa’s REVolutions Dance, founded in 2005 by artistic director and wheelchair dancer Dwayne Scheuneman, a frequent festival participant.

Forward Motion Festival first-timer Marisa Hamamoto, founding artistic director of Los Angeles-based Infinite Flow Dance Company, choreographed and will dance with collaborator Travis Ammann in “Metamorphosis,” an exploration of their identity as differently-abled Asian-Americans. She will also be part of the conference.

For Hamamoto, born in Japan and California-raised, settling on a cultural and an artistic identity has been complicated. “I’ve often felt my only true home is dance,” she says.

But even that has tested her. While held under the spell of ballet, she admits, “More than my ethnicity, physicality impeded my dream to be a professional ballerina.”

Still, she persisted in training — something Hamamoto partly attributes to what she describes as a Japanese work ethic and the “tunnel vision” she associates with her autism, which was diagnosed later in life.

In 2006, she collapsed during a dance class and was paralyzed by a spinal cord stroke.

“I thought this was a curse,” she says, “for continuing to dance in a world telling me to stop.”

In time she regained most of her mobility but remained unable to shake her fear of dancing. Then one day at a Japanese corporate party, where a salsa instructor animated the crowd, Hamamoto was amazed that “in this five-minute activation, my body just came alive. I realized I had purpose—a life worth living.”

 Having founded Infinite Flow in 2015, the artist upholds cross-disability representations with eclectic productions true to her hard-earned vision. “Our body language not only speaks to others but also to ourselves,” she says. “When you move with joy, that external vibration also travels inward.”

Marisa Hamamoto and Adelfo Cerame Jr putting the daring glow of mixed-abilities dance on Infinite Flow Dance’s “Rise Up.” (Photo by Marisa Hamamoto)

Peterson values a festival newcomer such as Hamamoto, whose resumé includes Latin styles and commercial work. “There’s a wide range in our kind of dance,” says the organizer. “The audience loves to see different groups each year.”

Yet REVolution’s Scheuneman is an artistic anchor. “We have a lot of mutual trust,” says Peterson. “He’s a Gulf War veteran and athlete who, ironically, was injured in a diving accident. A long while back, he contacted me to set a piece on him in Tampa. I nudged him to audition for San Francisco’s Axis Dance—this country’s most venerable physically-integrated company—where he ended up dancing. Directing his own company, he’s engaged an interesting roster of choreographers.”

Scheuneman—who’s performed in FM with both Axis and REVolutions—stresses that such deeply personal relationships have fortified his artistic undertakings.

“Touring to events like Karen’s is an important component of our mission,” he says. “Performers from outside help build local audiences. And the time we spend together lets us learn about our mutual concerns.”

 Dancers with different disabilities, by watching each other, discover variant pathways to performance. “In our company we have two dancers who have spinal cord injuries and one leg-amputee,” says Scheuneman. “Going to festivals has helped them develop as artists.”

At this year’s festival, REVolutions will premiere “Adhesion,” choreographed by Merry Lynn Morris, a non-disabled University of South Florida professor long associated with REVolutions.

“This duet shows how being stuck in place, then getting unstuck, is all part of moving onward,” says Morris.

“Propel,” is a quartet by Cuban-American Leymis Bolaños Wilmott, who founded and leads Sarasota Contemporary Dance. Starting at Miami’s New World School of the Arts, the choreographer has been an ally of dancers with disabilities who here examines mutual support among men.

“Love Yourself As You Are” marks dance veteran Frank Chaves’s first work created for dancers with disabilities.

A Miami native of Cuban heritage, Chaves built an award-winning career as choreographer and artistic director of River North Dance Chicago. He recently moved to Sarasota and is living with syringomyelia, a degenerative spinal cord condition.

“Propel,” a REVolutions Dance quartet, balances on poses sculpted from the support of differently-abled men. (Photo by Cliff Roles)

A long dinner conversation with Scheuneman about the twists and turns of life and dance inspired Chaves to create this duet for Scheuneman and company dancer Sam Kedziora.

“Since I started out in this,” says Peterson, “there’s been more choreographers working with mixed-ability groups.”

Their works confront such questions as how mobility aids like wheelchairs contribute to artful movement. And Peterson’s own group provides answers with decisive attitude and skills.

“Duets 4 Six,” set to an original score by violinist Polina Mahova and Benjamin Lazarus, returns in an expanded and reimagined version after a preview last October.

“Now there are background dancers who reflect off the original duets,” says Peterson. “They create a sort of mystery.”

The work explores contrasts and parallels within what Peterson describes as “a conversational architecture.”

An expanded version of “In the Blink of an Eye,” set to music by Polina Mahova, continues to explore perseverance in the face of existential blows.

Karen Peterson, center, with the Karen Peterson Dancers, a group of mixed-ability performers. (Photo by Lisa Nalven)

By adding new dancers, Peterson says the work “has gained relevance considering the current dangers of being gunned down or pulled off the street.”

 Supporting this dance genre, Peterson wants to create this kind of solid content and craft.

Scheuneman agrees. “I don’t want audiences to just feel inspired by our stories. I hope they’re more impacted not by the challenges of our disabilities but by the quality of our art.”

WHAT:  Seventh edition of Forward Motion Dance Festival

WHERE: Sandrell Rivers Theater, 6103 NW 7th Ave., Miami

WHEN: 2 and 7 p.m. Saturday, May 16. FM7 Conference, 2 to 6 p.m. Sunday, May 17

COST: $20 and 25 for shows; free for conference

 INFORMATION: (305) 298-5879 or karenpetersondancers.org.

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