New York, NY (May 14, 2025) On June 25, 6:30-8pm, Movement Research will host “Studies Project: How We Move—Access Wisdom and Artistry” featuring the organizers of the How We Move program: India Harville, JJ Omelagah, and Kayla Hamilton. These artists will share reflections from the inaugural 10-day intensive residency. The How We Move program is a dance intensive created for and by multiply marginalized (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+) Disabled artists from across North America that centers agency, multiplicity, interdependence, and creative power.

The intensive includes space for Disabled artists to build power together towards a transformation of the colonial, eugenicist, and ableist lineages still present in the dance field. How We Move provides a rigorous access framework, allowing cross-disability artists from around the country the opportunity to come together, create, learn from one another, and cultivate opportunities. Artists for this pilot program are: Assaleh Bibi, kumari giles, Devin Hill, Hector Machado, Jackie Robinson, and Zen Spencer.

Studies Project is an artist-practitioner organized series of panel discussions, participatory dialogues, and community conversations that focus on provocative, timely issues of aesthetics and philosophy at the intersection of dance and social politics. For more information about the Studies Project program, visit the MR website.

“Disabled dance challenges conventional understandings of movement and form and forges its own narrative, placing disability as a rich and layered aesthetic unto itself. Disabled dance builds its community of practice around the truths inherent in intersectional bodies and identities. We eagerly look forward to the sharing reflections of the community, partnership, and creation that is possible when disabled dance artists come together, in a space created specifically by and for multiply marginalized artists.” – India Harville, Embraced Body Founder & Executive Director. 

EVENT DETAILS

Studies Project: How We Move—Access Wisdom and Artistry

WHEN: Wednesday, June 25, 6:30-8pm

WHERE: Movement Research

122CC - Courtyard Studio 

150 First Avenue

New York, NY 10009

COST: This is a free, donation-based event. 

REGISTRATION LINK

HEALTH, SAFETY, AND ACCESSIBILITY NOTES

• Masks will be required for this event. 

• Movement Research spaces are Fragrance-Free. This policy is in place to accommodate individuals with fragrance allergies and/or chemical sensitivities.

• This event includes CART, ASL, and audio description.

About Embraced Body

Centered in the belief that our bodies should feel radically welcomed in all spaces, Embraced Body advances Disability Justice through inclusive performing arts, accessibility consulting, and anti-ableist education for all. Our work is for and by people like us: Black Disabled people, queer and genderqueer Disabled folks, Disabled survivors, folks who don’t neatly fit into one identity category or one canonized way of making dance—those who need to re-make the world in their image in order to find a place where they can be in their entirety. Embraced Body is driven by a profound commitment to fostering accessibility and inclusivity for multiply marginalized Disabled individuals. By highlighting the interconnectedness of ableism with other forms of oppression and addressing these systemic inequalities head-on, we endeavor to dismantle oppressive structures and create a more equitable society for all.

Movement Research

Movement Research, founded in 1978, is one of the world’s leading laboratories for the investigation of dance and movement-based forms. As a creative incubator for artists and emerging ideas, Movement Research provides space and resources for adventurous dance. Valuing the individual artist, their creative process and their vital role within society, Movement Research is dedicated to the creation and implementation of free and low-cost programs that nurture and instigate discourse and experimentation. Movement Research strives to reflect the cultural, political and economic diversity of its moving community, including artists and audiences alike.

In January 2019, Movement Research moved into its first permanent home at 122 Cultural Center. In 2024, Movement Research broke ground on the build-out of its two studio spaces located in 122CC to create: two dance studios to house MR programs and to serve artists and the community with subsidized rates for rehearsals, practice and convenings; a vestibule outside of the studios that offers a space to gather, stretch and converse; a resource room to provide meeting and lounge space for artists, and access to MR’s library and publications.

PANELIST BIOS

India Harville 

As a Disability Justice activist, performance artist, public speaker, and somatics practitioner, India Harville (she/her) has made it her mission over the past 20 years to open people's minds to the wonder of their own bodies as a vehicle for growth and transformation, both personal and collective. 

India has danced with Sins Invalid, Dance Exchange, California State East Bay, The Queer Arts Festival, the Black Spirit Dance Collective, Mouthwater Festival, and Movement Liberation. She’s a two-time recipient of the Access Movement Play Residency funded by Mellon and is currently working on a one-woman show, Liminal. She’s certified as a dance instructor in: NIA, Zumba, Dancing Freedom, and DanceAbility, where she is both a Master Teacher and Master Trainer.

In 2016, she founded what is now known as Embraced Body, a Disability Justice and inclusive arts organization that began by providing accessible movement classes to Disabled communities. Since then, they’ve made disability-affirming dance funded by major philanthropic organizations, while also consulting on accessibility and Disability Justice.

The intersection of India’s own identities as an African American, queer, Disabled/chronically ill, femme, cis woman informs all her work. No matter what she is doing, she sets forth the example that however our bodies show up in the world, they are perfect, worthy of existence, and capable of magic. 

Kayla Hamilton 

Kayla Hamilton (she/they) is a Texas-born, Bronx-based dancer, performance maker, educator, consultant, and artistic director of Circle O—a cultural organization uplifting Black Disabled and other multiply marginalized creatives.

She has developed & designed access-centered programming for the Mellon Foundation, Movement Research, DanceNYC, and UCLA, and is a co-director of Angela’s Pulse/Dancing While Black. 

Kayla is a Jerome Hill Artist Fellow, Pina Bausch Foundation Fellow, United States Artist Disability Futures Fellow, NEFA National Dance Project Production Grant recipient, and Bronx Cultural Visions Fund recipient. Her work has been presented at the Whitney Museum, Gibney, Performance Space NY, New York Live Arts and Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance. Kayla was also part of the Bessie award winning ensemble Skeleton Architecture.

As an educator, Kayla co-developed ‘Crip Movement Lab’ with fellow Disabled artist Elisabeth Motley—a pedagogical framework centering cross-disability movement practices. She also worked as a K-12 public school special education teacher in NYC for 12 years. 

JJ Omelagah

JJ Omelagah (they/them) is the Program Director, Access Doula, and Healing Artist for Embraced Body.

With two decades of experience in human services and healthcare, JJ brings a unique perspective on care. They provide crucial access support and education while contributing to the organization's overall operations.

As a transgender sound artist, JJ’s mission is to create vibrant frequencies resonating with collective care, healing, and transformation. Each note contributes to the co-creation of a sonic environment where energies converge, intertwine, and uplift. They’ve performed at events such as SF Pride and the National Queer Arts Festival. 

JJ is also a trained Circle Sing Facilitator, Reiki practitioner, Orisha priest, and a committed advocate for Disability Justice and LGBTQIA+ rights. With comprehensive experience in Access Doulaship, project management, customer service, conflict resolution, and volunteer management, JJ studied at Howard University and City College of San Francisco and holds a certification in Project Management from the University of Arizona. 

Funding Credits

The How We Move program is funded by the Mellon Foundation. Embraced Body is fiscally sponsored by Dancers' Group and is grateful for funding support from Mellon Foundation, Solidaire Network, and Borealis Philanthropy.

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