As a national gymnastics champion in his native Dominican Republic, Jesus Vidal mastered feats that placed him in competitions around the globe. But while training in South Florida for the 2016 Rio Olympics, he suffered a spinal cord injury during a floor exercise that spun his world into an unexpected orbit. Through months of recovery, […]

The word “prosthesis” refers to an artificial, supplemental device that attempts to return a disabled body to a state of “normalcy.” A prosthetic hand resembles and functions as a “normal” hand; a prosthetic foot resembles and functions as a “normal” foot. Such technologies are laden with political expectations, namely, the insistence that there is such […]

Hi there! My friends and I have bought tickets to your show! We’re really excited to witness your work—to be moved, opened, delighted, provoked, transformed. Who do you imagine in your audience? For whom do you make work? Who performs in your work? Let me be blunt. Do you imagine disabled people as part of […]

Watching Alice Sheppard‘s DESCENT a few months ago, I put on the multitrack audio descriptions. On top of the music, I heard close-up sounds of the dancers moving onstage, plus a spoken description that was so nuanced it bordered on poetry. I’d seen the work in person before, but this experience hit me in an […]