Listen To Dis Community Arts Organization

Ammanda Zelinki and Finn Burke - The Other Ordinary Sunday rehearsal. My head is perpetually down for i am looking for the right keys to take a photo

Mine To Have rehearsal. Working with Eros played by the stunning company member, Ammanda Zelinski.

Join us as we venture into understanding service dogs and their capacity to support true intimate inclusion and accessibility. We are thankful fir this man and his knowledge and expertise everyday!

Only one week away! Email our program and production coordinator Shelby at [email protected] if you would like to register! *ASL Interpretation Available*

The January workshop in our Visiting Artist Series! Join Danielle Richardson for a free collaborative writing workshop over Zoom where we will work together to create something new. Using different writing/creating techniques, we will explore poetry, the craft of descripting emotions. Bring an open mind and any tools you find helpful when playing with words (written or spoken). *ASL Interpretation Provided*

This Thursday from 6pm until 8pm! *Audio transcription and ASL interpretation provided* To register, please fill out this Google form: https://forms.gle/5dgyph8Si1fAuQt17

Tonight! The Zoom Link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82479123067

Coming up on November 19th as part of our Visiting Artist Series!

Join us for our AGM at 7 PM this Thursday! The Zoom Link is: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/82479123067

Our very own member, Finn, getting ready to film as part of a new University of Regina project.

Join us for this as well!

After a wonderful first session we have just posted the information for our second session. This week's facilitator is Ashley Johnson. ASL interpretation will once again be provided thanks to Saskatchewan Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services through the support of Sask. Lotteries. Remember to email us at [email protected] to register. If you have registered for a previous session you will automatically receive a new link later in the week. The session will be from 11-12:30... SK time via Zoom. Auto captioning will be available. Continuum movement is a somatic practice that combines breath, sound and subtle movements to calm and regulate the nervous system. Focused on developing capacity for internal sensations this gentle and restorative movement practice is accessible to all bodies. Continuum views the body not as a mechanical object but a living process and aims to soften restrictive cultural conditioning through stimulating natural undulating movements. Somatic practices have shown to be beneficial for pain, recovery from injury, deep relaxation and continue to be utilized to support artists in creative practice. Ashley Johnson is a Registered Somatic Movement Educator and Therapist trained in group facilitation and hands on bodywork as a teacher of the Mitzvah Technique/Itcush Method and Continuum Movement. She works with diverse populations in movement re-education and injury rehabilitation to shift postural patterning and increase movement efficiency. Ashley completed a diploma in Dance from Grant MacEwan College and a BA in Dance from University of Calgary. She trained extensively with her two primary mentors Amelia Itcush and Emilie Conrad until their passing in 2011 and 2014. As a dance artist and educator, Ashley creates interdisciplinary site specific creations that blend embodiment practice with creative process. She is currently based out of Regina, SK where she teaches and performs with New Dance Horizons. www.constantlyseekingsoftness.ca

Check out this link to our disability art and Culture Hub with our collaborators! https://culturedays.ca//026e4a57-a67d-47cf-9b86-287e0cb8ed

https://www.facebook.com/watch/ Check out this information session from Inside Out Theatre!

Happy birthday to one of our wonderful artists and members, Nicole. Image Credit: Daniel Paquet - Photo Image description: Nicole, in a black dress and red shawl sits at a bar table with Maria, who is sitting with her hand covering her mouth after intense laughter. They are under stage lights. End ID.

Are you ready to join us on September 27 for our Somatic Sundays event? To register, email us at [email protected]. ASL interpretation and auto captions will be available. The interpretation will be provided by Saskatchewan Deaf & Hard of Hearing Services with support from SK Lotteries. The event is from 11:00-12:30 and will be held over Zoom. We are thankful for support from our partners and funders, including Sask. Culture. Here's a description from facilitator Traci... Foster: Yoga-nidr is a transformative relaxation practise that invites a state of deep physical and mental relaxation and cultivates an understanding and building of the basic principals of awareness. A somatic approach to voice is about seeking and listening to vibration within our body as the first impulse of awareness of sound. In this Somatic Sunday Workshop, we will experience a yoga-nidr practise that gently segues into a short introduction to sound/voice exploration. This is the first of a three-part workshop focusing on a somatic approach to voice and presence. All practices are trauma informed and orient toward pleasure and ease. Prior to the somatic session in the Zoom room, please create a quiet and comfortable space for your practice session. You may choose to lie down or sit. In either case, you will need to be fully supported and comfortable. Workshop materials: blankets pillow(s) any props that support comfort and ease Optional material: journal pen or pencil water/tea Facilitator bio: Traci Foster was Canada’s first certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, a somatic approach to voice and she is also trained in Somatic Experiencing.

Check out this online roundtable from some giants of disability culture. https://artseverywhere.ca/roundtables/translation/

Today marks Curtain Razors Theatre’s Trespasser’s Waltz project that we are glad to be a part of. Congratulations to all involved. Image description: picture of white butte trails, a gravel path with green grass and brush. There is a parking lot filled with vehicles in the left of the frame. The light is dusky and grey. End ID.

Get your FREE tickets to Curtain Razors Theatre's Trespassers Waltz today: https://www.eventbrite.ca/e/trespassers-waltz-tickets-11888 This #GrandActsofTheatre... immersive production takes place on Sept. 20, 2020 from 3-7 p.m. CST at White Butte Recreation Trail Site (for all the details, check out that link ). Come walk with us on the prairies and experience humorous, poignant, and tender performances that explore acts of leading and following as we reckon with our own trespasses. Supported by National Arts Centre / Centre national des Arts, RBC, and The Jenepher Hooper Fund for Theatre. To find out more about volunteer opportunities, email [email protected].

Listen To Dis’ Community Arts Organization is honoured to be participating in Curtain Razor’s Trespassers Waltz on Treaty 4 Territory. As a company we are considering themes such as whether moving slowly and tenderly can make more room for reconciliation. If moving backward while looking forward could influence a deeper understanding of the wrongdoing - the cultural genocide in which is part of our history. And what responsibilities are held by us, people who declare or are ...visibly disabled, and until recently were not wanted and in some cases able to reside on this land without being institutionalized. In short we are contemplating the tension between space and isolation on Treaty 4 Territory as trespassers. The late Michelle Sereda, founder of Curtain Razor’s, once asked in her art who owns land? Michelle was often considering things that made us feel. Feel awkward and in conflict with our surface impulses. I sense Michelle in this offering of the Trespassers Waltz as I do in most everything community based in Regina. Her presence and intentions to make the world a safe and tolerable space for everyone is loud and present today. Through art we move her intentions. Thank-you Curtain Razors for the invitation to step into this and the National Art Center for the initiative of Grand Acts of Theatre in these times.

We're part of this project and would love to hear from you!

What a great quote from Dr. Carol Gill at the University of Illinois-Chicago about their disability art residency program. "As disabled people, we are reminded every day that our minds and bodies move in opposition to the expectations of our home cultures. No wonder we feel pressured to drop our differences at the door. But relinquishing our differences fragments our sense of self and crushes our spirit. It’s never good for one’s creative drive to exist in partial form. Disability culture supports our right to resist fragmentation and to reclaim lost parts. Whether disabled artists openly address disability as a theme in their art or not, having access to their wholeness radiates energy into the world of art."

You're going to start to see our events for Culture Days pop up. Here's a video that was produced by the national team about one of our members and the work of our organization.

We are proud to share our first set of events as part of a disability art and culture hub during Culture Days. We'd like to thank our hub partners (Common Weal Community Arts, Artesian Presents, and New Dance Horizons), as well as Sask. Culture, as we bring more understanding of disability culture to Saskatchewan. So, here they are: Somatic Sundays with local artists Traci Foster, Ashley Johnson, and Johanna Bundon. Free, and on Zoom. Each Sunday, September 27 to October 25,... from 11 am to 12:30 p.m. To register, email us at [email protected]. Poster Description: The poster includes the title Somatic Sundays: in Celebration of Culture Days. On the right-hand side are the logos of Listen to Dis', Common Weal Community Arts, New Dance Horizons, the Artesian, Culture Days, Sask. Lotteries, and Sask. Culture. Bios and images are also present for the three artists, with the following text. As part of the Culture Days 2020 Disability Art and Culture Hub, Listen to Dis' Community Arts Organization will be launching Somatic Sundays, a creative community initiative curated by Traci Foster, LTD’s Artistic Director. LTD’ is dedicated to barrier free participation for all and is excited to begin the journey into offering somatic practices in a barrier free manner. Somatic sessions are free. To register or for more information email [email protected] Facilitator bios: Traci Foster was Canada’s first certified teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, a somatic approach to voice. She will be teaching yoga nidra on September 27th and Somatic voice on October 11th and 25th. Ashley Johnson is a teacher in the Itcush, Mitzvah, and Continuum methods, all of which focus on body and breath as an instrument for understanding. She will be teaching on October 4th. Local artist Johanna Bundon is an experienced teacher of Feldenkrais, a somatic practice that focuses on real-time awareness of one's body. She will be teaching on October 18th. End Description. We can't wait for you to join us!

Look at this cool performance coming up in October. See the description of the post for more information.

Have you ever wondered about the events we've done over the years? Here's the link to a list of some of them! https://www.listentodis.com/performances

Wow. We just received word that Alice and Kinetic Light will be featured in the debut episode of the The Laura Flanders Show, airing THIS SUNDAY (Sept 6) on 20...0+ PBS/APT stations all across the U.S. Alice talks with Laura about disability arts, dance, and our work. The episode will also feature an interview with theatre artist Jess Thom. It will air in most markets at 11:30am, but you should check your local listings to confirm whether it’s being broadcast in your area. The Laura Flanders team tells us that the TV broadcast will have CC and the online version will also be captioned and include some form of audio description. We hope you will tune in and support conversations about disability arts. YouTube Version: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nf1MW7_f-vg Image Description: In a production still from the film REVEL IN YOUR BODY, Laurel Lawson, a white woman with bright teal very short hair, and Alice Shepard, a light-skinned multiracial Black woman with short curly hair, FLY through a bright blue sky in wheelchairs. They are both wearing shimmery silver tank tops and gold pants. Laurel is in the foreground, arms thrown wide, smiling. Alice appears on the right, airborne. Her back is facing the viewer, her arms are flung above her head, fingers splayed. Pure joy. Stills by Shimmy Boyle of Safety Third Productions. REVEL IN YOUR BODY is directed by Katherine Helen Fisher.

This is a time not of rest, but of building infrastructure--work that is traditionally undervalued in the dance world. Creating new systems, teaching, organizi...ng. Not being a prophet, I am waiting to find out what world, what society, will emerge from this time--as well as working to bring about a society that shares my values. And moreover how the shifts that we can see happening, long overdue, will affect the arts: what does sustainability and justice look like? As remote work becomes normalized, how does that resonate outwards into geographic and economic equity? We are a vital and deeply interdependent part of the ecosystem. ~LL Eva Yaa Asantewaa asked, and Laurel answered. Check out Laurel Lawson’s Q&A! https://infinitebody.blogspot.com//artists-reach-out-laure Image Description: In a rehearsal moment for Wired, Laurel is suspended in midair. She looks joyfully to the right of the frame, her hands extended below from pushing off the ground, body diagonal to the gray marley floor. A black cord at her waist leads upward and loops of barbed wire are visible in the foreground. (Photo: Grace Kathryn Landefeld, courtesy of Jacob’s Pillow)

Asl learning opportunity in/from Regina.