Momenta Dance Company will perform in the inaugural DisFest.
This Saturday, oft-overlooked artists take over the Chicago Cultural Center in the inaugural DisFest, a daylong festival featuring multidisciplinary work by artists with disabilities. Thirty artists will be featured in pop-up performances, short film screenings, exhibitions, and will lead open workshops in improvisation, hip-hop and tech. The annual Disability Pride Parade, scheduled to proceed up Dearborn Street to Daley Plaza that morning, will extend the celebration beyond the Cultural Center walls.
DisFest is the brainchild of Ladonna Freidheim, dancer and founder of ReinventAbility, a nonprofit dedicated to building community and accessibility through the arts. We spoke with Freidheim about the festival and introducing the larger public to an unsung yet thriving body of work.
To start, tell me about your organization, ReinventAbility.
ReinventAbility’s mission is to enlighten perceptions of disability, not just for non-disabled people, but for people with disabilities as well. Everyone will be touched by disability in their lives, either through injury, illness or growing old. I want to change negative stereotypes of disabilities.
You mention in your bio that moving with a wheelchair “restored your dancer’s soul.” Could you expand on that?
I grew up a little bun-headed ballerina. I have a degenerative disability that took ballet away from me. The doctors gave me braces for my legs. I asked if I could come and take class with my braces on and just do what I could. I was told no, that it was too depressing for the other dancers to see me so crippled.
People still aren’t so welcoming. I want to change that, but not by hitting them over the head and making them feel bad. I want to do it by saying, “If you open your doors and let us in, here’s what we can contribute.” I get around by crutches, sometimes a cane, but in my wheelchair there is freedom to move, and it’s less painful. I can just dance and be with the music. That’s my high.
What was the inspiration behind DisFest?
There is a disability arts community in Chicago that’s thriving and growing. We have a lot of events, mostly for people in the community. I wanted to do something where we could reach the general public. It’s difficult to convince people… If there’s a picture of a wheelchair, the question may even be “is it for people with other disabilities?” That all disabilities are welcome is a tough thing to communicate. And that the arts we create are good. That it’s worth coming to, not just because it makes you a good person to come see the poor disabled people. I wanted to be in a space where people can just wander in and check it out. It was so important to me to have a larger public-facing festival atmosphere that’s fun and casual.
The Cultural Center seems like an ideal space.
It’s all thanks to DCASE, especially [Dance and Theater Coordinator] John Rich. This has been a dream of mine for years.
What are some highlights?
We have thirty artists and performers. There’s a tech demo I’m particularly excited about, with dancers and scientists working on an app putting sensors on dancers’ bodies. It started during COVID, people dancing virtually and feeling like they’re together. We’re taking that in the direction of the technology being used to be more inclusive of people who are blind. I’ve paired them up with [Andy Slater], an award-winning blind sound designer.
Also, Tango 21 Dance Theater—one of their dancers was shot in the spine. They immediately began educating themselves in how they could help him get back to dance. We will be presenting Argentine tango for various embodiments. They’re working on a special wheelchair adapted to tango.
I know this is just the first year, but what do you envision for the future of DisFest?
I am excited by the interest in continuing it. We’re talking to a big presenter; if we get the funding, we could reach thousands of people. I think it’s going to happen.
DisFest at the Chicago Cultural Center, 78 East Washington, Saturday, July 22, 11am-6pm. Free. Wheelchair access, ASL, captioning, audio description and quiet space available. Info at reinventability.com.
