Pictured above, Alice Sheppard hovers upside down, suspended from the ceiling in her wheelchair, wearing a brown leotard and black leggings. She is a light-skinned, multiracial Black woman with short curly hair. Her arms extend from her torso as if caught mid-flight. Natural light from large windows fills the all-white room. Photo by Mengwen Cao.

Intersectional disability is an aesthetic, a culture, and a catalyst in the creative process. When explored in partnership, design and disability emerge as a creative force. Access becomes an essential, generative element, rather than a retroactive accommodation or service. 

Alice Sheppard's work as a choreographer, thinker, and leader within the field of Disability Arts opens up new understandings of the moving world — a world in which access is both equitable and artistically aesthetic. For this virtual workshop, Sheppard has partnered with Eugene Korsunskiy, a specialist in design thinking and hands-on learning. The two will interweave movement exercises, embodied experiments and reflection, bringing knowledge and questions from their related fields into conversation.

About the Workshop

This virtual experience will be hosted on Zoom and lasts ~90 minutes. It is open to all, including those with no experience in dance or design practices.

This event will include real-time captioning and American Sign Language interpretation—for questions, please contact Heather Williams.

About Big Move

Big Move is the Hop's new series that pairs inventive dance artists with wide-ranging areas of research here at Dartmouth. Breaking the boundaries between disparate forms of knowledge, Big Move reveals the deeper connections between the arts, humanities and sciences. Each offering includes an embodied movement workshop coupled with a conversation involving an expert embedded in a related field.

Big Move is part of the Hop's ongoing initiative to integrate the arts across Dartmouth's academic programs, leveraging artists and their work as springboards for interdisciplinary learning.

This workshop by Alice Sheppard and Eugene Korsunskiy is the first in the Big Move series.

A full slate of Big Move workshops, talks and experiences launches in June.

The Big Move Series is generously supported by Claire Foerster and Daniel S. Bernstein 1987.
 

More on Alice Sheppard

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Alice Sheppard, a multi-racial Black woman with coffee-colored skin, blond, copper, and red striped curly hair gazes toward the camera. She wears a black shirt; her face rests in the palm of her hand, her elbow sits on her thigh, and a gold necklace gleams at her neck. Photo by Beverlie Lord.

Alice is a Bessie award-winning choreographer who creates movement that challenges conventional understandings of disabled and dancing bodies. She has worked with AXIS Dance Company, Ballet Cymru, Infinity Dance Theater, and Steve Paxton among many others.

Sheppard is the founder of Kinetic Light, a project-based ensemble that promotes disability as a creative force enabling new understandings of the moving world. In addition to choreography and performance, Sheppard speaks on topics related to disability aesthetics, design justice, race and dance. She holds a doctorate in medieval studies from Cornell University and is currently based in the Bay.
Learn more about Alice Sheppard >

More on Eugene Korsunskiy

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Eugene Korsunskiy, a white man with short brown straight hair, smiles at the camera while his body faces sideways. He is wearing a red and blue plaid shirt and sits against a pale blue gray background. Photo by Katy Lapierre, Thayer Communications

Eugene is an  Assistant Professor of Engineering at Dartmouth, specializing in design thinking, human-centered design, and hands-on learning. He currently teaches courses including "Design Thinking" and the "Senior Design Challenge." Prior to Dartmouth, he taught at the Stanford University d.school, and co-founded SparkTruck, a makerspace-on-wheels which has completed several cross-country trips and inspired kids all across America to tinker, make stuff, and grow their creative confidence. Eugene holds a BA in art & art history from Williams College, and an MFA in design from Stanford University.
Learn more about Eugene Korsunskiy >