Celebrate the 10th production of CounterBalance – Amazing Dancing

Celebrate the 10th production of CounterBalance with passionate performers and award-winning choreographers who embody and discuss the power of dance to enliven the disability experience. Join us online to experience inclusive workshops, highlights from past performances, a panel discussion, short dance films, and a virtual CELEBRATION of the Progress & Promise of Inclusive Dance! Six events over five days, pay-what-you-can, register once to receive links to all

This year our founder Ginger Lane – a disability rights activist and visionarydancer/choreographer – transitions into well-earned retirement and empowers Ladonna Freidheim to continue her legacy. Together they strive to realize the vision behind the Americans with Disabilities Act, which turned 30 this year. “Disability culture includes dance, music, visual art, scholarship, writing, theater, sports… it’s about shattering stereotypes and sharing the disability experience… something that touches us all at some point in our lives.” -Ginger Lane

The first Counter Balance was presented in a conference room with low ceilings and even lower fluorescent hanging lights, no stage lighting or sound system, a storage closet doubled as dressing room, everyone donating their time, energy and expertise. It was a resounding success followed by audiences demanding more year after year.

Counter Balance has grown to include local, national, and internationally acclaimed collaborators and guest artists. We outgrew that makeshift space long ago. Through the generosity of the Center On Halsted, we have made our performance home at the beautiful state-of-the-art Hoover-Leppen Theatre for the foreseeable future. This year however, is unique and will be presented online as a virtual retrospective on the progress and promise of integrated dance.

We welcome you to join us and experience the variety and richness of this fully realized, yet still young, inclusive art form as we change perceptions of what is dance.

Access Living is at the forefront of the disability rights movement. Nationally recognized as a leader in advocacy and direct services to people with disabilities since 1980, Access Living’s Arts and Culture Project provides opportunities for and showcases the work of artists with disabilities.

MOMENTA is the only professional dance performance company consistently creating and producing physically-integrated dance in the Chicago area. Momenta provides opportunities and strives towards a more inclusive world.

Bodies of Work is a network of artists and organizations whose work showcases the disability experience, advances the rights of disabled people, and widens society’s understanding of what it means to be human; UIC’s Department of Disability and Human Development studiothread develops digital projects and products that excite and motivate, shares excluded, the exquisite joy of dancing!

studiothread develops digital projects and products that excite and motivate, shares the stories of non-profits, and builds tools to increase productivity and visibility. 

ReinventAbility, founded by Ladonna Freidheim, educates and elevates perceptions of disability by expanding the horizons of dance and sharing, with individuals and communities who are too often excluded, the exquisite joy of dancing! 

Disability Culture Activism Lab (DCAL), Department of art therapy and counseling at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago is a platform for creative advocacy projects and disability allyship training.

CounterBalance 2020 pay what you can, pre-registration required