Seeking Barrier-Free Dance Education

Seeking Barrier-Free Dance Education

DanceCast is a podcast that spotlights non-traditional dance artists. It is produced by Silva Laukkanen, an advocate for inclusive dance based in Austin, TX. In this episode of DanceCast, Silva Laukkanen is actually the interviewee. She is interviewed by co-worker April Sullivan and Art Spark Texas’ executive director Celia Hughes. This episode is part of a series interviewing institutions with inclusive dance programs and individuals who identify as disabled and have experienced formal dance education as either students or teachers. This series is part of Silva’s ongoing work as the director of Art Spark Texas’ dance program and their multi-year community-engaged research project, funded in part by the National Endowment for the Arts, that explores disability-centered accessibility in dance education and how we can create barrier-free dance education for students with disabilities in the US. Silva shares her dance history and how she was introduced to inclusive dance spaces as a young person, how the disability dance field is behind in terms of education, and how Art Spark Texas’ research project is assessing what existing opportunities are out there and what more needs to be done.

Silva Laukkanen is a passionate advocate for inclusive dance, aiming to broaden perceptions of who can dance and where dance happens. These questions led her to create DanceCast in 2016, a podcast spotlighting non-traditional dance artists, and to co-author Breadth of Bodies, Discussing Disability in Dance in 2022, a book featuring interviews with dance artists with disabilities globally. As Director of Integrated Dance at Art Spark Texas, Silva Laukkanen leads bi-annual intensives, performance projects, and monthly classes. In 2020, she co-founded Tractus Art with a colleague from South Africa. Together, they produce videos highlighting artists with disabilities and are working on a children’s book about a dance company founder who is Deaf, set for publication later this year. Silva also collaborates with other inclusive dance companies, providing support in arts administration. Silva holds a BFA from North Karelia College and a postgraduate degree from Trinity Laban Conservatoire. A certified DanceAbility teacher since 2003, she has trained with choreographers and companies like Adam Benjamin, AXIS Dance Company, and Dancing Wheels. Currently, she is pursuing an MA in Dance: Participation, Community, Activism at the London Contemporary Dance School and serves as the board president of Kaaos Company, Finland’s leading inclusive dance company.

To learn more, www.artsparkdance.org.