Moving at The Speed of Access

An Interview with How We Move Program Director India Harville and Program Manager JJ Omelagah

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOS BY WHITNEY BROWNE

India Harville is a disability justice activist, performance artist, public speaker, and somatics practitioner, as well as the founder and director of Embraced Body, a disability justice and inclusive arts organization. Along with dance artist and arts organizer Kayla Hamilton, she created and facilitated How We Move, an opportunity for multiply marginalized disabled artists to move together, collaborate, and build cross-disability community. The program was launched this year and, alongside India and Kayla, was managed by access doula, healing artist, and sound artist JJ Omelagah. A cohort of six dance artists from across the US and Canada participated in How We Move’s pilot program, which spanned six months and culminated in a ten-day in-person intensive in New York City this past June. Here, India and JJ reflect on the impetus behind How We Move, how the artists came together to collectively explore access and artistry, and why spaces like How We Move that support multiply marginalized artists are more important than ever.

This interview is part of a series on How We Move.

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Can you first tell me a little about your dance/artistic backgrounds?

India: I come from a nontraditional dance background. I was late to dance. I started dancing in my teens through yoga, massage, and somatics. I started dance from an interior experience versus how some of my friends who are dancers talk about having a more external approach. I studied psychology in college. I attended an alternative college and pursued dance as a sort of minor. I choreographed and did a lot of community-based dance work in college. That’s a meaningful part of my foundation.

Although I’ve been disabled since childhood, I was non-disabled passing through college. I didn’t come into accessible dance until 2011 when I started using a wheelchair. Around that time, I learned about disability justice, and I started doing inclusive dance. I had been teaching dance as a standing dancer in a non-disabled context, and I quickly realized that wasn’t going to work with the new communities I was connecting to as a wheelchair dancer. I discovered Dance Exchange and their toolkit, which supported my access needs. I also learned about DanceAbility, where I became a master teacher and master trainer, and I found a home performing with Sins Invalid. I also started making one-woman performance shows. Being in multiply marginalized disabled dance worlds, I’m connected to so many amazing artists who are helping me sharpen my craft. It’s been an exciting rebirth for me in the past four years.

JJ: My artistic roots are deeply tied to sound, movement, and Spirit. I grew up singing in church; Black gospel music shaped how I understood sound as a source of both power and healing. Over time, my creative practice expanded to include dance, improvisation, ritual, and sound design. I’m Black, trans, and neurodivergent, and that identity informs a lot of what I create. I don’t imagine art as separate from care work or community work. I also work as an access doula, which means I support people in navigating care, access, and bodymind transitions. For me, art and access are not separate; they inform and shape each other. Whether I’m creating a soundscape, being an access doula, facilitating rest, guiding folks to breathe and vibrate, or building an altar, I imagine collective liberation within our bodies. I imagine art as a portal for healing, remembrance, and collective transformation. For me, movement isn’t about performance. It’s about grief, joy, ancestry, and resistance.

India: I want to add that an unexpected delight in this round of How We Move was the rebirth of JJ the dancer. Having an accessible dance space meant JJ got to come in and claim an identity as a mover. JJ didn’t identify as a dancer before, but the whole cohort has deemed JJ a dancer.

What was the impetus behind How We Move?

India: There are many different things that were behind the creation of How We Move. Kayla Hamilton is the cofacilitator. Kayla and I have had many different adventures together that precede How We Move. We were interested in what happens when we create a space that brings multiply marginalized to the center of how the space is organized. A lot of dance spaces are white and non-disabled led, as well as cis-hetero and fat phobic. There can be this hierarchy where ballet is the highest form of dance and other forms rank below that. We were curious about having a space where the starting point would include a disruption of ballet at the top and would open an appreciation and center other styles of dance that are queer, trans, and/or BIPOC led.

We also have a lot of queer/trans/BIPOC folks embedded in communities where there’s not a lot of accessibility. We’re trying to marry a disabled dance aesthetic with cultural values and dance styles we experience in queer/trans/BIPOC spaces. For some of us who feel fractured in having to get our disabled dance over here, and our queer/trans dance over there, we need accessible, culturally relevant types of dance styles to be in one space. Kayla recognized that was something we weren’t seeing a lot of in the dance field and helped me co-create How We Move.

JJ: How We Move came from a need I felt in my own body and within community. I was tired of being in spaces that claimed to be inclusive but still asked me – and artists like me – to push past our limits, to produce, and to fit into rigid structures. As a disabled artist and access doula, I wanted to imagine a space that centered our needs from the beginning. A space where disabled, Black, queer, trans people could just be; be able to move, to pause, to create, and to be held. The intensive is an offering grounded in disability justice, collective care, and the wisdom of moving at the speed of access.

India: We’re so grateful that the Mellon Foundation decided to support this project and created a three-year grant with a robust budget for us to support multiply marginalized creative artists. When you have a medically complex group, the amount of expenses is higher, coupled with the higher cost of access. For example, it’s costly to offer multi-allergy-friendly catering, audio description, and CART (Communication Access Real-time Translation) throughout an entire dance intensive. Mellon invested heavily in this project, and we’re tremendously grateful for that support.

How was How We Move organized?

India: The program spans six months. There are two sets of virtual pre-meetings that are an opportunity for the artists to get to know each other and to learn about each other’s access needs. All the artists are invited to teach a workshop, so the pre-meetings are the beginning of the artists preparing for their workshops. Following the pre-meetings, there was a ten-day in-person intensive in New York City. Each artist had an opportunity to lead a workshop and get feedback. In August, we’ll have our last virtual gathering with this cohort and have an opportunity to close out and share.

Something that was emergent from this cohort was a strong desire to stay connected, so now we’re starting to add some alumni events and continued support that we didn’t originally anticipate.

JJ: We created How We Move to be hybrid from the start. We wanted to get to know the artists as soon as possible. People could participate from home, at their own pace, and with their own rhythms. We gathered access needs like whether or not they would need a personal care attendant and offered remote access doula support. We collectively built the program prior to gathering in person. Then we came together for a 10-day in-person intensive in New York City. Even in person, we kept virtual access consultants on board to support real-time access adaptation. We’ll have a collective virtual debrief in August. That hybrid model isn’t just practical; it reflects our values of flexibility, care, and honoring bodymind differences.

JJ, for folks who might not know, what is an access doula?

JJ: An access doula is a community member who supports participants to fully experience and participate in their environment. An access need is anything someone needs to fully participate in an activity. So an access doula supports people physically, mentally, and emotionally. This can involve anything from adjusting the seating arrangement, adjusting the temperature, serving as a sighted guide, or acting as a liaison between access providers.

How did you select the six artists in the pilot cohort?

India: Artists applied for the program. There were so many amazing applications, but so few slots. A committee of disabled dancers reviewed all the applications, and then we met to decide who to invite. We were clear that we wanted artists from different parts of the US and Canada. We wanted to focus on multiply marginalized artists. We aimed to represent a diverse range of disabilities while ensuring artists had some overlap with their disabilities and experiences to facilitate support in navigating their unique realities. Those were some of the things we were trying to balance.

Because I had already been connected in multiply marginalized disabled dance, our community did an amazing job of posting, reposting, and sharing. A lot of the spreading of the application happened on social media. That being said, we heard from a lot of artists who did not hear about it in time. We’re going to do even more outreach next year. In order to reach certain communities, it’s important to go to where those communities get information, so for example, seeking out Deaf-centered spaces, or queer and trans spaces, and making sure people are getting the word out in culturally specific sites.

JJ: We used a relational, curated process, and had folks complete an application. We reached out to folks on social media whose work, values, and lived experiences resonated with the vision of How We Move. We prioritized multiply marginalized D/deaf and disabled artists who are often left out of conventional dance spaces. We imagined the cohort not just as a group of artists, but as a small access-centered ecosystem – people who could co-create, care for one another, and move with a shared commitment to justice, joy, and rest.

The cohort recently came together for a 10-day in-person intensive in New York City. How were the days organized?

India: We stayed in a hotel, and the studio was 10 minutes away. There was accessible van transport. JJ mentioned that we collectively created the schedule with the artists. The basic rhythm that worked for this group was solo and group warm-up, a check-in, lots of breaks to support access, more movement exploration and conversation, a break for lunch, a workshop facilitated by one of the artists, and then a share back about the workshop and check out. There were six artists, so we had a few days without an artist sharing where we would add an activity in the afternoon. We took one day off and did some field trips.

JJ: It was collectively organized. We designed each day with flexibility and access at the center. A typical day would begin with breakfast, optional solo work, and grounding movement, followed by a workshop led by someone in the cohort or facilitation team. We built in long breaks for rest and nourishment. There was open studio time, a couple of field trips, and a lot of space for improvisation and co-creation. As an access doula, I also held one-on-one space for folks who needed processing, access care, or just time to decompress. Some of our most powerful moments came not during formal workshops, but in the quiet, unscheduled moments of rest, laughter, and reflection.

What are some takeaways from the first round of How We Move?

India: Access and the experience of each multiply marginalized artist is different. Every time we do a project like this, we learn a ton of ways to support access. We collectively decided that we had the capacity to ask each other about our disabilities and explore the most supportive ways to move and be together. For example, two people identified as low sight, and they wanted really different approaches to audio description. One person wasn’t interested in making sight primary and wanted to have their own adventures. The other person wanted a particular kind of information about what was happening to support their access. It was little things: We knew we wanted to tape the floor for access to help map the room, but there were a lot of doorstops needed, and the doorstops were similar to the floor color, so we realized we needed to tape them too. As another example, several people in the group (including me) struggle to regulate their temperatures, so we had hot packs, cold packs, fans, and air conditioning. Sometimes we would cool the room to support some of us, but then it would be too cold, and it would bring out symptoms, often in the same people. We were figuring that out in real time, how cool to have it for movement, how quickly to warm it up for conversation. We were navigating conflicting access needs within ourselves and within the group.

On the artistic side, we also got an opportunity to explore discipline, rigor, and growth as an artist from a non-ableist lens and how we are creating that for ourselves. That was really exciting, and it raised deep questions for us that we are still pondering.

JJ: One of the most powerful takeaways was that deep creativity is possible when collective care is prioritized. When we remove urgency and expectations, something profound opens. I remember one session where we collectively improvised with sound and breath. It felt like a living altar. I also learned that access isn’t something to be “added.” It’s a practice of deep listening and responsive care. Some of the highlights were the everyday moments: someone adjusting the lights for sensory access, someone else bringing a cold pack or some water, lots of laughter, connection, and community building. During one lunch break, we had a spontaneous harmony breakout session. These are the moments that nourish creative resilience.

Why is it important to make space specifically for multiply marginalized disabled artists, as opposed to integrating multiply marginalized disabled artists into preexisting spaces?

India: Both approaches are super important, but having specific space for multiply marginalized disabled artists allows us to deepen our understanding of ourselves and fortify ourselves. There’s something powerful about representation and being reflected, affirmed, and celebrated by peers with similar life experiences. A recurring theme the artists talked about was being lonely and isolated, being an “only.” Having a space to talk about that with others who know what it is to be lonely feels critical. Most of these dancers already exist in spaces where people are trying to integrate us, or more accurately, we’re fighting to integrate ourselves. We don’t always know how to advocate for what we need or address the countless microaggressions that happen. How We Move gave us a safe space to practice and deepen our understanding of our own needs so we can be better self-advocates and collective advocates in the other spaces we’re in.

And then a lot of us were able to have deeper and more nuanced explorations of our work. We have a dancer in the group who teaches accessible majorette dance. That dancer was bringing a dance form that isn’t always respected in mainstream dance, and then was making it accessible, and then was finding out what happens when they do this work in an all-disabled context. We were so excited to figure out how to make it more accessible in real time. It was a great opportunity for so many layers of exploration. These spaces are so critical and so rare.

JJ: It is important to do this work because pre-existing spaces weren’t built with us in mind. Integration often means being asked to perform our pain, educate others, or push ourselves to fit into non-disabled expectations. Making space for and by multiply marginalized disabled artists allows us to move at our own pace, shape our own timelines, and center our own wisdom. As an access doula and artist, I know that meaningful access goes beyond compliance. It’s about imagining something else entirely. We’re not trying to fit into the system; we’re building new ways of being together, grounded in interdependence, liberation, and love.

What are your plans for How We Move going forward?

India: We’re currently preparing everything so that the second cohort application process can go live in the fall! We’re working on some alumni programming and pulling forward some of the requests that the first cohort artists mentioned, like learning how to film/document their own work and wanting to create classes and curricula, as well as community building, so folks feel less isolated. We’re making a documentary dance film about How We Move, which started this year and will continue into the 2026 cohort. This film will allow us to provide an insider perspective on how amazing these artists are and what this work entails.

JJ: We’re still integrating everything from the pilot program, but the mission is expansive. We’re gearing up for our next cohort and we also want to continue supporting the original cohort with access to resources and space to share their work. We’re imagining future intensives, both in-person and virtual, and we’re committed to deepening our team of access doulas, facilitators, cultural workers, and artists. Long term, I hope How We Move becomes a model for how arts spaces can operate differently by centering care and personal and collective access as creative practices. For us this is just the beginning.

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To learn more about How We Move, visit www.embracedbody.com/hwm.

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