ArtsAbility Festival

On the 3rd of December we had the final program of the festival #ABILITYWALK in Langa, Gugulethu, Phillippi and Delft Township. A BIG thank you to the communities who came to see the shows and the organizations who helped us make it happen #philippiartscentre #rainbowartsorganization Check out the article about the event from @thecapeargus on the link in bio Images from @africannewsagency #artsability #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #abilitywalk #inclusivearts

ABILITY WALK Happy International Day of Persons with Disability. To celebrate this day will we be having live performances in Langa, Gugulethu, Phillippi and Delf Township (see poster for details). If you are in these areas please join us. We will also be streaming the performances Live on Unmute ArtsAbility Festival Instagram and Facebook page, please like our pages to get performances notifications. #artsability #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #abilitywalk #inclusivearts #publicarts #publicperformances @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica @unmutedance @surve.philanthropies

INCLUSIVE AFRICA at 19:30 SAST Performance link in Bio: Tonight's solo performance by @lone_loh is the outcome of the Inclusive Africa Residency with Unmute Dance Company. Followed by this week's featured artist Lois Strachan with "Making Music". Inclusive Africa was born from a residency program by Unmute Dance Theatre. With artists from Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana and South Africa. Facilitators from UNMUTE explored themes which included ‘what it means to be African', this exploration included learning sign language which was then transformed into movement. Outcomes of the residency will be presented as short solo works performed by the residency participants. The residency program is inspired by the urge to bring together artists with different abilities from around Africa with the aim of building a bridge between South African artists and artists from other African countries. LONE MOTSOMI "Kgololo" Kgololo is a movement piece by Lone Motsumi that explores the identity of an African woman using sign language and contemporary African Dance. LOIS STRACHAN Lois Strachan describes herself as an ordinary person living an ordinary life. Some may disagree. Lois is the author of 5 books, is a professional motivational speaker, hosts an accessible travel podcast, and is a sometime rock musician. And she is totally blind, having lost her sight at the age of 21 due to diabetic retinopathy. In "Making Music" she shares with us her process of compositing music. #artsability #artsabilityfestival #artsabilityfestival2020 #inclusivearts #botstwana #southafrica #loisstrachan #beyondsight @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

INTEGRATED DANCE WORKSHOP at 12:00 (2 Dec) Tomorrow FREE online (Zoom) Inclusive dance class with Nadine Mckenzie To be part of the class email your name and surname, with INCLUSIVE DANCE as the subject of your mail at [email protected] NADINE MCKENZIE Nadine. An inclusive dance teacher who received her training from world renowned Alito Alessi who is the founder and facilitates training programs in Inclusive dance around the world. Works on teaching and creating inclusive spaces for everyone. Due to the global pandemic many have been forced to move to online teachings. Having never taught online particularly teaching that involve mixed groups of people (with and without disabilities). There are many challenges attached to teaching online, the greatest challenge being accessibility, (who is able to join?), Inclusion (how is the class accommodating different people), and also contact, As performers and teachers we rely greatly on having physical contact. How do we still move together and demonstrate without physically being in the same space. This workshop will explore how we use space, time and contact to create and inspire new ways of finding/ creating movement. #artsability #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #inclusiveart #danceclass #danceability @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

INCLUSIVE SOUTH AFRICA at 19:30 SAST The program features performances by South African based artists and companies who are working in the field of inclusive arts. Tonight's program features BLOOD AND SNOW MANIFESTO by @louisewesterhout Performance link in Bio: Blood and Snow Manifesto is Louise Westerhout’s intimate account of her journey through Stage 4 Lymphoma and disability. It embraces themes of illness, trauma, loss, disability, and mortality to explore how we construct subject or self, based on our own experiences and choices, and how those constructions are unavoidably influenced by the world around us. Posing the questions: how permeable are we and how strong is our immunity to this often sick and dangerous world? Is it possible to transform through suffering and loss and what, if any, is the difference between cure and healing? This work was co-produced by @nationalartsfestival as part of the Virtual National Arts Festival 2020 #artsability #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #inclusivearts #performanceart @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

INCLUSIVE WORLD WEBINAR at 19:00 SAST Tonight we are streaming the fourth and final session of the Monday Webinars. The discussions are focused on different challenges, strategies and thinking paradigms within the world of inclusive dance and performance with artists, administrators, funders, festivals and event organizers. The session will be streamed live at UNMUTE ARTSABILITY FESTIVAL page on Facebook and later uploaded on the festival’s YouTube channel. Please join us, as we will be discussing with Susanne Schneider (Switzerland), Nika Prkhomovskia (Russia), Cornelia Jungo (Switzerland), Alessandro Schiattarella (Italy/Switzerland), Jürg Koch (Switzerland), Vicola Visser (Denmark/South Africa) and Emanuel Rosenberg (Switzerland) The discussion will be hosted by @louisewesterhout . Unathi Kave will be interpreting the discussion into South African Sign Language. #artsabilityfestival #inclusivearts #webinar #inclusivetalks #artsability #headsupcommunications @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica @artsculturesa @surve.philanthropies

ARTIST OF THE WEEK at 15:00 SAST This week’s featured artist is Lois Strachan Documentary Link in Bio: Lois Strachan describes herself as an ordinary person living an ordinary life. Some may disagree. Lois is the author of 5 books, is a professional motivational speaker, hosts an accessible travel podcast, and is a sometime rock musician. And she is totally blind, having lost her sight at the age of 21 due to diabetic retinopathy. Highlights of her ‘ordinary’ life include reaching No 1 on the South African rock music charts, being elected as District Governor of Toastmasters International Southern African district, and accidentally almost standing on Nelson Mandela’s toes. SUBSCRIBE to UNMUTE ARTSABILITY FESTIVAL 2020 on YouTube to get performances notifications. #artability #artsabilityfestival #artsabilityfestival2020 #inclusivearts #ability #documentary @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

Program Cancellation!!! Due to unforeseen circumstances today’s planned book launch will not be happening. We apologize for this inconvenience. If you have missed the SHIFT RESIDENCY performances or want to see all the shows combined, you can catch the performance today on the festival’s channel in replacement of the book launch. Find LINK IN BIO: #artsability #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #shiftresidency @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

SHIFT 4 at 19:30 Tonights program features young artists from Gauteng, Mpumalanga and Western Cape: Bongani Hloma, Lethabo Shai and Siseko Mvulo Performance Link in Bio: SHIFT Residency is an 8 week residency program facilitated by UNMUTE, worked alongside 3 mentors in Dance, Music and Theatre. Andile Vellem from UNMUTE, Babalwa Makwetu a South African Musician and Calvin Ratladi a theatre maker. Mentors worked with 10 participating artists of different art forms from different provinces within South Africa, Limpopo, Gauteng, KwaZulu Natal, Mpumalanga, Eastern Cape, Free State and Western Cape. The residency entailed explorations on various topics/ themes and were then translated in different forms (dance, music and poetry), infused with South African sign language all of which occurred online. End results are in the form of recorded performances with the performers phones. SUBSCRIBE TO UNMUTE ARTSABILITY FESTIVAL 2020 YOUTUBE CHANNEL TO GET NOTIFICATIONS ON DAILY PERFORMANCES. #artsability #artsabilityfestival #artsabilityfestival2020 #shift #inclusivearts #inclusivefestival @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica

INCLUSIVE WOLRD 3 at 19:30 SAST Performance Link in Bio: Inclusive World is a program that presents inclusive productions from across the world. Tonight's program we are presenting "REPEATING A DREAM” by @lailawhiteart and a world premiere of ACCESS DENIED Part 1 by @unmutedance Repeating A Dream Laila White asks herself questions about controlling her own body, what it means to depend on crutches and rejecting those legs that don't follow what the head dictates. Through sleep, Laila White investigates what she cannot experience during her wakefulness. Her deepest essence is projected during her sleep. Her daytime self tells other stories; two parallel realities, two people, two legs and one present.
In this piece she delves into the complexity of dreams and the subconscious, while exposing one of the artist's most troubling issues: The control and obsession towards with her own body.  ACCESS DENIED Part 1 Access Denied is a video presentation/film on three artists from Unmute Dance Theatre. The film is a documentation on the different challenges these artists deals with daily where accessibility is concerned. The Part 1 of the film is performed by @mayekisosiphenathi . He deals with denied access to freedom. Freedom to exist in spaces without fear of being a target of dark magic and crime due to the false believe that the society has on people with the condition of albinism, that they have fortune in their bodies. #artsabilityfestival2020 #artsabilityfestival #artsability #inclusiveartspractice #inclusivity #inclusiveart @artscapetheatre @nacsouthafrica @unmutedance @surve.philanthropies