I’m still unpacking feelings of shame, guilt, and embarrassment around my disabilities ft. big phat existential cries about the body/mind/spirit I thought I could keep, but it’s gonna be ok. It’s been a year of upsetting unsettling health changes, but CHRONIC PUNK CRIP WAACK (CPCW) with
@cass.myers.poetry as
@the.6th.sense.collective has been the antidote that gives me rest, peace, and agency. With some shyness but also great fulfillment, I’m sharing a sample of our CPCW sizzle reel to summarize our 2+ years of dance research.
So tell me,
What is disabled street dance to you?
MORE ABOUT SIXTH SENSE COLLECTIVE and CPCW:
The physical intensity and flexibility requirements of the modern waacking evolution often excludes disabled dancers. SIXTH SENSE COLLECTIVE came together after failed attempts to disable street dance separately, such as mis-informed instructors and ableist dance environments. Current approaches to disabled dance are based in segregation rather than integration of disabled dancers, and this is regularly embraced as a therapeutic method, locating disability as an individual medical problem not a social justice issue. Dance for disabled people is often limited to wheelchair dance using silks, or folks with limb differences or involves non-disabled dance partners to “elevate” the dance quality that panders to able bodied audiences by focusing on a performance of able bodiedness instead of processes of radical disability justice. As a genre all on its own, CHRONIC PUNK CRIP WAACK levels the dance hierarchy with participants being active contributors to the creation and development of the dance praxis. This project is an ongoing call-in for non-disabled street dance teachers, leaders, and practitioners to be curious, compassionate, and accountable to how disability justice is essential to fostering community. As such, SIXTH SENSE COLLECTIVE’s long term goal is to launch a “crip street dance community”, beginning with this duo.
This footage is from our December 2025 residency, thank you
@torontodancetheatre @canasiandance .
Video and edit by
@oneofakynd27