Ashland Aerial Arts is proud to host Erin Ball and Maxime Beauregard (bringing lived experience presentations in relaxed environments, autism, and transgender inclusion) for their in-person course: Accessibility and Disability in Aerial Arts. This 25-hour teacher training is for coaches who want to consider access in their teaching practices and understand how to break down some of the inherent ableism (and some of its intersections) in circus arts. Participants will expand their knowledge to strive to offer more inclusive ways of teaching through lectures, discussions, resources, and practical aerial applications. The course culminates in a workshop offered to communities who have typically been excluded from circus arts.
Sunday 11/12-Friday 11/17, learn more and sign up here.
Sliding scale $250-600
Erin Ball (ze/zir)
is a white, neurodivergent, double below knee amputee. Erin is a circus artist based near Katarokwi/Kingston, Ontario and the artistic director of Kingston Circus Arts. Erin achieved Disability membership in 2014 and took a year off. Ze then began the process of un-learning ableism and internalized ableism and its many intersections, as well as re-learning circus arts and delving into the world of creative accessibility. Erin created a course to strive to welcome the Mad, Deaf, Neurodivergent, Chronically Ill, and Disability community into the realm of circus (and movement-based) arts as artists, audiences, etc. Erin travels internationally to perform, teach, and collaborate. Erin has been a movement-based artist for 15 years, and has co-produced and co-choreographed shows with numerous artists and access providers.
Image descriptions: Gallery, bottom left: A covered rope is suspended from above. About half a story high, Erin Ball, a white demifemme and double below knee amputee, is wrapped with the rope and upside down, reaching down to the mannequin legs below. The mannequin legs are open at the top and on a platform with wheels. Fake green plants and vines flow out of the top of the legs.
Gallery, bottom right: in a circus studio, Tasha Books, a white cis woman who goes by “OneArmGirl” is suspended in the air. Tasha has a left arm limb difference: her left arm is much shorter with several fingers near her shoulder. She is wrapped in aerial fabric that cascades to the floor from the ceiling. She is sideways, legs wide, one foot tied in a knot of fabric. Learn more about Kingston Circus http://www.kingstoncircusarts.com/
