Talk

Diversity is not accepted. It is pursued

Name: Diversity is not accepted. It is pursued
Start: 2024-09-25T12:00:00+02:00
End: 2024-09-25T12:00:00+02:00
Location: BBK Kuna – Sala Ganbara

bilbao kultura social forum

Date 25/09/24

Time 12:00h

Venue BBK Kuna – Sala Ganbara

Laura Jones is a fierce advocate for dance and disability, access and equity, and promotes the dance sector through teacher training in inclusive practices, public speaking and consultancy. She is Co-Artistic Director of Stopgap Dance Company, a British dance company specializing in the integration of disabled and non-disabled dancers. Laura has been integral to the growth and direction of the company since joining in 2001 and has extensive teaching experience. She is passionate about training future generations of diverse dancers and developing accessible training opportunities through programs such as “IRIS” and “Seedbed”.

In addition to her work promoting and developing talent, she has accumulated a wealth of experience, working with numerous choreographers and performing around the world in both traditional and non-traditional settings. Her work includes collaborating with Lila Dance on the dance film “a part”, performing with Moxie Brawl in Punk Alley and contributing to the Dance Unstuck research project. She choreographed the Heritage Flame Ceremony for the Rio 2016 Paralympic Games handover and, as Dance Captain, assisted in choreographing and teaching the massive volunteer cast for the London 2012 Paralympic Games Opening Ceremony.

Atena Foundation is a private non-profit organization, created in 2001 by a group of relatives of people with disabilities. Atena was born with the aim of responding to an existing social deficiency in Pamplona: the lack of artistic resources for people with intellectual disabilities. Nowadays, it continues to be the only entity in the Comunidad Foral that offers a service of these characteristics, being its main purpose the participation in artistic, educational and social interest activities.

The company Atena was created to provide an outlet and visibility to the training that the students of the performing arts school “Arte y discapacidad” were carrying out. Thanks to different organizations and institutions that supported the project from the beginning, the company was able to start creating its first choreographies and show them in different events, collaborating with artistic, cultural or social entities. At the same time, the company began to work as a producer of its own shows.

Thus, the company’s mission is to promote the inclusion of people with and without disabilities in the world of art and culture, encouraging the development of their personal and artistic abilities, and showing society a new perspective of art as different as beautiful and unlimited.