DANCE NEWS: Announcing Next 'How We Move' Program for D/deaf & Disabled Dance Artists

DANCE NEWS: Announcing Next 'How We Move' Program for D/deaf & Disabled Dance Artists

Published on August 13, 2025
Image from homepage of embracedbody.com

Applications for 2026 Program Open September 2 - October 15, 2025

Embraced Body, the Disability Justice and inclusive arts organization founded by artist and Disability Justice consultant India Harville, announces the application period for the second round of its How We Move program.

Funded by the Mellon Foundation, How We Move is a dance intensive created for and by multiply marginalized D/deaf and Disabled artists from across the United States; the program centers agency, multiplicity, interdependence, and creative power. Applications for the 2026 program are open September 2 - October 15, 2025.

Photo by A. Marie Studio for Embraced Body


“We’re interested in what happens when we bring multiply marginalized artists from the margins into the center, define our own spaces, and explore how we move together. That’s really the creative question behind the work,” India Harville, Embraced Body Founder & Executive Director, shared with Dance Magazine.

The How We Move Program centers D/deaf and Disabled, multiply marginalized (BIPOC, LGBTQIA+) dancers. The second round of the program will welcome six artists and will include two virtual weekend gatherings, followed by a 10-day in-person intensive in the Movement Research studios in New York City (June 2026), and culminating in a final virtual weekend. This hybrid gathering format provides multiple access points to Disabled dance artists wishing to build and expand cross-disability community.  

The in-person intensive will include somatic/movement/dance workshops; each participant will have an opportunity to lead a workshop and will receive support to ensure their workshop is accessible for all attendees. The intensive will also include space to build power together towards a transformation of the colonial, eugenicist, and ableist lineages still present in the dance field. This intensive will provide a rigorous access framework, allowing cross-disability artists from across the country the opportunity to come together, create, learn from one another, and cultivate opportunities.

Meet the team at Embraced Body


How We Move collaborators include India Harville, Kayla Hamilton, JJ Omelagah, with space partner Movement Research. Artists for the pilot program included Assaleh Bibi, kumari giles, Devin Hill, Hector Machado, Jackie Robinson, and Zen Spencer.

Program details are available at embracedbody.com/hwm. Applications are open September 2 - October 15, 2025. An informational webinar will be hosted on September 25.

All accepted How We Move participants will receive a $2,000 stipend and the program will cover access, travel, housing, and food costs for the June in-person intensive. Funding is also available for Personal Care Attendants.


The Dance Enthusiast Shares news from the dance world and creates conversation.
For more Dance News pieces, click here.
If you have important news to share, please send announcements or press release to info@dance-enthusiast.com!


The Dance Enthusiast - News, Reviews, Interviews and an Open Invitation for YOU to join the Dance Conversation.

Related Features

View More Features