“I am interested in indigenous solidarity and decolonizing the hierarchy of relationships with power, privilege, wealth and access. Co-learning, co-teaching, co-living, and so much more are possible in radical ways. Ways which potentially lead to the dismantling of white supremacy, patriarchy, capitalism, the gender binary, and internalized colonialism. I believe radical dream mapping expands what we know to be true, it engages artistic imagination and from there we can, perhaps, emerge a new world.” Sacrosanct is a queer community blog and digital space for queer, trans, and non-binary BIPOC to heal, self define, and self actualize through art and wellness.
Race in Contact Improvisation: A Conversation with Taja Will, Richard Kim, Leslie Heydon, and Rebecca Bryant: Instigated and moderated by Hope Mohr Dance for The Bridge Project, Fall 2020
Taja on jamming in homogeneous CI spaces – “What a privilege it must be to feel so much belonging inside of your body that also you can offer it to being touched without any other guidelines, or perhaps any space to say what you need in touch or what you might like, and I think, walking into a jam culture is exactly that.
How intimidating it must be, to think about our [BIPOC] bodies [being] touched, as folks of color and the [historical] trauma of [living in] the United States…it doesn’t make me feel like I can walk into a space where there are people who don’t look like me and [imagine] that I can immediately feel in belonging with them. It doesn’t make me feel like I have the privilege of space and agency.”
Inside the Dancer’s Studio by National Center of Choreography Akron Moving in Multiple Directions at Once: an interview with Taja Will and NCCAkron’s Executive/Artistic Director Christy Bolingbroke Inside the Dancer’s Studio is a new podcast from NCCAkron that brings listeners into to the process of creating dance. Through interviews with choreographers from across the United States, Inside the Dancer’s Studio dissolves the mystique of dance-making into engaging fun and deeply human conversation.
Studio Stories: Reminiscing on Twin Cities Dance A podcast with ARENA Dances Artistic Director Mathew Janczewski
The How and the What: Access, Justice, and Disability Aesthetic by Samuel Valdez A roundtable of theatremakers talk about their work, how they make it, and models for inclusive spaces for both artists and audiences.
“The way I have been able to invite and integrate folks with disabilities, including myself, into my work is through the how, and the “how” is access, equity, and values. It is always asking what people need and prioritizing those needs over production (value or production itself).”