Embracing the Distance: Accessing Dances of Connection

Abstract:I look at an image of my performance of Free Hugs, an interactive dance installation that sought to activate Tkaronto’s Lisgar Park amid the city’s attempts to reopen during the COVID-19 pandemic in the summer of 2020. More than a year later, a lot has changed with the development of vaccines and the lifting of restrictions/regulations for in-person gatherings. And yet I am still uncertain of how to connect with others amid growing concerns about the pandemic’s fourth wave. Hoping that I will rediscover some insight from my performance to relieve me of my uncertainty, I return to this image. It captures a moment of my attempt to share a hug with my audience—to connect with them in an intimate way amid the borders of physical distance imposed on us and by us. Looking at this visual representation of my performance, however, I feel my distance from the experience of my dancing body and all that it tries to teach me. I desire an embodied connection with the gestures of that performance to guide me forward into our uncertain future. Turning to disability arts practices inspired by questions and aesthetics of access, I release a practice through which we might simultaneously rest within and wrestle through the creation, navigation, and transcendence of distance to access connection.