In Azara ballet, dancers are not expected to make eye contact with directors and choreographers. If company members need a quick break from the harsh stage lights during rehearsals, they take a break. They also get clear instructions on hair and make-up before the performance.
Preference to Ezra Dancer’s health. Founded in 2022 by dancers Kate Flowers and Martin Rosare, who are both autistic (and a married couple), the company, based in Sarasota and Bradenton, Fla., is a sanctuary for neurodivergent performers. (The company consists of 10 dancers, not all of whom are neurodivergent.)
“When I’m dancing,” Flowers said, “as long as it’s in a good environment and a safe space, the expression through non-verbal movement is something that helps me a lot.”
Azara addresses a gap in the dance world: the need for spaces where people with autism, ADHD or other conditions that fall under the broad term “neurodivergent” can freely experience the art form. Evidence, both anecdotal and empirical, suggests that there is a strong connection between dance and these neurological conditions. This relationship has become a focus for researchers, artists, and performing arts organizations. in recent years.
In November, Azara gathered for a run-through of her show “Voices of Azara” at the Black Box Theater where the show was soon to be held. The atmosphere of the theater felt both lively—dancers warmed up, checking steps, chatting—and quiet: there was dim lighting, a pleasantly cool breeze and, among the actors, about the volume of their voices. Apparently there was an innate awareness.
To begin the rehearsal, Rosare gave the dancers a rundown of the schedule for the next three hours. Then, they went through four pieces before receiving the note – all by members of the company. As the dancers performed, the music was never too loud, and the improvisation was never played.
Mostly, though, rehearsals didn’t seem much different from any small dance company. But what makes a “world of difference,” said dancer Rebecca Kimsey, who is autistic, is the level of humanity and consideration in the studio.
“Martin and Kate are very accepting and very understanding of everything that comes up,” she said, “as I spend a day. I’ve been when I wake up with a migraine from overstimulation.”
He added: “If we’re in rehearsal and things are moving really fast, they still don’t shout the improv, which can alarm people or if they’re concentrating.”
Flowers said she has always felt drawn to dance. “Especially with autism, having structure is really helpful,” she said. “Dance really provides that. It makes sense why I was drawn to dance, and why I was drawn back.
Research backs up these experiences. The findings suggest that dance may be uniquely suited to complementing the strengths that come with being autistic or certain neurological conditions, while also mitigating some of the difficulties.
Dr. Jessica Eccles, a researcher at Brighton and Sussex Medical School in England, studies how some conditions overlap. hypermobility (greater than normal range of motion) and creativity. “Attention to detail, memory, emotion, thinking outside the box — all of these things are probably useful assets for dancers,” Eccles said. “A large proportion of dancers may be neurodivergent, but may not be recognized. They may be underdiagnosed.”
Julia Basso, director of Virginia Tech’s Embodied Brain Lab, has established further evidence of the link between dance and neurodivergence by measuring brain waves. In a group of musical theater performers, mostly with autism, dance and performance were shown to increase intrabrain synchrony — that is, the neural connections within a performer’s brain — as well as interbrain synchrony, or the connections made between multiple people. went This suggests that dance can play an important role in things like social connection and reducing anxiety, which are common challenges, Basu said.
Roosare and Flowers observed the positive effects of dance on a group of preschool-age autistic students enrolled in Azara’s Atypical Dance Initiative. “Students usually struggle to focus in school during the day, but when it comes to dance, they’re always paying attention and engaging,” Rosare said.
While Azara takes a dancer-first approach to engagement, most companies focus primarily on the audience. For example, the New York City Ballet recently hosted a sensory-friendly performance of “The Nutcracker” and plans another sensory-friendly program (a Balanchine triple bill) for May. Other companies have also implemented this process, largely as part of the “Nutcracker”. the weather
“Audiences felt welcome, they felt supported, they didn’t feel judged,” City Ballet associate director of education Meghan Gentile said of the sensory-friendly performance last spring. “There’s more conversation about how to make all of our performances a little more accessible. It’s a new lens that’s put on our work.
All performances at Azara are conceived with neurodiversity in mind. A similar approach is being taken by the Lumberyard Center for Film and the Performing Arts in New York City, with its Seats on the Spectrum, an accessible program designed for easy implementation in theaters. The pilot version, which debuted in October, is available at the New Victory Theater, here at the Arts Center and Roundabout Theater Company.
“While separate performances and separate festivals are great and they reach so many people, they don’t reach the right demographics,” said Adrienne Willis, Lumberyard’s executive and artistic director. He added that Lumberyard is interested in making access “more economically viable for theaters.”
In many of these programs, audience members are presented with sensory kits—fidget toys, earplugs, noise-cancelling headphones—and visual and textual explanations of what to expect from their time in the theater. Based description. There are often reserved, less crowded seating areas for neurodivergent audiences, and during the show, the house lights are never completely dimmed, the lighting and sound effects are subdued, and patrons can come and go as needed. You are welcome to visit.
These may seem like big changes. But Azara dancer Kumsi said that when some of her friends attend these performances, “they tell me, ‘I barely feel the difference; I didn’t know it was a sensory-friendly day.'”
Still, he added: “For people who need these changes, it’s a lifeline. It connects you to something you might otherwise never witness.
The next generation of dance artists is also developing tools to consider neurodivergence. Patrick Corbin, an associate professor of practice in dance at the University of Southern California’s Gloria Kaufman School of Dance, brought together neuroscientists and occupational therapists as well as neurodiverse theater experts to establish a course called Dance and Neurodiversity. Joined forces with artists. Autism
By combining science, movement and community engagement, Corbin hopes students will learn about how dance affects the brain and better understand these conditions as a whole.
“We develop a dance-based strategy, using all of these things, to see how we can learn more about walking in someone else’s shoes,” Corbin said. “Instead of trying to drag people with autism into our world, maybe we’ll find a bridge of connection if we go into theirs.”
As Azara practices, it’s clear that connection is a goal. Each dance has a clear meaning or story, and the movements chosen by the choreographers are not too vague to be understood, nor too literal to feel hackneyed. Dancers move with conviction, with abandon and a sense of flow; They are in their element.
“For me, choreographing helps in terms of expression,” Rosar said, “to be able to convey certain feelings and emotions and ideas that are usually a little more difficult for people to get across.”
“I feel like there are a lot of undiagnosed autistic people in the dance world who have found it a way to express themselves.”