Forward Motion 2025 Conference 

 

Sunday, March 9th: 12 PM - 6 PM

Sandrell Rivers Theater

6103 NW 7th Avenue, Miami, FL 

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An engaging afternoon of free workshops and discussions invites participants to explore the principles and practices of physically integrated dance. Led by renowned choreographers Sunsik Yoo, Dwayne Scheuneman, and Miami’s own Pioneer Winter, these interactive sessions offer hands-on tools and techniques for creating inclusive dance.

 

REVolutions Dance’s Inclusive Dance Workshop

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The REVolutions Dance inclusive dance workshop was created to provide dancers of all abilities and backgrounds an opportunity to move, connect, and create together in an accessible and welcoming environment. Our REVdance approach combines improvisation, structured dance techniques, and partnering, all blended together, sprinkled with kindness, and wrapped in community.

The class begins with individual exploration of movement through improvisation, followed by accessible and challenging movement phrases that allow each dancer to adapt the technique to their own body and add their personal flavor. Participants then have the opportunity to connect with new and familiar friends through open-ended partnering exercises, blending their movement ideas and experiences.

The class evolves into a session of whole-group choreography, fostering a spontaneous, welcoming, and diverse movement community. To close the workshop, we transition into an easy cool-down, and a warm recognition of each participant, and a deepened sense of artistry and inclusion. 
 

Program Schedule:

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​12:00  - 1:30 PM - Workshop with Light Sound Friends

"Movement Training and Expansion Using the Floor"

 

1:45 PM - 3:15 PM - Workshop by REVolutions Dance

An inclusive dance workshop centered on individuality, using dance to strengthen community and foster connection"

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3:30 - 5:00 PM - Pioneer Winter "Dance Making Tools to Create Inclusive Dance"

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5:00 - 6:00PM - Reception and Networking

End the day with a closing reception provided by Three G’s Catering from 5-6 PM

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FM6 Biographies:

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Karen Peterson and Dancers 

 

Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) is dedicated to developing the physically integrated dance field through creation and education, including inclusive workshops and professional contemporary dance performances. KPD is the only full-time organization south of Georgia that works in this field.

 

Founding Artistic Director Karen Peterson has won multiple DMC fellowship awards for her choreographic vision, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 2011 from the Mildred Levenson Dance Foundation. She was also a Guest Speaker at Dance/USA 2017. The company and she have received two Knight Foundation Awards and three NEA grants for The Forward Motion Dance Festival 2018, 2019, 2022, and 2022.

 

In 2019, KPD won the 2019 Boston Conservatory at Berklee Alumni Entrepreneurial Award for the presentation of  “Warmamas” at the Judson Memorial Church, NYC in 2017. Under Karen’s leadership, KPD was named "Miami's Best Dance Company for 2019"  by the Miami New Times.

 

Since 1990, the company has presented an annual season of new ensemble work performed by hundreds of dancers, created by multiple choreographers at many South Florida and national and international venues. Committed to touring the company has performed in New York City at the Judson, Ohio, Atlanta, Washington, D.C. and throughout Florida. Internationally KPD has had performance residencies and cultural exchanges developing new work in Sao Paulo, Brazil; Carpi, Italy; at the Edinburgh “Fringe”, Scotland; at the American Choreographers Showcase; in Barcelona and Madrid, Spain; and in Ireland, Portugal and Bosnia. “Lost and Found” and “Samsara,” two new works, for the stage, have been presented in 2021 and 2022 at the Naples Botanical Garden, the Pinecrest Gardens and at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium. 

 

KPD has been selected to be part of Beyond, Barrier’s Boundaries and Belief, a national touring physically integrated Dance Festival in three sites in America, KPD in Miami being one of the three as well as Heidi Latsky in New York City and Dancing Wheels in Cleveland, Ohio.  This unique tour was made possible by the NEA and produced by the Dancing Wheels Company in celebration of its 41st season. The tour will commence in Cleveland on June 10, 2022, when all three companies will come together on stage at the Allen Theater at Playhouse Square.

 

KPD has also sustained ongoing educational and training workshops over many years, including working with over 3,000 teens with special needs each year and is a current member of the Dance USA deaf/disability affinity group. 

 

Karen Corash recently received The Boston Conservatory at Berklee School of Music Alumni Achievement Awards for her “dedicated work in the field and contributions to society” and will receive her award in Boston, in March 2022.

Choreographer Frank Chaves:

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has danced with Ballet Concerto of Miami, New York's Ballet Hispanico, Giordano Dance Chicago, and for six years with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, where he worked with choreographers such as Twyla Tharp, Margo Sappington, Daniel Ezralow, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, David Parsons and Lou Conte. In 2000, Frank received a Ruth Page Dance Achievement Award for “Mission”, co-created with Sherry Zunker. In 2008, he was also the recipient of the Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography from the Choo-San Goh & H. Robert Magee Foundation for Tuscan Rift; and in 2014, he had the great honor and privilege of being named “Chicagoan of Year in Dance” by The Chicago Tribune. He also served for 23 years as the Artistic Director of River North Dance Chicago, creating and producing more than 20 original works for the company.

  

Running parallel to these incredible accomplishments and honors, he has, for more than 10 years, been dealing with a degenerative spinal cord disease, syringomyelia, which in his case has no known cause and no known cure. After his second surgery, in 2010, his health deteriorated quickly, forcing him to choreograph and restage his older and new work from a wheelchair!

 

It's been quite a journey —a dancer and choreographer losing his physicality, accompanied by a multitude of symptoms that manifest into chronic pain, make it much more than losing the use of his legs. However, the one thing this disease has not taken away is the power of Franks's imagination. So long as he does that and there is music, he can continue collaborating with dancers and creating.  His passion for musicals and emotionally gripping dances is his hallmark reflected in “Havana Blue” and “Eva”, created in 2013, and in his poignant men's piece, “In the End”, his first piece fully designed from a wheelchair in 2014. In “Untitled,” the most current work he has created for Marion Kampert and Dwayne Scheunemann, will have its premiere at The Forward Motion Dance Festival in March 2025.

 

Choreographer Christina Acosta:

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is a dance professional with over 25 years of experience and serves as a Professor of Dance at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida. She holds degrees in dance performance arts administration and a master's in dance education from Teachers College, Columbia University. At HCC, Christina directs the dance department, teaches various courses and choreographs, and produces six performances annually. She enjoys working on building a stronger dance community by leading projects like CHOREOworkspace, the HCC VAPA Dance Guest Artist series, community dance classes, and Dancing Dialogues.

 

Dancers: Sam Kedziora, Marion Kampert, Jesus Vidal

Choreographer:  Christina Acosta 

Duet Unfinished approximately 10 minutes 

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Choreographer Sunsik Yoo:

 

Sunsik Yoo has been actively involved in domestic contemporary dance companies, participating in numerous artistic works. Currently, he works as a guest choreographer for the National Ballet Company. He strives for a more accessible approach to dance and theater production. Since 2020, Suksik Yoo has conducted dance classes primarily focused on contemporary dance at MADE (Specialized Dance Education for the Disabled). He was also the choreographer for the performance “What We Want” at the 2022 KIADA festival.

 

Light Sound Friends (LSF) is a non-profit artistic corporation for the disabled in South Korea. LSF was established in 1996 and has pursued various projects and accomplishments both domestically and internationally. Among the main divisions run by LSF is a specialized education program for the disabled called MADE (Mix Abled Dance Education), and a dance company called LSF Dance Company, which performs locally and abroad. LSF also hosts the Korea International Accessible Dance Festival, which is an inclusive dance festival that brings together inclusive dance organizations from all over the world, featuring main performances, and special programs such as an international forum, dance workshops, and a networking program. Through these programs, LSF aims to continue to engage in social activities that recognizes and supports the work of disabled artists. 

 

Choreographer Erika Lessner:

 

Erica Lessner is a Brooklyn-based dancer, educator, and choreographer. She holds an MFA in Choreography and Performance from Florida State University and a BFA in Modern Dance Performance from the University of South Florida. In Tampa, Erica performed with Moving Current Dance Collective All Out Repertory Theatre, and co-founded Shoes at the Door Dance, a 501c3 organization dedicated to community engagement through outreach and performance. In New York, her choreography has been presented at the DUMBO Dance Festival, Dance Entropy/GreenSpace, Triskelion Arts, Hunter College, and the 92 Street Y. Since 2014, Erica has been dancing with Catherine Gallant/DANCE, allowing her to perform at Jacob’s Pillow and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in Scotland. She has also performed with the aerial dance company Fly by Night Dance Theater. Erica has 20 years of experience with teaching children to dance and gymnastics. She is in her 9th year as a public school dance teacher for the New York City Department of Education. Erica also does freelance work in dance documentation, dance video, and projection design. Please see the video section for examples of her work.​​

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