The Santa Rosa Junior College Disability Cultural Center hosted an interactive dance workshop for students and staff with the Urban Jazz Dance Company to promote inclusion and awareness of disabled people in the arts at noon Dec. 1 in Emeritus Hall.
The Urban Jazz Dance Company is a Black-owned San Francisco based organization that hosts events showcasing deaf and disabled dancers. They also provide resources for the greater Bay Area disabled community. Company representatives advocate for disability rights, feminism, racial justice and equality for all.
The goal of the event was to increase visibility for disabled SRJC students and faculty and raise awareness about accessibility for all.
“That’s the great thing about art and dance is everyone can relate to it in some way, shape or form,” said program coordinator for the SRJC Disability Cultural Center, Jayce Kaldunski. “It’s a great way to bring people together.”
During the seminar, attendees took part in conversations about accessibility in art and the different ways people can express themselves through dance, regardless of their ability. Speakers from the company educated attendants on the unique and valuable culture of the disabled community.
“Students with disabilities are either not fully seen or not seen for who they are,” said disability specialist at the SRJC Disability Resources Department, Melissa Bentley. “If we can educate ourselves on the culture, we understand it so much more and it doesn’t feel scary.”
Urban Jazz Dance Company founder Antione Hunter said, “it’s important to bring art to the disabled community since most private businesses don’t do it voluntarily.” They recounted their experience as a deaf person growing up in San Francisco, where they would go to movie theaters only to find no captions on screen.
“There are still accessibility issues, but we can fix it,” Hunter said. “Theater can make things better. We can make it accessible.”
Despite the challenges of being deaf, Hunter takes pride in their community and encourages others to do the same.They emphasized the vibrance, diversity and love within deaf culture over an environment defined by hardships.
“I love being deaf. I love the deaf community and I love educating other people about deaf culture. We feel things in different ways and see things in ways that perhaps hearing people haven’t thought of before,” Hunter said.
The members of the Urban Jazz Dance Company remain as advocates against the discrimination their community faces. While resources for deaf people in San Francisco have improved, it doesn’t mean they still don’t face serious economic and social challenges.
“This world is not made for deaf people, so I often feel left out,” they said.
The main point that Hunter hopes attendees will gather from the event is that everyone has an experience of struggling with aspects of society that weren’t designed for them..
“Nobody can understand another human inside and out, but we can share similarities and feel that relief because you can express yourself. Your frustrations, your loneliness, your efforts navigating the world and trying to break through barriers,” said Hunter. “When other people have that same experience, that feels so much better.”
The Urban Jazz Dance Company’s message was not one of despair, but of connection within a culture shared across all languages and borders.
“You are beautiful on a beautiful day and you are beautiful on an ugly day,” Hunter said. “You are still beautiful when you make mistakes. You are still beautiful when there are barriers, and you are beautiful when those barriers are broken down.”
