Künstler*innenhaus Mousonturm

The disabled rights activists and bloggers Elena Paolini and Maria Chiara Paolini alias Witty Wheels describe ableism as the stigmatisation of and discrimination against people with disabilities. Just like racism and sexism, it is a form of systemic oppression, i.e. embedded within the structure of our societies. The choreographer Alessandro Schiatarella will present his new piece “Zer-brech-lich” at Tanzfestival Rhein-Main. In this workshop he will share the artistic and physical praxis that he uses continually to reflect on and destablise ableist structures. The workshop aims to warm up the body and experiment collectively with choreographic exercises informed by Alessandro’s experiences over the last ten years of working with disabled bodies, both his own and those of others.

In the second section of the workshop, the participants will be invited to consider the word ableism in conversations and guided improvisation exercises to gain a better understanding of the word and to recognise how and where it manifests itself in everyday life. The workshop’s goals are to increase the participants’ awareness of ableism, encourage critical reflection and provide some practical tools to deal with it.