Creating a space for dancers of all abilities, this collective empowers people through art

• The Diverse Abilities Dance Collective is a semi-professional dance team that aims to create a co-existing space for people of all abilities
• Founded in 2018, it is an initiative by local company Maya Dance Theatre and currently has 14 dancers, eight of whom live with Down Syndrome
• The collective hopes to use arts to empower and also increase its members’ employability in areas such as arts management and administration

SINGAPORE — In secondary school, Ms Weng Jia Ying, who lives with Down Syndrome, was introduced to dance for the first time.

Fifteen years later, the 31-year-old has taken her passion a step further and is today a member of Diverse Abilities Dance Collective, a semi-professional dance team founded in 2018.

“I have gained more confidence,” said Ms Weng. “Music and dancing allow me to express myself.”

Diverse Abilities Dance Collective is a community initiative by local company Maya Dance Theatre, which aims to create a co-existing space for dancers of all abilities.

Currently, the collective has 14 dancers — eight of whom live with Down Syndrome and six who do not.

They perform at events and also produce their own shows.

Co-founder and programme mentor Kavitha Krishnan, 49, said: “It is a space where we want diversely-abled dancers to converge together.”

Before founding Diverse Abilities Dance Collective, Ms Kavitha had been teaching dance enrichment classes at the Down Syndrome Association (Singapore) for more than two decades.

She said that the idea for the collective sprouted from an incident with one of her students who had been struggling with mental health for a period of time.

She invited the student down to train with professional dancers from Maya Dance Theatre, and realised that the training session helped with the student’s mental wellness.

She then founded the collective with the dance company’s creative producer, Mr Imran Manaff, and eight founding members — two are professional dancers with Maya Dance Theatre and six are dancers from the Down Syndrome Association.

The outfit was recently featured in Scope, a Mediacorp content brand that focuses on social issues of concern to young people.

Programme supervisor Subastian Tan, 26, who is one of the founding members, said: “In the case of dancers who might not have the communication skills that everybody else typically uses — for example, speech and language — then movement in itself is a great way to express.”

For example, he said, dancers move to a certain theme during improvisation.

“In that way, it empowers the dancers to represent themselves and their own stories,” he added.

The collective aims to impart skills that improve its members’ employability, especially in the arts industry.

Ms Weng, for instance, works part-time for arts education service provider Apsara Asia, which is affiliated with Maya Dance Theatre, doing arts administration.

Another dancer is Ms June Lin, 36, who also works part-time with Apsara Asia doing costume management.

PERFORMANCES, CLASSES DRIVEN ONLINE DURING PANDEMIC

The collective’s second full-length production — titled Seeds — is slated for June this year.

“As the name suggests, we want to plant that seed of understanding about how we can connect through the arts even though we are diversely-abled,” said Mr Tan.

The production will comprise three parts: An online feature of both local and international dance pieces, a live preview of local works for small audiences and a virtual panel discussion on dance and disability with parents, performers and artmakers.

Covid-19 has hit the arts industry hard and the Diverse Abilities Dance Collective has not been spared.

For instance, the collective was originally commissioned by the National Arts Council for an outdoor showcase in March last year.

However, they ended up doing an online show in October, which drew more than 300 viewers.

To keep its members engaged, the collective has started holding weekly classes via video call.

It also recently launched a dance training programme for the public, after which trainees can audition to join the collective.