【The Âtre 】：相互學習的空間

二零二三年十一月號 Issue 11

https://lavender-romaine-5zll1b.mystrikingly.com/

瑪雅舞蹈劇場（Maya Dance Theatre）成立於2007年，其舞蹈風格多以印度婆羅多舞蹈融合現代舞演出。20餘年來，其舞團藝術總監卡維莎·克里希納除了經營舞團，每週也會到新加坡唐氏綜合症協會，通過舞蹈與藝術，與特殊需求的孩童交流。她也曾為這些唐氏綜合症孩子們編舞，邀請他們在瑪雅舞蹈劇場的專業演出平台“Release”呈現舞蹈“Small Steps”。

2018年，卡維莎·克里希納為舞團成立了一個多元舞者群「Diverse Abilities Dance Collective」（以下簡稱DADC）。DADC是一個社會倡儀項目，旨在為殘疾人士和藝術創作者創造共存的空間。DADC最初成立時有8名成員：6名唐氏綜合症始創成員，以及2位舞團的專業舞者。多年下來，如今他們共有14名舞者成員，其中有8位唐氏綜合症成員。DADC也為特殊需求者賦權，讓他們有機會從事與藝術相關的工作，例如藝術管理、藝術行政等。

2014年，全職攝影師呂晴文受新加坡的慈善組織“連氏基金”的邀請，為弱勢孩童進行跟幼兒有關的項目，於是構思了「蓋世小英雄」（Superhero Me）的企劃。她讓來自低收入家庭和殘疾兒童想像自己想成為什麼超級英雄，進而動手進行藝術創作，把自己打扮成心目中的超級英雄。

為期3個月的企劃結束後，呂晴文申請讓「蓋世小英雄」成為非牟利機構。作為包容性社區藝術組織，多年來擴展到其他的集體藝術創作形式和工程，與多個藝術團體合作，讓孩子們接觸木工、學習樂器、戲劇表演，等等。通過手工與藝術的互動，「蓋世小英雄」提倡具包容性的平台，讓特需孩子、殘疾孩子、以及身體健全的孩子們無隔閡地相處、交流。

呂晴文曾於2022年受邀參與香港藝術通達國際研討會進行分享；2023年4月，卡維莎·克里希納曾參與香港展能藝術會的無限亮網上圓桌討論，探討共融藝術的跨界合作。在「蓋世小英雄」和「DADC」多年的實踐中可見：所謂「藝術共融」，不僅是藝術家走入特定社群為其服務，也不僅是讓弱勢群體有機會接觸藝術而已—— 兩者致力落實的，是如何讓不同能力人士共處，如何讓不同背景的人們欣賞彼此的不同、接納彼此的不同。通過藝術，致力打破標籤和刻板印象，讓能力有差異的人們能夠共享資源、發展自我。

「DADC」和「蓋世小英雄」並非為我們展示一個公平社會的楷模，而是通過不斷努力和學習的過程，展示如何邁向公平社會—— 而這或許更為可貴。

***

The Âtre Issue 11 (November 2023) https://www.the-atre.com/

A Space for Mutual Learning

Written by Neo Hai Bin

Founded in 2007, Maya Dance Theatre (MDT https://mayadancetheatre.org/) is a dance company that performs contemporary dance expression that stemmed from Asian dance traditions and philosophy, primarily Bharathanatayam (Indian Classical Dance). For more than 20 years, its artistic director and resident choreographer/trainer, Kavitha Krishnan, run the company and visited the Down Syndrome Association (DSA) in Singapore every week, using dance and art to engage with children with special needs. She also choreographed a dance for Down Syndrome children, inviting them to present their dance "Small Steps" at Maya Dance Theatre's professional dance platform “Release".

In 2018, Kavitha Krishnan founded the Diverse Abilities Dance Collective (DADC), a social advocacy program that creates a "co-existing space for persons with disabilities and art creators". DADC was originally founded with 8 members: 6 founding members with Down syndrome and 2 professional dancers from the company. Over the years, they now have a total of 14 dancers, including 8 members with Down syndrome. DADC also empowers people with special needs by giving them the opportunity to work in arts-related jobs, such as arts management, arts administration, etc. 

On another note, in 2014, full-time photographer Jean Loo was invited by the Lien Foundation, a Singapore-based charitable organization, to work on a project for underprivileged children. That was when she came up with the idea for "Superhero Me". She asked children from low-income families and children with disabilities to imagine themselves as having special powers, and then to create artworks in order to dress up as their superheroes.

At the end of the three-months project, Jean Loo applied to turn "Superhero Me" into a non-profit organization (https://www.superherome.sg/). As an inclusive community arts organization, over the years it has expanded into other forms of collective art creation and projects, collaborating with various arts organizations to work with children through woodworking, musical instruments, theater performances, and more. Through creative arts, "Superhero Me" seeks to advance disability inclusion in Singapore.

Jean Loo was invited to share her experience at the Arts Accessibility International Symposium (organized by Arts with the Disabled Association Hong Kong) on arts accessibility in 2022; in April 2023, Kavitha Krishnan participated in "No Limits Online Roundtable Discussion" (co-presented by the Hong Kong Arts Festival and The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust), exploring cross-border collaborations for inclusive arts. 

Through their many years of practice, both "Superhero Me" and DADC shows that "inclusive art" is not simply about artists reaching out to serve specific communities; nor is "inclusive arts" simply about providing the underprivileged access to art-- both organizations are committed to enabling people with different abilities to get along with each other, and to enable people from different backgrounds to appreciate each other's differences, henceforth accepting their differences. 

Through the arts, they strive to break down stereotypes, and allow people with different abilities to share resources and grow together.

DADC and "Superhero Me" are not just showing us a version of what a equal and fair society looks like, but rather, through a process of continuous effort and learning, they provide some possibilities of how and what we can do to journey towards a fair society - and that is, to me, perhaps a more valuable endeavor.