Heartbeat Dance

First performance: March, 2021

The Heartbeat Dance tells a compelling story and highlights disability arts as thriving, special, and a vital contributor to contemporary art and culture discourse. 

In 2018, Carmen was diagnosed with a 3 CM hole in her heart (partial septal defect). This birth defect was repaired with a nickel plug to ensure that the blood flow properly through the heart.

Since then, she’s experienced significant life-detours and faced her own morality. This has had a profound effect on Carmen’s vision and passion for artwork that has blended social-cultural value. The “heart problem” has, in-term, become her capacity to heal communities through engagement, relationship building, and friendship. Carmen turned an initially negative context (heart disease) into inspiration and opportunity for art-making.

Other notes: We started the research and development process prior to the pandemic, and we paused to establish a new remote plan. The research and development was the completed digitally with the goal of using a digital dance lens to communicate grace and resiliency.

Production Details

Dancers:  Variable production proportions available for touring with 4 or 6  dancers

Length:  10 min

Special Requirements:  Projector