Mobile Bodies: Re-Imagining Design through a Dance Lens M.Morris

Academic article published in the Journal of Technology and Innovation (2019) - discusses how the dance domain can fuel innovative practices in assistive technology. Dance paired with disability enlivens new ways of seeing and approaching design. The dancer pictured on the front of the journal is Liu Yan, renowned dancer from Beijing, China, who is a professor at the Beijing Dance Academy. I brought her to the University of South Florida to work with me and the Rolling the Dance Chair Project and perform/teach for "A New Definition of Dance," (2015/16), an initiative re-defining and challenging dance norms. Photo courtesy of Tom Kramer.
https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/nai/ti/2019/00000021/00000001/art00005

Tedx talk - Merry Lynn Morris "Challenging Perceptions with Dance"

In this Tedx talk, I discuss the ways in which dancers with disabilities challenge traditional assumptions about what the dancing body should look like and what it should do. Disability dance is catalyzing new forms of creativity in the dance field and pushing the field forward in multiple ways.
A short duet of my choreography follows, performed by Dwayne Scheuneman and Caitlyn Elie.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqO0nKF6GRk