There's something very real about having all different body types dancing together.

And that, like, we all have limits that that's a it's not like a detriment to have some sort of physical, like every single one of us has some sort of physical limit.

And to, to show that in performance to me feels really like empowering of just the human body in general.

And to be like dance is joy and connection.

And we all have different limits and we can still dance together and be on stage also.

My goodness, I've been doing this for the past 30 years.

So obviously there's something that keeps me coming back to this.

Yeah, this season I knew that I wanted to work with the four dancers.

Usually I have a larger company.

This is a small group this year, so we had a lot of time.

And with that freedom of the time, I think we were very creative.

I love to watch audience's faces just to see their response.

You know, it's really good to have an audience as a tryout just to see, oh, I think they might like this, or they might be engaged by the work.

I want to make sure that the audiences are engaged or moved in some way.

Happy.

Sad.

Emotional.

Upbeat.

It's all there, but it's like a whirlwind where you just feel like, oh, this is great.

Oh, this is so sad.

Oh, this is so beautiful and this is so rocking.

It’s all mixed in one.

Mixed together.

I usually have some simple idea and we improvise and I'll say, okay, Adam and Erica, try this.

Now, don't try that.

Try this.

Can you do this faster?

Can you turn it around?

It’s a trial and error discovery between me and the dancers.

We just explore each other and something.

One day I just jumped in the hotel.

Then I feel like, oh, I'm sorry, but can I try?

Then we got some ideas about popping each other.

It's okay, can I it's okay, can I?

Then we mixed it.

My name is Mark Travis Rivera.

I am an independent disabled choreographer based in Atlanta, Georgia, but I was born and grew up in Wynwood in Miami.

Storytelling is a through line of all that I do, which is why I call myself a professional storyteller.

And for me, movement isn't just about moving for the sake of moving.

There's a story, there's a narrative.

There's a reason.

There's a cause and effect.

There's a metaphor with the body.

What is the story within our bodies are trying to tell.

Right.

And so for me, telling stories I believe can be used to create a more inclusive world.

And we do that in dance by working with disabled and non-disabled dancers.

For some people in the non-disabled dance world, um, you know, the choreographers aren't always disabled oftentimes, and so they're approaching it differently.

But for disability dance in particular, it's about using the bodies we have and creating exquisite art.

Before I joined many years ago, I didn't know how to even think of dancing with a partner or another wheelchair, or even an able bodied with a wheelchair.

I just never even wouldn't have even thought about it.

Then when I first saw KPD, Karen Peterson and dancers and actually Marjorie was the first one I saw, that's what immediately got me interested.

The first time that I saw KPD, the thing that moved me the most is it was such a beautiful dance.

And simultaneously it was kind of like this redefinition of what we think of as beauty per se in dance, because there's a lot of like very particular or strict movement and process in the traditional dance world.

And it's really nice to collaborate and be like, oh, we're creating this beautiful thing together.

Like your body is just as beautiful as your body is, just as beautiful as my body.

And we can communicate about it and make something together that's really beautiful.

It made me realize how much most days I become alive.

I become whole, you know?

So that's the difference between me and my life.

I never think about that.

We have this.

Everybody here.

It's just to connect each other's body type.

Different body type.

We're moving together.

We mix, mingle together and make happen together.

For me, it is about speaking the human experience through movement, through our bodies, is an embodiment of the human spirit.

I think some people try to diminish the contribution of disabled artists, but I'm here to remind people that disabled people can dance and choreograph, and we can do so well.

Nothing is impossible.

Even though it looks like, you know, fun and passion and all that.

But it is hard work.

But it's a it's a it's a job well done at the end.

And that we love the zoo, right?

Physically integrated dance is not going away.

It is developing around the world.

It's developing around the country, and it's a dance form that's here to stay.