“I’ve been a dancer all my life,” says CounterBalance founder Ginger Lane. Trained primarily in ballet, Lane performed, taught, choreographed, and briefly owned a dance studio in Wilmette before a spinal cord injury in 1984 resulted in quadriplegia. Yet Lane did not allow her injury to sideline her. Instead, she channeled her creative energy into independent living and disability rights at the Rehabilitation Institute of Chicago (now the Shirley Ryan AbilityLab), where she provided peer support services and disability awareness training, before joining the independent living center Access Living to coordinate its Arts and Culture Project in 2008. As part of the initiative to feature art and events by artists with disabilities—including visual art, cabaret, readings, theater, and an annual battle-of-the-bands—Lane was determined to bring dance to Access and accessibility to dance.
“I was introduced to disability culture there,” she says, remembering with a smile how she began to dance with them. “I had lost my dance world. I wanted to fit into theirs. Their impulse was that they wanted to go out to clubs—we were in college—and pick up girls! So they went along with it.” Freidheim credits Dance>Detour founder Alana Wallace with bringing dance back into her life. “I get around with leg braces and a cane most of the time. Alana taught me to dance in my chair so I could rejoin the world of dance. Dance is freedom—freedom of the soul, as corny as that sounds!”
Collaboration and inclusion have always been keywords for CounterBalance, and with performances and workshops moving online, Freidheim sees even greater possibilities for the future. “This online ability we’re all developing includes people who could not be included for reasons of disability, economics, location—what a wonderful opportunity! It’ll cost a little extra to do a show that’s also being broadcast, but it can be done. We’re opening up how we can share what we do and how we can collaborate with choreographers across the country because we’re all teaching over Zoom. I believe this will bring about greater understanding in society of anyone who’s different.” v
10/7-10/11: see full schedule at momentadances.org. Tickets sliding scale $0-$35, but preregistration required.
