{"id":16091,"date":"2022-01-18T16:46:58","date_gmt":"2022-01-19T00:46:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/?p=16091"},"modified":"2022-01-20T15:36:32","modified_gmt":"2022-01-20T23:36:32","slug":"festival-of-human-abilities-set-to-shine-in-long-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/?p=16091","title":{"rendered":"“Festival of Human Abilities” Set to Shine"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
by Noella Noelophile\u00ae<\/h6>\n\n\n\n
\"wall<\/a>
Festival of Human Abilties, 2017<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Artists sharing their talents–and teaching workshops. Music and dance. Laughter and a great time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All of the above will be a part of the upcoming “Festival of Human Abilities”, at Aquarium of the Pacific<\/a> in Long Beach. And so is a special award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Smiling,<\/a>
Zendra Mitchell performs an interpretive dance in American Sign Language, 2020<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

It’s all happening on Saturday and Sunday, January 29th and 30th, as the Aquarium hosts it nineteenth annual “Festival of Human Abilities”. You’re invited to the live event–and if you, like me, are isolating in these scary times, there will be at least one live-stream performance on the Aquarium’s Instagram and Facebook accounts<\/a>!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’ll admit, this is one of my favorites among the Aquarium’s events. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Festival<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Celebrating the creativity of artists with disabilities, Festival of Human Abilities has a main stage with live performances throughout both days. R and B music, hip-hop performances, dance numbers and adaptive diving are generally included in the program.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Artist<\/a>
Artist Tommy Hollenstein guides attendees in a wheelchair-painting workshop, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

So are workshops, where attendees, in the past, have had opportunities to learn subjects including dance routines, wheelchair painting, crafts and animation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While I don’t yet have a full list of the featured artists and workshops for this year’s Festival of Human Abilities, I can<\/em> tell you that “exhilaration” and “exuberance” are the words that best describe The Rollettes<\/a> wheelchair dance team! And on Saturday, January 29th, you’ll get to see them, live.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Three<\/a>
Festival of Human Abilities, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

According to an email from Aquarium of the Pacific, this gifted troupe will be performing live that day at 1 pm, Pacific time. And there will be a live stream, on he Aquarium’s Facebook<\/a> and Instagram pages<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the way, if you’re onsite and get to meet The Rollettes, tell them “Happy Anniversary” for me! 2022 marks the tenth anniversary of this powerhouse group, which Chelsie Hill founded in 2012. Their mission, as stated on their webpage: to empower women with disabilities to live boundlessly, and shift perspectives globally.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Rollettes<\/a>
Rollettes founder Chelsie Hill performs, January, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Currently, The Rollettes are the world’s largest network of women with disabilities. Their community stretches across 20 different countries, according to their website, and they offer dance classes, mentorship and a women’s empowerment weekend called the Rollettes Experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(And might I add, from experience, that if you get to take one of their dance workshops at Festival of Human Abilities, you will have a blast!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can also tell you that, as in previous years, a highlight of Festival of Human Abilities will be the presentation of the Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award to a member of the community. This is always an exciting validation of a highly gifted artist…<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Dani<\/a>
Danimation founder Dani Bowman, January, 2020.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

…like Danimation Entertainment<\/a> Founder and COO Dani Bowman, for example. She was the 2020 honoree! Danimation has, so far, won nine awards for their animated films. Danimation offers a number of online classes–and they’re giving back to the community with free two-hour remote sessions, every Friday and Saturday!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sign language interpreters will be available, for the nineteenth annual Festival of Human Abilities, and the Aquarium will have both visitor guides in braille and audio tours available for guests who are blind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Perhaps my favorite part of the Festival of Human Abilities is the way it can lead anyone to question our own preconceived notions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Michael<\/a>
Artist Michael Seale, Junior, during his 2017 creative workshop.<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Or, in the words of artist Michael Seale, Junior<\/a>, during his 2017 workshop:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Never let your challenge stop you from living your dreams.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Aquarium of the Pacific’s nineteenth annual Festival of Human Abilities happens Saturday and Sunday, January 29th and 30th, from 9 am to 5 pm. General admission is required, as is advance online registration for weekend events at the Aquarium. You can purchase tickets online at this link<\/a>. <\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

And if you’re isolating due to the pandemic, you’ll still get to see some of the fun! On Saturday, January 29th, at 1 pm Pacific time, the Rollettes’ live performance will live stream on both the Aquarium’s Facebook page <\/a> and their Instagram account<\/a>.<\/em><\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

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by Noella Noelophile\u00ae Artists sharing their talents–and teaching workshops. Music and dance. Laughter and a great time. All of the above will be a part of the upcoming “Festival of Human Abilities”, at Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach. … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[262],"tags":[1455,167,76,2151,1268,2150],"class_list":["post-16091","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-all-the-year","tag-festival-of-human-abilities","tag-aquarium-of-the-pacific","tag-artists","tag-artists-with-disabilities","tag-live-music","tag-performances"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=16091"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16128,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16091\/revisions\/16128"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=16091"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=16091"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/noelophile.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=16091"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}