Contact
Winner of the ‘Best Steam Project Award’ 2021 at Esplora's Steam awards, Diversely Typical is a contemporary dance performance campaign which shines a light on neurodiversity. It's a unique dance piece choreographed to highlight every behavioral nuance of certain neurological disorders and to stop the stigma against the behavior of those with neuroatypical brains. Portrayed through dance and spoken text, taken from real testimonies of neurodivergent children and adolescents, it explores the natural variation in human genes known as neurodiversity, which results in conditions such as Autism, Attention Deficit Disorder (ADHD), Oppositional Defiance Disorder (ODD), and Sensory Processing Disorder (SPD), among others. Like cultural or gender diversity, neurodiversity is a reality, reflecting human variation — in this case, the spectrum of neurological difference. any children and adults with various conditions such as ADHD, Autism, Asperger’s, Giftedness etc, are having to constantly restrain themselves from acting in ways which actually help them cope with their surrounding environment. Very often the inability to stim or cover their ears or not look someone in the eyes instigates more stress and anxiety as they have to constantly fight behaviors which come natural to them. Anxiety amongst neurodiversity people is one of the main things they struggle with, and the inability to act in a certain way in public, is leading to a sense of inadequacy, loneliness and a reluctance to interact. As a result, the main objective of this performance is to question why neurotypicals' social behavior is deemed acceptable whereas other behaviors are not, even though they are probably more important to them than our actions are to us for our sense of well being. Just because we can’t understand a behavior, it does not mean that we cannot accept it.
Choreographed by award winning artist Diane Portelli, mother of a gifted child, "This campaign is about tolerance - that is, how we all need to embrace the concept of neurodiversity as opposed to believing neuroatypical people need to be cured". If successful, it could mean living in a place where acceptance and inclusion are the norm... one without the insidious judgement of peers and adults. Diversity needs to become the new norm”