Wired in Disability Arts Favorite 

Serene colors and technical set pieces create a surreal ambience as performers delicately hover into the black void above the stage. These performers belong to Kinetic Light, an "internationally-recognized disability arts ensemble". In 2022, the ensemble performed Wired, a "potent contemporary aerial dance performance that explores race, gender, and disability stories of barbed wire in the United States". Encompassing the dangers, beauty, and perceptions around barbed wire, the performance explores intersections of sexuality, art, and community as well as disability oppression. The artistic elements of Wired, such as original scores, the signature "coilography", and prop design, are offered to audience members as a unique experience alongside "sensory access" to Wired's set (Rabinowitz 1). The topics promoted within the performance, like depictions of violence and disability and racial injustice, experiment with first-person accessibility through such elements, creating tactile conversation between artists and the audience and an even stronger impression on audience members about the holistic goals of the performance.

Concerns around disability have prompted questions of equitable access to any field of work in the US. Such conversations enabled cultural shifts in ableist norms: in the film industry, CODA won many praises and awards, including Best Picture and Best Supporting Actor to Deaf actor Troy Kotsur at the 2021 Academy Awards. Ensembles like Kinetic Light center their work on "disability aesthetics and disability culture" in order to include contemporary conversations of artists with disabilities across all artistic fields.