ART WITH bam! By Muriel Cooper Photos Yanni
B
AM Arts Inc. is rehearsing one of their performances, 'Bad Ballet', for the Melbourne Fringe Festival. It's fun, colourful and funny. Students are not just performing, they’re doing costumes, props, and even running the café. The students, teachers and volunteers discuss the show, give instructions, and use terms and instructions that would be familiar to any arts organisation. There’s no special method because the participants are disabled.
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28 | PENINSULA
October 2023
Founder Lisa Murphy says, "That’s very much at the core of what we do. We don’t think disability first; we think performance or activity first and whatever disability the person has is very much secondary. You treat people as people, and you get to know them, and as you form relationships with them, you understand what their learning strategies might be or how best to connect with people. It’s not about the disability. It’s about the person." continued page 30...