Expanding possibilities for all bodies

A diverse group of adults dancing in a bright room. They are wearing protective facial masks. One is using a cane, one is in a wheelchair, and another looks fondly at a service dog at center.

Embraced Body advances Disability Justice through inclusive performing arts, accessibility consulting, and anti-ableist education for all.

Our bodies SHOULD feel radically welcomed in all spaces

Embraced Body’s work is for and by people like us: Black Disabled people, queer and genderqueer Disabled folks, Disabled survivors, folks who don’t neatly fit into one identity category or one canonized way of making dance—those who need to re-make the world in their image in order to find a place where they can be in their entirety.

WHAT WE’RE UP TO

Liminal

Liminal is a body of work exploring psychological, physiological, and spiritual thresholds as spaces one is not meant to pass through, but exist within—a practice of finding respite and agency in all the in-betweens.

HOW WE MOVE

How We Move is a first-of-its-kind dance intensive for and by multiply marginalized Disabled creatives from across the U.S.—centering agency, multiplicity, interdependence, and creative power.

UCLA's Dancing Disability Lab

The Dancing Disability Lab, held yearly at UCLA, is an experimental, weeklong exploration of performance and choreographic development for Disabled dance artists committed to Disability Justice.

India Harville

Founder and Executive Director, Embraced Body

A photo of India Harville, Founder and Executive Director of Embraced Body with her support dog. India is a black woman with long locs, she is wearing an orange blouse and light jeans as she smiles at the camera.

As a Disability Justice consultant, public speaker, somatics practitioner, and performance artist, India Harville has made it her mission over the past 20 years to open people's minds to the wonder of their own bodies.

In 2016, she founded what is now known as Embraced Body, an organization that began by providing accessible classes to Disabled communities. Since then, they’ve made disability affirming art funded by major philanthropic organizations and trained countless teams on accessibility and Disability Justice.

The intersection of India’s own identities as an African American, queer, Disabled/chronically ill, femme, cis woman informs all her work, from performing to educating to consulting. No matter what she is doing, she sets forth the example that however our bodies show up in the world, they are perfect, worthy of existence, and capable of magic.

Learn from EMBRACED BODY

KEYNOTES & WORKSHOPS

Whether performance-based or educational, our interactive keynotes and workshops are grounded in Disability Justice principles and center marginalized Disabled communities, including Disabled BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals.

Disability Justice Consulting

Our consultancy services empower businesses to integrate Disability Justice principles and accessibility practices into their operations. Our customized trainings equip your team with the skills to become disability savvy and inclusive with an intersectional lens.

SUPPORTED BY

A young person with brown skin smiling at the camera. They wear large glasses and their hair is tied up in a red scarf. They have on a black turtleneck, overalls, and bright pink lipstick.

“Embraced Body’s approach to facilitation is rooted in years of practice. Each practical skill they deployed—from ASL to the kind of attention they paid to everyone in the room—was undergirded by a coherent theoretical framework of collective access and disability justice.

Dancers with potentially conflicting access needs were all able to share space, learn from each other, and make art together. I learned access tools and accommodations that would be helpful for my own life with chronic illness.

Witnessing the magic of Embraced Body’s access doula and facilitation work inspired and motivated me to approach my own work in classrooms differently, going forward.

Sincere gratitude to these wonderful souls.”

—SHIREEN HAMZA

Download our free accessibility workbook

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