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Sensory Dimensions

@sensorydimensions

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followers

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following

@caseythebug and @yeetlicia
Centering accessibility in art about chronic pain and invisible disabilities
Violin // Dance // Projection // and more!

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How do you go beyond enduring pain and turn it instead into a transformative artistic experience? Casey and Elicia are the powerhouse behind Sensory Dimensions, a creative collaborative that recontextualizes experiences of chronic pain and disability through music, movement, projection, and tactile art. Their work asks what happens when pain is pushed beyond the silent tragedy of the clinical setting and given new ways to be seen, heard, and felt.

Both Casey and Elicia came to the project through deeply personal experiences with chronic pain. Elicia has trained as a violinist for more than 20 years. At 17, ankylosing spondylitis forced her to reconsider her artistic future. Years of pain, unsuccessful physical therapy, and medical dismissal eventually led to a diagnosis that brought both relief and fear. Casey’s path through dance was repeatedly disrupted by severe muscle spasms, undiagnosed injuries, and other overlapping symptoms that did not fit neatly into a single diagnosis. Eventually, they were diagnosed with fibromyalgia and hypermobility. Trying to remain in the world of performance while navigating disability pushed them both to explore other avenues to art, including choreography, production, and accessibility work.

In this episode, Jesse speaks with Casey and Elicia about how their connection to someone with a similar experience changed their approach to their work and bodies. Since collaborating on their masters’ thesis, they have built immersive, inclusive performances, and interactive programs like Paint Your Pain. On stage, they turn pain into sensations that everyone can experience, regardless of disability or predilection. Accessibility is embedded from the beginning: for instance, if an audience member cannot see an element, they may be able to hear or touch it instead.

#chronicillness #chronicpain #liveperformace #ankylosingspondylitis #hypermobility by @sensorydimensions

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25 days ago

Happy Disability Pride Month!

It has been a few months since we performed My Body’s Wake at @lajollaplayhouse #wowfestival! We are so greatful for everyone who attended and overjoyed by the response to the work. Thank you to all of the disabled artists and activists who carved the path. Thank you to all of the amazing humans supporting us. And thank you thank you thank you to our disabled community!

Lighting Design by @taylorolsonlighting
Photo by @hanatobias

[image description] a moment from My Body’s Wake. Under warm amber lighting, a dancer crouches shirtless with chest tape and body paint. They gaze upward with tension in their shoulders and their arm extended to the side. A woman in a black dress stands behind the dancer plucking her violin strings. Her bow points toward the top of the dancers head. taken in Qualcomm Institute by @sensorydimensions

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3 months ago

My Body’s Wake for the #wowfestival by @lajollaplayhouse featured on @kpbs

We sure said WOW when we saw this!

Tickets for My Body’s Wake are free
RSVP link in bio!

Lighting: @taylorrrolsonnn
Sound: @hengyeet98
Recording: @hayden_elliot_barker

[image description 1] In a theater two people sit on the floor watching interviews of people speaking in a living room, a. bedroom, and outdoors on a large screen. A person with fluffy copper hair, pale skin, and a green checkered knit hat speaks in front of a wooden fence. In the theater a figure covered with paint is collapsed on the floor in dark blue light. The words Get Up appear behind them. A violinist in a black flowing dress plays behind the figure as they reach and crawl across the floor. The figure pulls their elbows behind them shaking with tension before releasing their palms to meet the floor and arching their chest to the sky.

[image description 2] A screenshot of an online news article with text: “’My Body’s Wake’ is an accessibility-driven show, so access is integrated into the artistic practice and design elements, as well as front of house and production,” Hall-Landers explained. “My show is a tender exploration of disability through multimedia, live violin, dance and body painting. It is a love letter to our disabled community and invites you in to witness our resilience, our dark humor and our joy. We fuse dance and violin in a live sense with elements of theater and dialogue, experimenting with generative technologies and live body painting, working with interviews. So it really doesn’t fit into one category. It’s not a dance concert, it’s not a music concert, it’s not really a play — it’s something else.”

Hall-Landers became disabled while in New York University’s Tisch Dance Program.

“I could no longer continue with the rigorous technique classes but still wanted to perform and still wanted to dance, and dance was still my salvation for my body — to find comfort in ways that pedestrian movement was actually causing pain,” Hall-Landers said. by @sensorydimensions

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6 months ago

Getting warm for My Body’s Wake’s at the #wowfestival by @lajollaplayhouse

Playing with our improv game and finding new patterns iykyk

Shout out @malashockdance for the beautiful rehearsal space

RSVP for My Body’s Wake in bio!
Tickets are free!
Shows this Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday

[image description] In a dance studio, a dancer wearing orange shorts and a green tank top and a violinist wearing blue sweatpants and a white t-shirt face each other. The dancer moves at the same time the violinist plays with twirls, pauses, and sharp movement inching closer to the violinist. The violinist hops back and runs around the dancer as the dancer spins. taken in Malashock Dance & The Malashock Dance School by @sensorydimensions

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6 months ago

My Body’s Wake FREE ticket reservations are now LIVE on WOW festival website. Link in bio

Seats are limited so reserve yours before they’re gone.
Accessibility information listen on WOW festival website and Sensory Dimensions - links in bio

For questions about access services DM us or email Sensorydimensions23@gmail.com

My Body’s Wake is a love letter to our disabled community. While this performance will be about our pain it will also invite you to witness our resilience, our dark humor, and our joy.

[Image Description] A dancer slides across the floor toward a standing violinist while distorted captions glitch behind them. The dancer reaches toward the violinist stretching their leg behind them. The violinist lifts her bow from the violin and static engulfs them both into darkness. An image of the body painted dancer looking up at the violinist next to an abstract red circle. Sensory Dimensions, My Body’s Wake.

#WOWFestSD #captions #disabilityarts #multimediaart #danceandviolin taken in Qualcomm Institute by @sensorydimensions

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6 months ago

We are honored to announce that My Body’s Wake is coming to the #WOWFestSD! Presented by @lajollaplayhouse in partnership with @ucsandiego

📍 Qualcomm Institute – Theater, UC San Diego
🗓 April 23, 25 & 26
🔗 Free with RSVP — link in bio

With the support of @lajollaplayhouse, this new iteration allows us to expand accessibility more than ever before, for both our audiences and ourselves as disabled artists.
Created and performed by Sensory Dimensions (Casey Hall-Landers & Elicia Neo), My Body’s Wake is an immersive performance installation blending body painting, improvisational dance and violin, projection, and generative sound. The work moves through emotional landscapes of grief, isolation, anger, and care, rooted in our lived experiences with chronic pain and dynamic disability.

WOW Festival is four days of “fearless and fun activations that electrify our creative city” (BroadwayWorld). Discover more than 20 experiences by local, national and international artists. Free and paid events for all ages, April 23–26. Visit wowfestival.org to plan your festival today.

(Image description in alt text)

#disabilityarts #sandiegodance #multimediaart #violin A poster for “My Body’s Wake” by Sensory Dimensions at the WOW festival presented by La Jolla Playhouse in partnership with UCSD combines vibrant pink, red, and yellow graphic shapes with a photo of a violinist looming over a crouched dancer on a blue lit stage. The dancer reaches for a blurry orange object. Dates: April 23, 25, and 26 taken in Qualcomm Institute by @sensorydimensions

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7 months ago

TONIGHT! I’m a Person, I Promise premieres!
On exhibit through March 13th
@rocklandcountypridecenter
28 S. Franklin St., Nyack, NY

Commissioned and presented by Buddy’s Bench Press for Shapeshifters: Bodies Like Water exhibit and @baumgartenira

📸 @viktor_delafuente

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#dancefilm #shortfilm #danceanddisability #queer #trans taken in Rockland County Pride Center by @sensorydimensions

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9 months ago

I’m a Person, I Promise premieres Jan 12th @ 5pm and will be on exhibit through March 13th
@rocklandcountypridecenter
28 S. Franklin St., Nyack, NY

Commissioned and presented by Buddy’s Bench Press for Shapeshifters: Bodies Like Water exhibit and @baumgartenira

Thank you so much to everyone who helped make this happen!
Dancers @caseythebug and @_forestlee
Directed by @caseythebug
Music by @yeetlicia
Music production by @hengyeet98
Cinematography by @viktor_delafuente
Edited by @caseythebug
AD @meeshthehuman
Costume design by @caseythebug
Costume assistant and so much more @miz0ra

Special thanks to @thetemplateob for your iconic orange doors

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#dancefilm #shortfilm #danceanddisability #queer #trans by @sensorydimensions

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9 months ago

Thinking of all you spoonies as we emerge out of the October slide <3

These projections are part of My Body’s Wake production back in July. The projection in the first & third photos (created using @touchdesigner )comes from our existing Pain Vocabulary, which maps our own interpretation of our headache and ocular migraine pain accompanied by a long, tinny violin whine, also matched with movement. The second photo features our use of creative captioning, translating distorted spoken words in our sound design into their visual equivalent.

photos taken by @hanatobias
lighting by @taylorolsonlighting
sound by @hengyeet98
access coordinator @alyssarosecreative
production, projections, accessibility design, performance, creative & technical direction etc. etc. by @caseythebug @yeetlicia

We are so grateful to the @sdpubliclibrary for providing their venue in-kind for us to premiere our work! In a dark theatre, a dancer half-lies, half-crawls on the middle of a black stage floor under stark red lighting. Behind them, a violinist in all-black flowy dress stands almost in silhouette, playing the violin, staring down at the dancer with an intense, focused gaze. A large circular projection of frantic, fast moving particles expands across the wall, partially overlaying the violinist. taken in City Heights Performing Annex by @sensorydimensions

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a year ago

We survived the premier of My Body’s Wake!

On July 26th @sensorydimensions premiered our new work in San Diego. Thank you to everyone in our audience and all of the wonderful humans who made it happen.

More content from the show coming soon!

Photos taken by @hanatobias
Lighting by @taylorolsonlighting

Image descriptions in alt text Casey, short dusty blonde hair and skinny braids, is crouched low looking up on stage with body painted in vibrant colors, lit dramatically against a dark background. by @sensorydimensions

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a year ago

We are teaching a workshop! July 27th, 4pm @thetemplateob

Painting Your Pain is a tactile painting and sculpture expressive arts practice focused on better understanding our relationships with pain, injury, and disability guided by discussion, nervous system regulation, and play!

Artwork contributions by the wonderful artists in residence @artslettersandnumbers

Visual Description:
A square promotional poster with a black background. Centered prominently in bold, artistic white text are the words:
"Painting Your Pain"
Below the title, in smaller white text, it reads:
"Sunday, July 27, 4:00 PM
The Template, Ocean Beach"
Surrounding the text are various pieces of abstract, three-dimensional artwork arranged like a collage. These pieces are made from a mix of materials such as fabric, wire, yarn, wood, and paint.
To the left of the title text is a bag made of folded and pined plastic sheet with a handle made out of safety pins. Inside the bag is a deep red-ish purple liquid with smears on the inside of the bag.
To the right of the title text is a winding curved orange textured patch with three black balls with flecks of orange. The balls are connected by a tangled piece of white yarn and frayed teal thread.
Full description including surrounded artworks in alt text A square promotional poster with a black background. Centered prominently in bold, artistic white text are the words:
"Painting Your Pain"
Below the title, in smaller white text, it reads:
"Sunday, July 27, 4:00 PM
The Template, Ocean Beach"
Surrounding the text are various pieces of abstract, three-dimensional artwork arranged like a collage. These pieces are made from a mix of materials such as fabric, wire, yarn, wood, and paint.
To the left of the title text is a bag made of folded and pined plastic sheet with a handle made out of safety pins. Inside the bag is a deep red-ish purple liquid with smears on the inside of the bag.
To the right of the title text is a winding curved orange textured patch with three black balls with flecks of orange. The balls are connected by a tangled piece of white yarn and frayed teal thread.
Next to the orange piece nestled in a concave curve is a disk covered in little yellow pills with bits of seashell and moss sticking out.
In the top left corner of the poster, there’s a vertical rectangular piece featuring tangled black and green threads with white textured cylindrical protrusions.
Nearby is a small tan disk with bright orange pitted dots clustered in the center.
At the top center, blackened frayed thread connects a deep purple square to a bold red skinny vertical rectangle. Both pieces have white bone like pointed star like shapes mounted on them, with the frayed thread attached at the points.
On the top right, a green hand shaped form is broken with two small pieces of wood holding it together. wrapped around the green form is a strip of canvas that reads “get better, can’t get a grip.”
In the bottom right corner of the square is a vertical wooden structure with the bark in patched showing purple and black paint bellow.
To its left directly bellow the text is a white rectangular sculpture with black string reaching out from a green-ish black bulbous centerpiece.
In the bottom left corner, a yellow square canvas holds a nest of wound black wire around a dark red gooey center that drips from beneath the nest. taken in The Template by @sensorydimensions

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a year ago

Excerpt from My Body’s Wake performed at @artslettersandnumbers for our living room show

Come see the full piece July 26th 7:30pm at the City Heights Performance Annex

RSVP link in Bio!

Image Description
Video of violinist in red checkered sun dress with black hair and a dancer in green pants, red shirt, and a green button up unbuttoned with short light brown hair are performing in a living room. Light pours in from two windows in the background and a grand piano sits in front of the windows behind the performers.
The dancer starts on the ground and the violinist begins to the pluck the violin. The movement mirrors the sound with the dancer delicately lifting and isolating parts of their body in an upward popping motion that over about 30 seconds takes them to standing. The dancer then lifts their leg repeatedly in the same lifting popping quality matching with the violin until the dancer pauses leg extended behind them leaning over the ground as if they are falling. The dancer then curls their body slowly to rotate out of the pause position, continuously twisting and rotating until reaching out and collapsing gently to the floor. taken in Arts Letters & Numbers by @sensorydimensions

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a year ago