Cripping the Full Out/Marking Binary (Virtual Workshop)

Thursday, May 8, 2025
2:00 p.m. 4:00 p.m.

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Cripping the Full Out/Marking Binary is a virtual workshop inviting movers to explore the spectrum of marking to full out through a disability-informed lens. Through discussion and movement experiments we will reflect on concepts inherited from dance training, examining how they intersect with accessibility and questioning ideas about the value of various kinds of movement.

Facilitated by Kass Prus, a queer, non-binary, autistic, and physically disabled multidisciplinary artist, this workshop will offer adaptable tools to shift your creative process and reframe physical realities.

Join a digital gathering of movers who are curious to investigate the spectrum of “marking” to “full out” through a disability-informed lens! Does your training equate “full out” with “good” and “marking” with “less than”? Or have you trained in approaches that challenge this binary? Together, we’ll reflect on inherited concepts that we face in rehearsal and the choreographic process, and consider how they connect to broader questions of accessibility, sustainability, and care in dance.
Over the course of 2 hours, we will:
• Collectively discuss how we each relate to the “full out vs marking” spectrum
• Gather our thoughts and insights in a shared digital document
• Engage in movement experiments in our own physical spaces — exploring variables like planes of movement, using supports, changing scale, translating movement to other body parts, and more — to question and reframe internalized ideas around “full out-ness”
• Revisit and revise our “full out vs marking” spectrum document based on embodied discoveries
Because unearthing and challenging internalized paradigms can be tender work, we’ll end with some independent self-regulation time (through journaling, stillness, movement, snacks, or anything else that will help us regulate our systems) before a final group closing.
Facilitated by Kass Prus, a queer, non-binary, autistic, and physically disabled multidisciplinary artist and artsworker, this workshop offers simple, adaptable tools to begin or deepen your engagement with a more accessible creative process and approach to choreography. Together, we’ll begin to expand our understanding of physical expression so that transitions into disability, illness, pregnancy, or older age aren’t experienced as loss, and so that we’re not forced to choose between participation and disappearance when our bodies inevitably change.

This event is a part of Unfinish / Unfurl, DanceWorks’ mini-festival focused on creative practice and choreographic process and is made possible with co-production support from Dancemakers.

About the Facilitator

Kass Prus (they/them) is a trans non-binary & multiply disabled multidisciplinary performer, movement therapist & facilitator. Born in a home immersed in ancestral Ukrainian traditions, music, art, & resistance to imperialism, Kassandra now uses contemporary performance to queer & crip Slavic folk arts practices as a way of reclaiming their heritage.

As a changemaker & administrator, Kass moves from the understanding that illness, pain & mental health challenges are intrinsically connected to the systemic oppression upon which colonial systems stand. Their new work in strategic direction builds on a decade of 1-on-1 client work; embracing the superpowers of their autistic brain; plus recent experiences with Generator TO, Dancemakers, Nightwood Innovators, Shay Erlich Consulting, Rhubarb Festival & The Stay Connected Program for Seniors. Kass is a current Metcalf Intern at SummerWorks Theatre Festival focussing on Values-Led Management.

Registration

This year, DanceWorks is piloting a Pay-What-You-Can ticket pricing model. Please use the below reference points to select a ticket price option that aligns with your circumstance.
SUPPORTER - $24.00 including facility fee, not including order fee - If you have access to a salary, savings, investments, assets, or familial wealth, selecting this rate will help subsidize the attendance of someone for whom cost is a barrier.
REGULAR - $18.00 including facility fee, not including order fee - This rate reflects the regular cost for the event. Please select this rate if you have access to a regular income and are able to meet your basic needs around food, housing, and transportation.
SUBSIDIZED - $12.00 including facility fee, not including order fee - Please select this rate if you are able to meet your basic needs but have gaps in your income and limited access to savings or familial support.
REDUCED - $5.00 including facility fee, not including order fee - Please select this rate if you are able to meet your basic needs but don’t have access to a regular income, savings, or familial support.
ACCESS - $0.00 - The option to access this event at no cost ensures that members of our community for whom price is a barrier to participation are able to join us.
This approach is greatly inspired by the Toronto Dance Community Love-In. Special thanks to Leelee Oluwatoyosi Eko Davis for sharing their knowledge!

Keep in Mind

You will need access to the internet and Zoom to attend the workshop.
In advance of the workshop, explore a space or a few spaces to move in. Consider places you can stand, sit, and lay down to move during the workshop.
You may want to have a journal and mark-making materials on hand to note-take or colour/draw throughout the workshop.
Feel free to have things that make you feel comfortable nearby – blankets, cozy clothing, pillows, fidget toys, headphones, snacks, a delicious beverage…
We touch on some tender realities during the session, so it might be helpful to plan some support afterward—whether that’s a call with a friend, a visit, or a therapy session.