Shay Erlich
ABOUT SHAY:
Shay Erlich (they/them) is a disability justice world builder living in Tkaronto. Their work both creatively and professionally reimagines a disability-centered world where disabled people are empowered to love themselves and live free from stigma, shame, and ableism.
They work as at the intersection of storytelling, dance, and emergent technologies. Their arts practice also includes a significant community arts practice. Some of their recent notable works include Cycles of Care (2023), Landscapes: Love Letters to Willow (2023) and A Provocation on Wheels (2019) with The Cyborg Circus Project. Their dance films have been included as part of the Together! Disability Film Festival (2023), Dance Camera West (2024), the Contact Dance International Film Festival, the ReelAbilities Film Festival (Toronto), and the Chinook Festival. They have also been a creative team member developing accessibility within digital and XR/VR projects such as Remixed by Trophy. Shay’s work with other companies includes Heart2Heart by Political Movement, and SPUR of the Moment Shakespeare Collective. Shay has participated in many residency and artistic development opportunities including The Inkling Incubator (2019), New Blue Kaeja d’Dance Creative Risk Residency (2019) and Dancing Disability Lab (2020).
CYCLES OF CARE:
Cycles of Care is a narrative-driven co-operative world building experience that explores meaningful disability inclusion. The goal of the experience is to create a world that everyone can participate in and be a part of. Along the way players discover how their choices to support each other and move collectively versus making decisions in their own best interest impact the broader community. Participants discover that having vulnerable conversations about needs and feelings, and being responsive to the information that these conversations divulge is the only pathway forward to inclusion for all.
VIEW SHAY’S PITCHDECK
click on the photo to view Shay’s pitchdeck.