The Producers
Maggie Bridger, Co-Artistic Director
Maggie (she/her) is a sick and disabled dance artist and doctoral candidate at the University of Illinois, Chicago in the Department of Disability and Human Development. Her artistic and scholarly interests center around disabled bodyminds in dance, with a focus on reimagining pain through the creative process. Maggie serves on the committee to organize Chicago's integrated dance concert, CounterBalance, and was one of Synapse Arts' 2021 New Works artists. In 2021, her work was commissioned by MOMENTA Dance Company. She is a cofounder of the Inclusive Dance Workshop Series at Access Living and has acted as an access consultant/coordinator for Chicago area arts organizations, 3Arts and Synapse Arts. Maggie was recently published in the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies and currently serves as Administrative Fellow, Membership with the Dance Studies Association. Most recently, Maggie was selected as one of High Concept Labs' 2022 Artists in Residence.
Sydney Erlikh, Co-Artistic Director
Sydney Erlikh (she/her) is a doctoral candidate in Disability Studies at the University of Illinois Chicago. She was recently selected by the American Scandinavian Foundation Fellow 22-23 for her research on dance and disability to create a multi-sited ethnography on inclusive dance groups that have dancers with intellectual disabilities. Sydney taught in New York City and California, where she began her journey into inclusive dance education training in DanceAbility and with AXIS dance teacher training. She choreographed and performed in the films Shared-Time 20, the Full Radius Dance project Response Film 21, and Moods in Three Movements 21. She was selected as a SeeChicagoDance Critical Writing Fellow in 2020 and recently published in the Canadian Journal of Disability Studies. In 2021 she participated in the Harvard Mellon School of Theater and Performance Studies Research. Sydney currently serves on the CounterBalance planning committee and NDEO’s dance and disability task force.
Amanda Lautermilch, Curator
Amanda (she/her) is a disabled curator, multidisciplinary artist, and doctoral candidate in Disability Studies at University of Illinois at Chicago. She holds an MA in Museum Studies from Johns Hopkins University, and previously served as Artistic Director and Co-Managing Director for the Jeff Award Nominated Adapt Theatre Productions, in addition to assisting with productions at Redtwist Theatre, AstonRep Theatre Company, Commission Theatre, and others. She currently writes and performs with Chicago’s movie riffing group, Down in Front, and previously co-wrote, performed in, and directed a year-long run of sketch performances at iO Chicago with her sketch group, Fancy Woman. She works in support of UIC’s Bodies of Work and 3Arts Chicago’s Residency Fellowships for disabled artists, and was recently published in the Journal of Cultural & Literary Disability Studies.
Bodies of Work
Bodies of Work serves as a catalyst for the development of disability art and culture that illuminates the disability experience in new and unexpected ways through Arts, Academics, and Activism. Bodies of Work activates stakeholders in the greater Chicago region as well as internationally primarily via a research lab, professional development fellowships to incubate emerging artists and artistically excellent programming in conjunction with Access Living, the University of Illinois Chicago, and the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
Special Thanks