Kitty Lunn
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Kitty Lunn (born 1950) is a ballet dancer, actress, disability activist, and founder of Infinity Dance Theater, a company that features performers with disabilities.


Early life

As an eight-year-old watching ballerina
Moira Shearer Moira Shearer King, Lady Kennedy (17 January 1926 – 31 January 2006) was a Scottish ballet dancer and actress. She was famous for her performances in Powell and Pressburger's ''The Red Shoes (1948 film), The Red Shoes'' (1948) and ''The Tales ...
in the film '' The Red Shoes'', Kitty Lunn was inspired to become a dancer. She left her hometown of
New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
to study at the Washington School of Ballet, and in her teens would go on to dance principal roles with the National Ballet. When Lunn was a 16-year old ballet student in Washington, D.C., she asked the dancer and teacher
Agnes de Mille Agnes George de Mille (September 18, 1905 – October 7, 1993) was an American dancer and choreographer. Early years Agnes de Mille was born in New York City into a well-connected family of theater professionals. Her father William C. deMill ...
if a medical intervention could help her reach six feet tall on pointe; de Mille's answer would become a mantra for the rest of Lunn's career. "Kitty," de Mille said, "you have to learn to dance with the body you have."


Career


Dance

Kitty Lunn moved to New York to in 1967. In 1987, during rehearsals for her
Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...
debut, Lunn broke her back after slipping on ice and falling down a flight of stairs. The resulting spinal cord injury left her
paraplegic Paraplegia, or paraparesis, is an impairment in motor or sensory function of the lower extremities. The word comes from Ionic Greek () "half-stricken". It is usually caused by spinal cord injury or a congenital condition that affects the neura ...
. After five spinal surgeries and three years of recovery, she began to attend ballet classes again, now in her wheelchair. Although she was not taken seriously or given much encouragement by teachers and fellow students, Lunn was committed to finding a way to continue dancing. In 1995 Lunn founded Infinity Dance Theater, a mixed-ability ensemble of dancers with and without disabilities, including performers in wheelchairs. Lunn's style is founded in
classical ballet Classical ballet is any of the traditional, formal styles of ballet that exclusively employ classical ballet technique. It is known for its aesthetics and rigorous technique (such as en pointe, pointe work, turnout (ballet), turnout of the legs, ...
, and incorporates
jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...
and
modern dance Modern dance is a broad genre of western concert dance, concert or theatrical dance which includes dance styles such as ballet, folk, ethnic, religious, and social dancing; and primarily arose out of Europe and the United States in the late 19th ...
techniques which she modifies to suit the abilities of her dancers. Lunn has described the transposition of gestures from standing to seated dancers as "doing the same thing, differently." Her technique frequently shifts the majority of expressivity from the legs to the arms and upper body. Infinity Dance Theater tours internationally as well as within the U.S., including performances at the
Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...
in Washington, D.C and the 1996 Cultural Paralympiad in Atlanta. The company has performed pieces by choreographers Peter Pucci, Heidi Latsky, Carla Vannucchi, Gabriela Poler, Marc Brew, and Robert Koval, as well as works by Lunn herself. She performs using a specialized lightweight wheelchair designed by her husband, actor Andrew MacMillan, which allows her to move with speed and precision. Lunn views her wheelchair as a symbol of freedom and opportunity, as opposed to an obstacle or a limitation. She compares her company members' wheelchairs to ballet shoes: each must be specially engineered for the body and style of that individual dancer.


Acting

Lunn had a recurring role as Sally Horton, a disabled character on the soap opera ''
As the World Turns ''As the World Turns'' (often abbreviated as ''ATWT'') is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS for 54 years from April 2, 1956, to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created ''As the World Turns'' as a sister show to her other so ...
''. She also performed in ''The Chaikin Project'', directed by
Joseph Chaikin Joseph Chaikin (September 16, 1935 – June 22, 2003) was an American theatre director, actor, playwright, and pedagogue. Early life and education The youngest of five children, Chaikin was born to a poor Jewish family living in the Borough Pa ...
in 1992 at the
Public Theater The Public Theater is an arts organization in New York City. Founded by Joseph Papp, The Public Theater was originally the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954; its mission was to support emerging playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: A ...
, ''Agnes of God'' at the Alliance Theater, and ''The Waiting'' at the Kennedy Center.


Teaching

Lunn teaches dance classes for people with disabilities in which students are taught to work within their individual limitations and "dance in the body
hey Hey, HEY, or Hey! may refer to: Music * Hey (band), a Polish rock band Albums * ''Hey'' (Andreas Bourani album) or the title song (see below), 2014 * ''Hey!'' (Julio Iglesias album) or the title song, 1980 * ''Hey!'' (Jullie album) or the ...
have." She differentiates her classes from the practice of
dance therapy Dance/movement therapy (DMT) in USA and Australia or dance movement psychotherapy (DMP) in the UK is the psychotherapeutic use of movement and dance to support intellectual, emotional, and motor functions of the body. As a modality of the cre ...
, intending them instead to provide a rigorous classical ballet education to people whose bodies move differently than the typical dancer's. Lunn's mission is to develop and instill professional standards and techniques in dancers who might otherwise not be subject to the same expectations as their non-disabled counterparts. She also provides training for dance teachers so that higher-level dancers with disabilities can have the opportunity to join mainstream classes.


Activism

Kitty Lunn served on the Performers with Disabilities committees for both Actor's Equity Association and
SAG-AFTRA The Screen Actors Guild–American Federation of Television and Radio Artists
, leading negotiations for better industry compliance with the
Americans with Disabilities Act The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 or ADA () is a civil rights law that prohibits discrimination based on disability. It affords similar protections against discrimination to Americans with disabilities as the Civil Rights Act of 1964, ...
as well as a broader inclusion of performers with disabilities within definitions of nontraditional casting. She received the 2004 Rosetta LeNoire award, presented by Actor's Equity in recognition of her "contributions toward increasing diversity and nontraditional casting in theatre."


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lunn, Kitty American ballerinas 1950 births Living people Artists from New Orleans Dancers from Louisiana American dancers with disabilities People with paraplegia American actors with disabilities American activists with disabilities 21st-century American actresses 20th-century American dancers 21st-century American dancers 20th-century American educators 20th-century American women educators 21st-century American women educators 21st-century American educators