Actress, dancer, storyteller Jaehn Clare, disabled by a serious life-changing injury, will present an awareness raising performance and heartfelt audience conversation on Thursday, March 29 at 7:30 p.m. at the Baylor School Roddy Theater.
Ms. Clare has worked in the theater arts for close to 30 years. In 1980, when she fell 27 feet from a ladder, sustaining a spinal cord injury that confined her to a wheel-chair, she could have “given up.” She did not. She realized that all of her creative abilities and passion for doing and promoting the arts were still in tact.
As a result, Ms. Clare has continued a busy career in the arts and has become a champion and renowned example, for artists with disabilities.
Her one act performance “Tale Tell Tale” relates her journey along the road of recovery towards wholeness of body and spirit.
On Friday, March 30 at 3:45 p.m., she will provide a free and open to the public workshop on creative movement, how she’s adapted to “life on wheels,” and inspirational advice for all abilities.
The concert and the opportunity to meet Jaehn Clare is being made possible by grants from the VSA of Tennessee, NEA in partnership with the Southern Arts Foundation and Tennessee Arts Commission, and is co-sponsored locally by the Baylor School Dance Department and the City of Chattanooga’s Parks and Recreation Department’s Therapeutic Division.
Lori Kissinger, Founding Executive Director of Tennessee’s VSA Arts, (which stands for Vision, Strength, & Artistic Excellence) in Nashville, explained, “One of this organization’s key goals is create an awareness of the abilities of people with disabilities particularly in the arts fields. Ms. Clare is a member of VSA Arts Georgia.”
Judith Dewitt with the Baylor School’s Dance Department and Dr. Ann Shea have created a dance and creative movement outreach program that has included residents of Oak Grove, participants in the City’s Therapeutic Recreation “adaptive dance” program, and individuals throughout the area.
For more information, call Judith Dewitt at 624-3282, Dr. Ann Shea
at 615-631-3551, or Lizzy Hockinson at 643-5716.
