Jessie Flips: About Propeller [part 1]

Propeller Christmas Party

I finished writing my Christmas cards last night for people in Propeller Dance and I'm really happy about it. We had the annual Christmas dinner out in Carp, a small town just outside Ottawa, at one of the dancer's homes. I really enjoyed dancing an performing in this company and organization this year and now this year is coming to a close and I'm looking forward to doing more of this in the new year. I'll probably help work behind the scenes too. For example, I wrote my first press release for Propeller two weeks ago and we got more press coverage at the community day last weekend than we ever have before! We had two TV stations and one newspaper there. 

Some of the people that I look up to in Propeller are: (and I will do more next week, but we just got back from the party and its almost midnight and I have to go to bed!) ..

Bella 
Bella is an amazing artist and performer and when she dances she uses her feet and facial expression. Bella and I get together sometimes and cook.

Bella at Community Day

Liz 
Liz is a really talented performer and has really good stage presence  I met her when she was finishing her masters at Carleton University. She was also my mentor in lesson planning. Bella, Liz, and I teach together on Saturdays. 

Liz (by Dave) Liz won the Celebration of People Award for an artist with a disability this year. 

Liz and me in Calgary where we went for a dance intensive a couple of years ago. 

Renata 
Renata is co-artistic director of Propeller Dance and she is a great performer and she knows a lot about technique. Renata is mentoring me in choreography and choreographic work. 

Renata

Amelia 
Amelia is a new dance and she and I work so well together. Both Amelia and I made a duet with Renata's support called "What's in the Box?" Amelia is really funny and we make each other laugh. 

wacky Amelia, and Moni

Amelia and me getting ready for the box dance (photo by Dave)

This Weekend's Lovely Madness, in pictures

The season had begun . . . first with a computer crash, then deadlines, then a celebratory weekend rushing from one event to another and all I can say is that it was fun! While I am up still working, Jessie crashed a while ago after a weekend that started with her first community feast with the LiveWorkPlay community on Friday . . .  where she brought DB and ran into many friends and aquaintances:

. . .  to a full day with Propeller Dance at their community day featuring performances by all the community groups, the children's classes, the new youth class, and a preview of the new work (in progress) that the performing group is working on. Propeller is an amazing organization, and community day fills performers and audience alike with joy and delight ... I hope my photos capture even a small part of that:

. . .  to an evening writing songs with Lyrics Lady:

. . . to a Sunday afternoon singing at a L'Arche community event to an evening potluck followed by the annual RG {Grays} carolling extravaganza, to raise money, I believe this time for Dominican projects in Kigali :



potluck, rule of one applied! CG host rushing in background!





RG leading practice.





Benedeta's first carolling experience!

to, finally, sleep. More words tomorrow.
But also know, the Rule of One was used successfully, mostly, all weekend! Hooray!

Jessie Flips: About Making a Difference

I’m an artist with Down syndrome and I’m in a professional mixed ability and non-profit contemporary dance company called Propeller Dance and we are Ontario’s only integrated dance company. Propeller dance reaches over 5,000 people and we do lots of outreach workshops and we also have community classes. Propeller also has a children’s program on Saturday mornings and we have an amazing staff including Ximena Puente, Shara Weaver, who is the main teacher, then me, Jessie Huggett who is the teaching assistant.

It’s important that people who have Down syndrome are seen as leaders, teachers, mentors and role models. Why? Because we can show them that we are responsible, talented and mature. It shows that we too have gifts to bring to the world.

I have a challenge for you!!

As this is National Down syndrome awareness week, I want all of you with Down syndrome to get involved by making a difference in your community just like I do when I teach. The reason why this is important is because if we all do it, it will be a more diverse inclusive world where ALL of us have a voice.

Thank you.                    

Be Out There, Two: The Ripple Effect

Last month Jessie was invited to speak to a group of students at a school-age daycare program about acceptance and inclusion. One of the program staff (TW) had been in the audience when she participated on a youth panel (of “difference makers”) at a conference. While she has spoken often in the context of performing and has been invited to present to government audiences on employment and on the arts, she had never been the “headliner” (read only presenter) for a group of students. We made sure that she arrived at the right place at the right time with a speech/presentation that had gone through at least one round of edits (with us) and had been rehearsed at least three times in the living room.

The audience (a group of about 35 or so children between grades 1 and 4) was wonderfully attentive and the whole experience was great for Jessie. But the wonder of it all for me was played out first, in the reaction of one of the students with Down syndrome and second, in the ripple response as shared with me by one of the staff.

As I sat at the side of the room listening and watching I tried not to pay too much attention to Jessie (that just made me too nervous), but instead focused on the children’s faces and their responses to what she was saying. The moment that almost made me weep was right at the beginning when she said “I’m a dancer . . . and I also have Down syndrome,” and one young girl’s face just lit up as she gasped in recognition, tugging on her friend’s arm and pointing to herself. “Me too,” she mouthed. “Just like me!” This young girl with Down syndrome could barely contain her excitement that this speaker, this dancer, this competent young woman, had Down syndrome just like her. That moment was pure gift: that Jessie could show this girl that she was not alone, and that this young girl could feel a connection and a sense of pride in herself AND in having Down syndrome.

The second wonder was when TW thoughtfully shared the repercussions of Jessie’s talk at the Centre. She wrote: ". . . honestly it is us who would like to thank Jessie for her Courage, Determination, Confidence, Willingness, and Inspiring uplifting Personality [caps hers!]. We loved having Jessie here to speak and the experience went exactly as I hoped. Jessie is extremely inspirational and moves me and others in so many ways. I want her messages to be heard.

I have to share some of the impact of the visit. One of the children is working of a story called ACCEPT, While other children who normally have nothing to do with M [a student with Down syndrome], took time to speak and include her in play. This makes my heart sing.

Several sang, danced and celebrated the joy of music. Including everyone. So many of the children shared experiences of feeling left our not accepted or not belonging.

We hope to continue these discussions and continue to be the change so that everyone feels valued, accepted, included and heard."

This is the gift of Being Out There: that we share ourselves with the world, and in doing so, transform it.

This is the talk that Jessie gave:

Hi everyone. My name is Jessie Huggett, I’m 22 years old, and I’m a dancer, an advocate and a public speaker. I like music, singing, writing songs, dancing, and ice cream! I also have Down syndrome.

Down syndrome is something you are born with. You know how our bodies are made up of millions and zillions of tiny cells. Well, inside EACH cell are even smaller things called chromosomes. Most people have 46 chromosomes in each of their cells. But people with Down syndrome, we have something extra! We have an extra chromosome, so we have 47 chromosomes in each of our cells.

It sometimes takes people with Down syndrome a bit longer to learn to do things. But we all have ways we are different. And we all have ways that we are the same. This can make life fun and exciting. Or it can make life difficult.

When I was your age, at school, sometimes I felt ignored and invisible. And sometimes It felt like I didn’t belong. I got left out because I was different. It made me feel angry and hurt.

But I want to share a funny story with you about that. It’s about how I met my best friend. This story was set in elementary school at recess time. I wanted to go on the monkey bars and when I tried it the kids were laughing at me because I couldn’t do it very well. I got so mad I sat on someone. And that someone—Rachel—became my best friend. She understood why I was frustrated and angry. It made her mad too. So she included me in lots of games and we invented new worlds where everyone was included.

Now, I don’t want you to go and sit on someone! But maybe, if someone is left out, you can be like Rachel. You can be understanding and include them.

Rachel and I grew up together. We liked the same things: writing, acting, stories, and inventing. She taught me how to play the flute and I got her interested in dancing. And she joined the dance company I was with: Dandelion Dance. And through that company I created a dance called “I AM.” The dance talks about inclusion and the barriers. I am going to show you that video now. [ show video]

Inclusion is really important. Friends of mine in England say “The only real disability is loneliness.” I think this is true. It doesn’t matter if you speak or sign, if you walk or roll, if you’re a girl or a boy, or where you are from. The important thing is that you have friends and you have a voice.

I created I AM for a dance company called Dandelion Dance. Dandelion is a dance company for all women ages 13 to 17. We all create our own dance pieces about world issues that are important to us.

When I got too old for Dandelion I joined another inclusive dance company called Propeller Dance. Propeller is a mixed ability company. In Propeller we have a wide variety of dancers of all abilities some use wheelchairs, some are able bodied and some have guide dogs. We all dance together and we all create and perform. Later this year Propeller is coming here, to perform for you!

Both Dandelion and Propeller are really inclusive. That means everyone is respected and valued. We need MORE inclusive places. Places where everyone can belong. And it can start with YOU!

Each and every one of you is special. You have a gift and a talent and I want you to share that gift with the world. And help other people share their gifts. We’ve got to listen to each other. If you want to change the world you’ve got to start small. And it starts with you.

Jessyll and Hyde, or, Unhinged By Hingsburger

It was a typical Jessie Jekyll and Hyde (or as Dan has come to refer to it,  Jessyll and Hyde) 24 hours: Failure to demonstrate even a modicum of mature behaviour (resulting in Dan and I throwing our hands up in the air and wondering if she would ever have the wherewithal to get to even a bus stop without mishap), followed by brilliant execution of complex social, leadership, and performance skills matched only by the high degree of praise from adoring public.

Okay. Not quite like that. But almost. And typical of many of our days with Jessie as she moves to separate from us—one of the key tasks (along with independence, accountability, and responsibility) for anyone moving into adulthood.

This is how it goes (or went): Friday Jessie and I were both at home because it was a freezing rain danger day (too dangerous to get to work at the Food Bank for her). But we each had completely different agendas. I, practical Mom, thought she could get the pile of writing, laundry, accounting, and organization that had accumulated done, while I finished up a contract. Her plan was to google her day away, every now and then telling me what I needed to do, immediately, to help her achieve her goals—which included, but was not limited to, making sure she could move out by March, starting an inclusive post-secondary program, driving her to a friend’s house, and dropping whatever I might be working on to help her fix her computer and then shooing me away with nary a nod of thanks. If I didn’t respond immediately, she stood by me at my computer whinging away until I either gave in or snapped.

The trend continued well into the evening, where she even alienated Dan, who, usually very difficult to nudge over onto the dark side, intimated that she was acting like a [insert rude noun used for someone who is acting selfish, thoughtless, and insolent here]. She, of course, stomped up to her room, leaving her kitchen-cleaning duty undone, and vented her anger by trolling the internet until it was way past midnight, every now and then yelling (when she thought she heard footsteps on the stairs) LEAVE ME ALONE, and, I DON’T CARE WHAT YOU SAY, and YOU CAN’T MAKE ME GO TO BED. Or, if she didn’t actually yell those things, she emitted some strange psychic energy force that was just as effective and conveyed the exact same meaning.

I, having been undone, went to bed and pulled the covers up over my head. It was no surprise that I found Dan cowering there too. We decided that the natural consequences—being tired for teaching in the morning, maybe even sleeping in and missing the drive to the class and missing teaching—would be much better than anything we could invent. But, I have to admit, I was mightily pissed that I had raised a daughter so careless of her charges (the children she was teaching in the morning) and her responsibilities (printing out the lesson plan, packing up so she would have everything she needed in the morning.) As well, I had invited a renowned blogger, leader, speaker, teacher, and advocate whom I admire (and who was in town for the day) to bring his young niece Ruby, to the class. So, I had a bit more invested than usual.

When we woke in the morning, I gave Dan strict instructions NOT to wake Jessie. It was up to her to get up and be ready to teach. She needed to take full charge of her life (or be hoisted by her own petard). Frankly, I was hoping for the hoisting option, as she rarely suffers consequences, somehow blessed randomly and frequently by the universe.

I was trumped again, as Jessie rose while I was meditating and got herself fed, dressed, and packed before I emerged from my basement lair. “Wow! Great job Jess!” I praised her, while raising my eyebrows at Dan and secretly cussing. Well, she was sure to be tired in class, and maybe then someone would speak to her about her performance, and maybe THEN she would learn that she needed to go to bed at a decent hour and every now and then LISTEN TO HER PARENTS.

Well, she did get spoken to about her performance, only it was a potful of praise generously piled on by Dave Hingsburger, who wanted to mention Jessie in his next blog about Ruby and the kids’ Propeller class. According to Dave, Jessie was welcoming, attentive, sensitive, and a great teacher. According to Ximena (one of the other teachers and a brilliant mentor to Jessie) she was full of energy and very focused; according to Liz (another teaching mentor and performer), she made great headway on the piece she is helping choreograph for the children’s show. So you see, I tried my best to find some gaps in her performance of her duties, but was bested by reality.

That, my dears, is a typical episode in our journey to independence. You’d think I might have discovered by now how to just let go and enjoy the ride, but I am a very slow learner, white knuckling my way along a path that I have very little immediate control over.

And that, I am beginning to learn, is how it is meant to be.

Jessie Flips: About Her Creative Side

Jessie's latest Flip, about how important the arts are to her.

Links for the organizations she is talking about: Propeller, Ottawa School of Speech and Drama, and H'Art of Ottawa.

Dancing Down the Street: The Ottawa Jazz Festival

The call came out late Tuesday: Propeller was invited to street dance in the opening day parade for the Ottawa Jazz Festival. Mike Essoundry—esteemed percussionist and composer, and one of the musicians working with Propeller—needed more dancers to accompany The Mash Potato Mashers (his jazz street/marching band) as it lead the parade out from City Hall and wound its way down Elgin Street (one of our major downtown streets) and through Confederation Park to the main stage of the Jazz Festival.

Jess was psyched. “Of COURSE I want to do it!” Dancing, as I noted before, and in public, as I alluded to before, is the way life plays itself out. And so who am I, really, to try to persuade her that it isn’t so, when life’s circumstances and our community keep presenting her with opportunities to dance through life? At first I thought of working on those “independence skills” and getting her to figure out how to get there and take the bus on her own (she’d certainly be able to do it). But then I figured, who would want to miss a parade? As you can see, I am easily sidetracked from some of our goals, but Jessie just knows the most interesting people who invite her to some of the best things going on in the city, so I often find a way to go along for the ride. It may be years before she masters the bus!

Only two other members of Propeller were able to go at such short notice, Shara and MH, but there were other dancers from The School of Dance, and banner holders, and of course the musicians! All decked in red (right down to Mike’s funky Canadian red plaid Elmer Fudd hat) and silver and gold (the instruments). As they marched down the street, with police escort to close off the intersections, people began to join in and dance with them. (See video, just a few clips strung together, I figured it out! Notice how much slower the dancers are moving at the end.)

Jessie, as you can see, was in her element. MH catapulted her electric chair over curbs and grassy hills and spun and intersected with the other dancers and musicians. At one corner the group stopped and formed a circle and Shara delighted audience and musicians alike with some African dancing, inviting others into the circle.

When it was all over and we were sitting together on the bench waiting for MH’s paratranspo bus, the sousaphone player stopped to talk. “Like a Disney parade!” I said. “Not quite,” he said, “While they are fun, they leave no room for mistakes and so no room for being human.” “I like this kind of parade,” he continued, “it’s much more fun and I feel like I want to dance and march along. I’m not just watching, I’m participating.”

I thought about that on the way home. One, how Jessie has invited me into a community that is so open and full of life and creativity, and two, how Jessie (and her peers) invite others to be full participants in a joyful life. Now that is a great gift!

(Photos and video © 2010 Nancy Huggett and not to be reproduced or shared without consent)

RETRO JESSIE: Art and Disability [June 2008]

In the Press
June 2, 2008 (yup, 2 years ago!)This in another “in the press” week for Jessie. A radio interview about the upcoming Propeller Dance performance at the National Arts Centre 4th Stage and a TV interview. Propeller Dance is one of the performing groups that Jessie belongs to (the other being Dandelion Dance Company). Propeller is an all-abilities/integrated dance company that includes persons with a wide range of abilities—including those with intellectual and physical disabilities)

Jessie has had her fair share of press, when I look back at it, for all her dancing and performing, and she has an uncanny ability to speak about what moves her. I forget, sometimes, just how articulate she can be. There is a proud Mom factor here, but also, when I step back, a wonder at what she reveals. That she speaks from the heart and somehow finds the words to express her joy and her intention. She blows interviewers away and absolutely loves the attention.

The Mom Factor
The Mom factor here tries to deflate her getting too used to it. But also needs to step back to let her enjoy the limelight and remember that as others listen to her, she is breaking down barriers and opening doors for all people with disabilities. She speaks from the heart, and when others listen they stop and wonder at all the spirit and understanding that exists in her heart and head and maybe, just maybe, stop to think about their preconceptions about persons with intellectual disabilities. There is so much there for us to learn from. Jessie is just one voice (of all the voices that we tend to discount), and maybe her voice opens up doors for other voices to be heard.

The Circle Widens . . .
. . . and Jessie is on a high, even this morning as she gets ready for school. I drove her this morning, because she was late and because she has another performance tonight. And in the car she smiled and said “I am so excited about tonight!” Another performance would just exhaust me. But she is excited! That performing part of her certainly comes from Dan, not me! And she just exudes life on stage. And joy and a certain generosity of spirit that catapults energy across the stage and out into the audience. Tonight she and the group perform Underground Wonder —a piece that she has choreographed and I am looking forward to seeing that. In her own words, “it’s about living in darkness underground, caught in the cold and the snow and then breaking free so each of our colours, our beingness can emerge and greet the world.” She does go deep sometimes!

Opening Up Vistas . . . Painting with a New Palette
The Propeller Dance performing group has opened up vistas for her and has given her a space to work with other performers and to create and to perform from her inner sense of joy. For me, the Propeller Dance classes and performing group has opened up a whole area of my heart that makes me look at the world differently.

It also generates a measure of anger, when I look at what an amazing performer she is and how much that is her passion and how the “regular” channels (school) cannot shift the elitist attitude that constricts what is valued to only those who fall into the “established” palette of value. While drama has always been a strength for Jessie, she was not allowed to apply to the high school for the arts (we don’t take kids like her—i.e., kids with an intellectual disability), nor was she allowed to apply for the drama focus program at her own high school —because she didn’t have university or college level English (one of the prerequisites).

What then, or how then, do we foster the passion and strengths of each of our students? And in the arts, of all places, where seeing and being outside the box is often the norm and the place from which many create? This continues to frustrate me, although you think I’d be able to let it go. I can’t, for some reason. BUT, am so grateful for all the opportunities outside school that the community offers for individuals like Jessie and others who don’t fit the mould. She is also lucky to be living at this time and in this place where new arts groups and opportunities are growing and where the wider community is opening up and making room for artistic expression for those with disabilities, who in turn are changing the environment in which we all create.

Connecting to Our Deeper Selves
We connect to our deeper selves through art and performance. To a deep sense of love and laughter and joy and pain. To a celebration of just breathing, of turning in a chair and flying with our arms through the woven ties that sometimes bind us to the ground and to each other and, if we watch and listen with our hearts, to a certain freedom that allows us to fly beyond the lies and the pretences.

Okay. Then there is the other side of our experience. This part tells you that it is all about people. Tis people, tis people, tis people. Jessie also loves to sing. She is a wonderful performer on that front as well. But she cannot, and I mean this seriously, with all the love that a mother has, she cannot sing on key and only recently has managed to keep a beat. By her own admission (through tears, when listening to a tape she made with friends) “why does my voice sound so wrong when theirs is so right?).

So. We have a child who, over the years, has belonged to a number of school and church choirs and who absolutely loves to sing! She stands on stage and it’s hard to take your eyes off her because she exudes joy and her whole body sings with her (if you can get past the off-key part...and usually we hope that the choir is big enough that most people won’t notice that). But there is no doubt that she sings off key. Really off-key.

And Yet . . .
And yet, and yet....the choir and voice director at her school asked her to join the voice program! Jessie came home from school one day to tell me this with pride. I was sure that she a) got it wrong or b) the choir/voice teacher was just being kind and thoughtful. But when we were choosing classes for next year, the high-needs coordinator at school reiterated that yes, Mrs. B thought it would be wonderful if Jessie took the voice/choir class. I smiled and nodded. Jessie beamed! And it is a curiosity to me that the school makes it impossible for her to pursue her passion (and what she is really good at), but will make is possible for her to pursue a passion where she has little talent. Go figure.