KAREN PETERSON AND DANCERS REFLECTS ON PANDEMIC, LOSS IN NEW SHOW
Performing Arts
Published 4/5/21
Choreographer Karen Peterson talks about wheelchairs like some people talk about horses.As artistic director of Florida’s leading physically integrated dance company – Karen Peterson and Dancers (KPD) – Peterson finds that the greatest challenge to choreographing wheelchair-bound dance is not the physical limitations of her performers but rather the “personalities” of their chairs.“One of the most difficult things in dance practice or performance is to get wheelchairs to move in unison. The chairs have a mind of their own,” she says. “One has a battery that reacts this way, one’s wheels stick a little bit. The wheelchairs engage my imagination – from the speed of the chairs to their unique features to how fast they go.”Peterson’s sensitivity for the intricate motions of wheelchairs as a building block for artistic meaning will be on full display when KPD presents “Lost and Found” at 4 p.m. April 11 in the Pinecrest Gardens Banyan Bowl, 11000 SW 57th Ave., …