{"id":211154,"date":"2025-11-03T15:47:20","date_gmt":"2025-11-03T20:47:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/?p=211154"},"modified":"2025-11-03T16:04:01","modified_gmt":"2025-11-03T21:04:01","slug":"culminating-10-years-of-reelabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/2025\/11\/03\/culminating-10-years-of-reelabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"Culminating 10 Years of ReelAbilities NJ Film Festival"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The College of the Art&#8217;s celebration of inclusivity and the arts reached a meaningful milestone with the culminating event of ten years of ReelAbilities programming, events, and festivals: a performance and discussion of <em>Who Am I Now?<\/em> by <a href=\"https:\/\/heidilatskydance.org\/\">Heidi Latsky Dance<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>The performance invited audiences to reflect on the question, &#8220;When the worlds turn upside down, what are the stories we tell?&#8221; Choreographer and disability advocate Heidi Latsky shared her personal journey through the discover, surgery, and recovery from a benign brain tumor. Alongside dancers Nico Gonzales and Henry Holmes, she explored themes of identity, resilience, and the often-misunderstood experiences of people with non-apparent disabilities.<\/p>\n<p>Through powerful movement and candid conversation, the event encouraged audiences to engage deeply with ideas surrounding labels, the disability dance landscape, and the importance of inclusive community building.<\/p>\n<p>When asked how individuals can best support the disability community, Latsky offered simple yet profound advice:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Be generous, kind, and compassionate to be an ally to the disability community.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211;\u00a0 Heidi Latsky<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Dancer Nico Gonzales added a resonant reflection on empathy and respect:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>&#8220;Life is an improv. You can be present, or just go on autopilot.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>&#8211; Nico Gonzales<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The evening served as both a performance and a call to action, inviting all attendees to be more mindful, more present, and more connected.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/latsky-event-dancers.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/164\/2025\/11\/latsky-event-dancers-1024x1024.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>ReelAbilities was supported by the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/center-for-community-engagement\/\">Office of Education and Community Outreach (OECO)<\/a> in the College of the Arts at Montclair State University, and made possible through the generous support of the <a href=\"https:\/\/kesslerfoundation.org\/\">Kessler Foundation<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&#8220;Who Am I Now?&#8221; with Heidi Latsky<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":37,"featured_media":211155,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-211154","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-and-announcements"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211154","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/37"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=211154"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211154\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":211159,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/211154\/revisions\/211159"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/211155"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=211154"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=211154"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.montclair.edu\/arts\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=211154"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}