Festival showcases creativity without limits
AQUARIUM OF THE PACIFIC
By Patty Marsters
pattym@lwsb.com
The Aquarium of the Pacific celebrates the creativity of people who are differently abled with its 18th annual Festival of Human Abilities. The free, Jan. 30 event will be virtual, with closed captioning for viewers who are deaf or hard of hearing.
The festival concludes with the presentation of the Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award to Infinite Flow Dance, a Sherman Oaks-based, inclusive company founded in 2015 by Marisa Hamamoto, who suffered a stroke at age 24.
Poet and actress Zendrea Mitchell kicks off the event at 10 a.m. with an “American Sign Language Musical Performance.” The deaf performer is a board member for Straight Up Abilities, for which she teaches ASL in both song and conversational forms.
Straight Up Abilities offers a dance performance at 10:45 a.m. The nonprofit provides professional dance training to students of all abilities (currently via Zoom). “Some of our students may have physical or intellectual disabilities, but that does not mean that they are underserving of a life where they can also live out their passions and dreams,” says director Robin Olive. “There are no limits.”
At 11:30 a.m., Diveheart executive director Tinamarie Hernandez and founder/ president Jim Elliott (a Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award honoree in 2011) present “The Magic of Scuba Therapy: Imagine the Possibilities.” Diveheart is a nonprofit organization that provides and supports educational scuba-diving programs that are open to anyone with a disability, believing that “underwater, we’re all equal.”
Following that presention, Rancho Los Amigos National Rehabilitation Center gives an art demonstration. One of the largest comprehensive medical rehabilitation centers in the U.S., the Ranch specializes in helping patients with disabilities to regain skills and learn techniques to aid them in daily activities. Through its many programs, including those focusing on the arts, it promotes self-esteem and independence.
Cambodia Town’s Homeland Cultural Center takes centerstage at 12:15 p.m., with its dance crew showing off breakdancing and pop-locking moves.
At 1 p.m., blind guitarist Dat Nguyen performs classical music. Nguyen, who was born in Vietnam, began playing music at age 11 and graduated from California State University, Fullerton, with a degree in guitar performance in 1999. He has won numerous awards and prizes both nationally and internationally, including the aquarium’s Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award in 2019, and has released three solo CDs.
The 45-minute set is followed by the soul-pop fusion of Per Se, a Long Beach-based ensemble band that, through music, tells stories that are “good for the heart and soul.”
The hip-hop music and choreography of Auti Angel begins at 2:30 p.m. Paralyzed from the waist down after a car accident in 1992, the professional dancer has continued to perform on TV and in movies; she was one of two people awarded the Glenn McIntyre Heritage Award in 2018.
This year’s award ceremony begins at 3:15 p.m. Infinite Flow has performed more than 100 times, from school assemblies to corporate events to TV programs. In October 2020, it released “Scoops of Inclusion,” a short film and online learning platform that celebrates diversity and encourages kids to be a part of creating an inclusive world.
Visit www.aquariumofpacific. org/events/info/festival_of_human_ abilities to livestream the event. For more information, visit the Aquarium of the Pacific’s website or call (562) 590-3100, ext. 0.
Courtesy of the Aquarium of the Pacific
Dat Nguyen performs at a previous Festival of Human Abilities at the Aquarium of the Pacific.
