Monica Lynne limped a bit, her right foot dragging some as she and Marjorie Burnett rehearsed for the premiere of Karen Peterson and Dancers’ ensemble work called “Samsara.”
Recalling the session, Lynne, 34, said she teared up and apologized to Artistic Director Karen Peterson-Corash.
“It’s beautiful,” Peterson-Corash told Lynne. “Keep going. Don’t stop,” about the duet in which Burnett, 55, spun and glided across the floor in a motorized wheelchair.
Lynne, of Miami Lakes, was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, Burnett has cerebral palsy and both are members of the physically-integrated dance company.
“It’s OK that I lean and fall and stumble,” Lynne said. “I never had anybody call the way I move beautiful and interesting … Karen said that.”
Two months ago, Lynne joined the company.
On the evenings of Feb. 18 and 19, it is scheduled to perform “Samsara” at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium’s On.Stage Black Box Theatre.
For the past three decades, the company’s dancers have pushed against the limits of their bodies and gravity and continue to demonstrate that regardless of age or physical limitations, there is beauty in their movements.
Critics agree and have called Karen Peterson and Dancers an eye-opening company that challenges perceptions of what it means to be a dancer.
Lynne says her modern dance technique straddles two worlds of movement, between the standing dancers and those who use wheelchairs.
She said she trained in dance as a child at Intensity Dancers' Studio in town and majored in dance, theater and communications while at Nova Southeastern University.
Her symptoms were once invisible to others and came and went but are now persistent, like the limp she’s learning to accept.
“I was always led to believe that the way I moved was a messy interruption to the dance aesthetic,” Lynne said. “But instead, I’ve been really empowered to look at the way I move in a much more positive way.”
Lynne, a public relations and events production executive, was 16 when she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
In a few short weeks dancing with the company, she’s felt an emotional strength that is helping her navigate how to live with the disease.
Gradually, she said, she’s been feeling more comfortable using a cane to walk when it’s needed.
“I’m kind of starting to feel more and more OK with stepping into this world of people who are disabled and still rocking it and [are] movement experts,” she said. “I feel like the biggest barriers have been the ones I put on myself. This is a brand new realization for me…
“I have symptomatic limitations, but in the world of Karen Peterson and Dancers, the only limitations are the ones I put on myself, because there is so much freedom there,” she said.
Shawn Buller, 64, felt a similar experience when she joined the company more than 15 years ago.
“I just felt really vulnerable,” said Buller, who uses a wheelchair.
When the company accepted her, “It was electric,” she said.
A viral infection left Buller paralyzed in 1985. A retired musical therapist, Buller was used to playing piano or viola when performing, but this was different.
“As a musician, you get to hide behind your instrument,” she said. “As a dancer, there’s nothing to hide behind.”
Over the years, dancing has helped her feel more connected to others, gain confidence and she’s learned how to express herself, even in physical ways she didn’t think were possible before.
“It’s kind of stretched me in that way,” Buller said.
“Samsara” is about maternal relationships, family lineage and the cycle of life and death. The dancers perform to instrumental music and in front of a video created by Miami visual artist Maria Lino.
Some of the dancers’ young children will perform in the piece, too.
“It is sort of the idea of motherhood, community of mothers, our elders,” Peterson-Corash said, “The journey of life we take together and how we nurture our children, and then our children nurture us.
“I wanted to not only be sentimental, but I wanted to explore discord and emotional challenges and family relationships that are not always rosy,” she said. “And so we’ve been exploring movement that’s a little different for us also.”
Red scarves are used as props and metaphors and serve as washcloths, toys for children and umbilical cords, “a connective device through generations,” Peterson-Corash said.
“What is this red image?” she said. “It’s many things, but it’s the energy of life and how it’s passed from generation to generation.”
Since she founded the dance company, Peterson-Corash feels a “brand new sense of exploration” whenever a new dancer arrives.
“I feel like I offer here a safe home where we can explore our physical abilities together, our unique offerings with each other,” she said. “And within that collaboration and integration there’s new vocabulary that’s discovered.”
The John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts and Miami-Dade Department of Cultural Affairs are among organizations that have given grants to the company.
In 2019, the Boston Conservatory at Berklee recognized alumnus Peterson-Corash with an entrepreneurial grant.
The company has performed throughout the U.S. and in nine countries, including Brazil, Portugal and Serbia.
If You Go
A work performed by dancer Jesus Vidal called “Remember When” is also on the bill for the shows which begin at 8 p.m. at 2901 W. Flagler St. in Miami.
Tickets are $25 for general admission, $20 for students and seniors and are available through Ticketmaster or at the Miami-Dade County Auditorium box office or online at https://www.miamidadecountyauditorium.org.
Masks are required inside the theater; concessions are closed.