Last week, 2019 DT Awardee Marisa Hamamoto and her partner Piotr Iwanicki brought their boundary-breaking work to the “Good Morning America” stage in a segment highlighting her inclusive dance company Infinite Flow.
Infinite Flow is a Los Angeles–based wheelchair ballroom dance company (the first of its kind in the U.S.) that incorporates an equal number of disabled and nondisabled dancers, as well as a range of styles like hip hop, contemporary and other partner dances.
The catalyst that drove Hamamoto to establish this inclusive dance company was a spinal cord infarction she experienced while taking class in 2006. The spinal stroke left her paralyzed from the neck down. Initially, doctors told her she would never walk again, but she left the hospital on her own two feet just two months later. The experience opened her eyes to a new purpose in life. Since then, she’s used her experience to create a troupe that fights for social change, performs globally and offers school assemblies to educate youth about inclusion.
“At Infinite Flow we’re not just removing the stigma of disability, we are really demonstrating the infinite possibilities,” Hamamoto said on the segment.
Check out the full “GMA” interview and performance, here 👇.
An inclusive dance performance you have to see
Marisa Hamamoto and Piotr Iwanicki are using dance to inspire inclusion with Infinite Flow.