UNITED STATES
Benjamin Berry
U.S.A.
e-mail: ben@benjaminberry.com
website: www.benjaminberry.com
Languages: English.
Collective Role: Local Development of Inclusive Practice.
Services:
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Private Facilitation
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Group Facilitation (specializing in working in schools, intergenerational/family programs, youth/adults with developmental disabilities, and eldercare/senior services)
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FJ workshops as professional development for Recreational Therapists, Eldercare Providers, and Educators
Bio Blurb: Benjamin Berry (they/he) is a teaching artist, hoop dancer, and circus performer based in Buffalo, NY, USA whose programs have become a staple in libraries, schools, eldercare, and other community-based facilities. Since 2017, they have shared movement workshops and performances in 50+ cities nationwide and in 100+ New York State facilities. Benjamin first picked up a hula hoop in 2013 and became certified to teach Hoop Dance by Hoopnotica in 2014. After participating in the online contest Hooping Idol Season 5 they were awarded Male Hooper of the Year by Hooping.org in 2015. Their focus on adaptive prop-based circus began in 2019 when they received training in the developmental movement-based BrainDance Method and Brain-Compatible Dance Education at the Creative Dance Center in Seattle, WA, USA. Along with Functional Juggling, these developmental movement patterns form the basis of their approach to teaching circus arts. In 2021, Benjamin launched Accessible Circus Project, an initiative in partnership with the nonprofit Accessible Festivals, that aims to make creative movement accessible to all abilities by providing subsidized and free circus props and instruction to individuals and organizations whose budgets for recreation have been impacted by the pandemic.