Patti LaBelle kicks off 2010 VSA Festival

When Washington-based VSA, an affiliate of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Arts, was founded by Jean Kennedy Smith in 1974, there was little or no programming in the arts for the disabled. Since then, the concept has snowballed and a VSA Festival has been held somewhere in the world every five years. President Soula Antoniou coordinated every aspect of this festival right down to housing for the performers. She points out that today there are more than 600 million disabled worldwide. They make up 12 percent of the current school population, all the more reason why barriers must be broken. To this end, the organization has more than 51 affiliates globally that provide access to arts for all ages and abilities. They are always looking for exciting emerging artists, such as the Australian indie rock ensemble Rudely Interrupted and 17-year-old jazz pianist Matt Savage, a prodigious savant whom Dave Brubeck labels “another Mozart.” Both will appear at the Kennedy Center.

At the VSA Opening Ceremony in the Kennedy Center Concert Hall on Sunday, Patti LaBelle shares the spotlight with the China Disabled People’s Performing Art Troupe, magnificently costumed to reflect China’s history and traditions. The closing ceremony on the Kennedy Center’s South Plaza next Saturday features the Steamin’ Syncopators of Papa Henry Butler, four-time nominee for the W.C. Handy Best Blues Instrumentalist-Piano award. He teaches jazz to blind and impaired students despite having been blind himself since birth.

Dozens of concerts and programs are held in various venues throughout the week. A few examples to whet appetites are the International Disability Film Festival at AFI Silver Theater and Cultural Center, Deaf Theater Jam at the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s Lansburgh Theatre, “The Things that Ate my Brain-Almost” at the H Street Playhouse, the “Revealing Culture” exhibition of contemporary art by artists with disabilities at the Smithsonian Institution’s International Gallery and “The Magic Seeds,” a play for children from the Uganda Deaf Silent Theatre at the Smithsonian’s Discovery Theatre.

One of the most highly anticipated programs occurs Thursday when film and television actor Claire Danes introduces “Diagnosis of a Faun,” a dance/theater piece commissioned by VSA from choreographer Tamar Rogoff. This work showcases dancer Gregg Mozgala, an actor with cerebral palsy, as a creature inhabiting two worlds simultaneously.

Rogoff, a Guggenheim Fellowship recipient for her experimental projects with performers who go against type, first saw him performing in a production of “Romeo and Juliet” and was captivated by his energy and commitment. Since overcoming his disability, Mozgala has appeared in the production on several stages. Rogoff is currently working on a film built around the lessons she documented with a camera. Both have been guests on television to illustrate and explain the project.

“I believed I could help him change the way he moved through a lot of faith and believing in my powers of communication,” Rogoff said. “It took a long time and he had to muscle through the ways his body wasn’t connecting. His sense of self was challenged, but we made a bond not to get discouraged.

“The image of the Faun came from Gregg inhabited by different realms. His upper body is fit from gym workouts, while his lower body needed training to overcome his history as a child thinking that the jerky movements of his feet were like a punishment. Today he is in control and walks with his heels flat on the ground. He even teaches my classes when I’m away.”