Inclusion and the Performing Arts

Our newest show, Rookies’ First Feast, is a food fantasy romp! Two newbie firefighters face their highest hurdle yet: cooking for the squad. Plus, Capt. Salvo is dairy-free. So, what’s it going to be? As the young firefighters strive to fit in and learn to cook healthy food, the Shinto Goddess, Uke Mochi, comes to their aid – showing them what teamwork and imagination can do!

Rookies’ First Feast is an original production created by BodyWise Dance professionals and MVLE core members with intellectual and developmental disabilities. To create this year’s show, director Margot Greenlee invited nutritionists, gardeners, chefs, and firefighters to join the creative rehearsal process.  Learning from these people helped to inform the dances, scenes, and music in Rookie’s First Feast.

MVLE, Inc. is a nonprofit whose mission is to create futures one person at a time for individuals with disabilities through community-based employment and support services. The MVLE Moves program provides weekly performing arts education and movement therapy for over 150 individuals.

Want to book Rookies’ First Feast? Please call Director Margot Greenlee at 202.253.7946 or email margot@bodywisedance.com. Past productions have toured to the Kennedy Center’s Millennium Stage, Ft. Belvoir USO, George Mason University’s Hylton Performing Arts Center, and Fairfax County Key School. 

For information about MVLE, contact Sarah Caldwell at m: 703-894-8247 or SCaldwell@mvle.org. 

Performances made possible in part by the National Endowment for the Arts; Virginia Commission for the Arts; and ARTSFAIRFAX.