About Us

Kanmaniyin Salangai Oli is named after my grandmother Kanmani. Due to the circumstances in Sri Lanka, I was not fortunate enough to get to spend enough time with her to get to know her in a significant way. However, whenever my father told me stories about her, I could not help but feel connected to her. I had an invisible disability, and she was the only other person in the family I knew of who was disabled. She was also non-verbal.

Alongside the context of the time and place she lived in, as a disabled woman, she was never afforded the same opportunities I was, as someone growing up in the U.K., with invisible disabilities.

Most of the stories my father told me about her was tinged with sadness and loss. The loss of agency, the loss of opportunity, the loss of personhood. Themes that I could see echoing in my own life as a disabled Tamil woman.

I spent the last 12 years getting to know my disabled body, I have accumulated a lot of knowledge about working with restrictions in mobility, and building strength in a patient and sustainable way, meeting my body where it was in the moment.

I wanted to honour her memory by building a teaching practice that makes dance and movement accessible to disabled dancers. 

Our Mission & Vision

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