EPISODE 20 - ‘I am because we are’ with juliet diener
Our guest, Juliet Diener with long brown wavy hair, wearing a black ‘icandance’ t-shirt is smiling directly at the camera. Juliet is framed by a bright pink boarder. The F**king Normal logo is in the top left and episode title is bottom right in yellow: ‘Episode 20: ‘I am because we are’, with dance movement psychotherapist Juliet Diener.
In this episode, Lauren and Rina talk with dance movement psychotherapist and mother Juliet Diener on building an inclusive community and working with disabled children and their families. Juliet shares her passion for what she does with her charity organisation icandance and how her personal family story has influenced the empathy and understanding she brings to the disabled young people she works with and their parent carer families. She is a mother to 2 children with Cystic fibrosis. Juliet’s words are thoughtful, astute and filled to the brim with love. It is a beautiful conversation about what it means to be human and connect with each other, to quote the African Ubuntu philosophy that Juliet refers to - "I am because we are".
Content Warnings
Diagnosis
Cystic fibrosis
Guest Biography
Originally from South Africa, Juliet Diener is a mother, an academic and a dance movement psychotherapist. She is the founder and CEO of the charity icandance. With a background in special educational needs, teaching and dance, Juliet founded icandance in 2006, with a desire to build an inclusive community where dance was accessible for all. Subsequently influenced by her own personal journey, it is a joyful and inclusive place of community. Juliet is also currently completing a doctorate focused on the icandance approach.
Resource Links
CF trust: Life-saving drugs FAQs (cysticfibrosis.org.uk)
icandance is a charity that relies on donations and funding to be able to do what it does. Like many charities, it is struggling with a reduction in available funding at the moment. If you can and would like to make a donation, please do:
Some links to Juliet’s writings:
‘Finding my way home: An embodied journey to building an inclusive dance community.’ Published in February 2023 in ‘Creative Bodies in Therapy, Performance and Community. Research and practice that bring us home’ by Dr Caroline Frizell and Dr Marina Rova, published by Routledge. Creative Bodies in Therapy, Performance and Community: Research and Practice that Brings us Home: Amazon.co.uk: Frizell, Caroline, Rova, Marina: 9781032119809: Books
Two recent articles (part 1 &2) about employing disabled co-facilitators at icandance:
Juliet is a regular research contributor to Community Living Magazine:
Juliet Diener – Community Living (communitylivingmagazine.com)
