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![\"Against](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/KaylaHamilton_Image3_WhitneyBrowne.jpg\")
Kayla Hamilton, who founded a dance group for Black disabled artists, was among the Bronx awardees of the Dance\/USA fellowship. Photo by Whitney Browne<\/p>\nDance\/USA, the national service organization for dance, recently honored three Bronxites with a yearlong fellowship that comes with a $31,000 grant to be used at the artists\u2019 discretion.<\/p>\n
The three Bronx winners were Kayla Hamilton, a Black sight-impaired artist who founded Circle O, featuring performances by Black disabled dancers; Kwikstep (Gabriel Dionisio), a DJ, hip-hop dancer and choreographer who has shared the stage with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra; and Arthur Avil\u00e9s, a Puerto Rican gay man who co-founded the Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance (BAAD!).<\/p>\n
Hamilton, Dionisio and Avil\u00e9s are among the 25 New York City-area fellows who enjoy twice-monthly collaborative sessions, in addition to the rare opportunity for unrestricted funding.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The Bronx Times caught up with each artist to learn about their plans for this year and how their practice extends far beyond the stage and into the communities they call home.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u2018Education truly is liberation\u2019
\nKayla Hamilton, who founded a dance group for Black disabled artists, was among the Bronx awardees of the Dance\/USA fellowship. Photo by Whitney Browne<\/p>\n
Hamilton\u2019s inclusive dance pedagogy has taken off since she spoke to<\/a> the Bronx Times in July 2024. As part of the Dance\/USA cohort, the opportunity to learn from other longtime Bronx artists has been invaluable, she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cTo be alongside them in this award does something to my heart and spirit,\u201d she said. \u201cWhen I\u2019m like, oh, can I keep going? Look at Arthur and Kwikstep. And yeah, you can, girl!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Like the other awardees, Hamilton\u2019s artistry extends beyond performance. With Circle O, she has developed teachings that reframe the world of dance from the perspective of performers with disabilities or even temporary injuries, promoting greater inclusivity of movement.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Most dance instruction is \u201cdo what I do, see it and repeat it,\u201d Hamilton said. Especially in the age of social media dance trends, \u201cNo one is explaining why and how they do what they\u2019re doing.\u201d<\/p>\n Circle O looks to flip that framework. For instance, someone in a wheelchair cannot do a traditional pli\u00e9, so Hamilton teaches a \u201ctranslation method\u201d in which artists find the essence of each movement\u2019s intended expression. From there, anyone, disabled or not, can \u201ctranslate\u201d to another movement.<\/p>\n This year, Hamilton is bringing her teachings to universities and performance venues across the country, including the Indianapolis School of the Blind and the University of Maryland, College Park, and is even traveling to Nigeria to work with disabled artists.<\/p>\n As a Black woman originally from Texas whose grandfather was a teacher, \u201cEducation truly is liberation, and the more we know, the more knowledge that we gain, that is where the juice lies,\u201d Hamilton said.\u00a0<\/p>\n She said she was especially honored to receive the Dance\/USA grant, which rewards not only performance aesthetics but \u201cpeople whose artistry extends beyond stages.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cBeing an artist is not about what I make, what I create, it\u2019s about how I live my life,\u201d Hamilton said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u2018By dancers, for dancers\u2019 Dionisio, aka Kwikstep, aka DJ KS360, said he was \u201cso grateful\u201d for the Dance\/USA grant and that most of the funds will go towards curating events that bring people together around food, music and dance.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cMy payoff will come from putting back to this community and seeing it heal souls along the way,\u201d he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n At age 57, Dionisio said the mentorship he received in the past was lifesaving. \u201cWhen I was younger, it was the older generation curating me, as a young artist,\u201d he said, adding that the word \u201ccurate\u201d was a play on words. Those interactions were key to \u201ccuring me of my traumas,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Dionisio has lived in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Queens but has been in the Bronx for the past 10 years and trained in the borough during the early days of hip-hop. He performs classic hip-hop dance styles such as breaking, house, popping and locking and soul train, but his work largely revolves around creating public events.\u00a0<\/p>\n He said the Dance\/USA grant will support his longstanding \u201cBehind the Groove\u201d series, which brings together top-tier DJs, dancers and club artists.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n He described the events as \u201cby dancers, for dancers, to make them understand that the club experience is where this is born and developed, and this is where we will congregate as our home away from home.\u201d<\/p>\n Whether clubs or rooftop parties or in Central Park, the Guggenheim Museum or Lincoln Center \u2014 all venues where Dionisio has performed and hosted \u2014 \u201cBehind the Groove\u201d can work anywhere, he said.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cA lot of these parties, they would die if the club space died. Our movement doesn\u2019t live in a space, but it lives in hearts, and we can take it anywhere,\u201d said Dionisio.\u00a0<\/p>\n He still hosts monthly events in Brooklyn that honor \u201chip-hop in its original state.\u201d There, he serves free, homemade food but no alcohol, \u201cwhich is a trend that everybody\u2019s on now, but we\u2019ve been on it since the beginning, because some of my best experiences at clubs in New York City have been parties with no alcohol,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Much has been said about Americans\u2019 social habits in the post-pandemic era; people are going out less and spending more time alone. Dionisio said that makes his mission more important than ever.\u00a0<\/p>\n After years of being \u201csequestered by society,\u201d Dionisio said audiences are desperate to get away from screens.\n<\/p>\n He said he still sometimes prints paper flyers and distributes them by hand. \u201cI think people are trying to get back to analog, and part of analog is word of mouth.\u201d<\/p>\n Then, when people gather around great music, magic can easily happen, said Dionisio.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cNow that people are understanding that we can only move the world in person, people are getting back to having the courage to show up in person,\u201d he said. \u201cShut your computer down, and come out and celebrate yourself, along with everyone else.\u201d<\/p>\n \u2018We persevere as artists\u2019\u00a0 Speaking to the Bronx Times in BAAD!\u2019s office, Avil\u00e9s said it was \u201cincredible\u201d to receive the funding and the opportunity to collaborate with other creatives.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amid what Avil\u00e9s views as outright homophobia from the Trump administration, BAAD! refuses to hide its mission, he said.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cBAAD! is a place that presents works that are empowering to women, people of color and the LGBTQ+ communities. But because we say that, it\u2019s against the ways in which the government is working these days,\u201d said Avil\u00e9s.\u00a0<\/p>\n With the organization he co-founded in 1998, he continues to cast a wide net for performers and audiences who may feel marginalized.\n<\/p>\n For instance, the Out Like That festival, held in June, features people whose identities President Trump has literally erased<\/a> from government publications. Avil\u00e9s said the festival welcomes those who are \u201cgay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender, queer, two-spirited, questioning, curious, gender nonconforming, gender conforming, pre-op, post-op, intersex, gender nonbinary, and the list goes on.\u201d<\/p>\n In addition to events and programs with BAAD!, Avil\u00e9s maintains his own performance work with Arthur Avil\u00e9s Typical Theatre, which \u201cexplores my curiosity and creativity,\u201d he said. \u201cAnd that just happens to be a queer, Puerto Rican man who lives in the Bronx, and how I navigate that.\u201d<\/p>\n Avil\u00e9s, who lives in Hunts Point, said the Bronx creative arts scene today is \u201camazing.\u201d From drag artists to young talent studying at Hostos and Lehman, \u201cIt\u2019s rich, what\u2019s going on in the Bronx,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Avil\u00e9s said he and BAAD! will remain true to a mission of inclusivity, no matter the political obstacles.\u00a0\n<\/p>\n \u201cWe persevere as artists,\u201d he said. \u201cWe continue to make our work, and make the administration angry.\u201d\n<\/p>\n Reach Emily Swanson at\u00a0eswanson@schnepsmedia.com<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0(646) 717-0015<\/a>. For more coverage, subscribe to our\u00a0newsletter<\/a>\u00a0and follow us on\u00a0Twitter<\/a>,\u00a0Facebook<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Instagram<\/a>!<\/p>\n \t
\n![\"Kwikstep](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Kwikstep_Image1_B-Fresh-1.jpg\")
Kwikstep, a hip-hop dancer and DJ, was among the Bronx awardees of the Dance\/USA fellowship. Photo by B Fresh<\/p>\n
\n![\"Dance](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/ArthurAviles_Image-3_LoisGreenfield-Bronx-Academy-of-Arts-and-Dance.jpeg\")
Arthur Avil\u00e9s co-founded BAAD! in 1998 as an inclusive dance organization emphasizing community ties. Photo courtesy BAAD!<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/20260107_112217-rotated.jpg\")
BAAD! operates out of a former chapel from the 1850s.Photo by Emily Swanson<\/p>\n