Riina’s artistic doctoral research explores the field of inclusive dance. At its core is the significance of epistemic agency and embodied knowledge, which manifests in diverse forms within artistic processes based on improvisation and collaboration involving both dancers with intellectual disabilities and those without. The research unfolds as a multi-method study, intertwining artistic practice, sensory ethnography, and approaches offered by co- and inclusive research. It is connected to critical disability studies and feminist new materialist theories, fostering more porous perspectives on the body, embodiment, and collaboration in dance.
Riina aims to identify and develop inclusive improvisation-based working methods that create space for the diversity of embodied knowledge, thereby challenging established, ableist views on dance and dancing embodiment. Additionally, the research analyses how an approach that acknowledges and respects diversity transforms artistic collaboration between dancers with and without intellectual disabilities. The study provides artistic and practice–based insights into issues of inclusion, aiming to promote social change toward a more equitable and diverse dance field.
Updated 19 Sep 2025
