MOVING, IMAGINING, AND UNBROKEN
Román Baca / Exit12 Dance Company (New York, NY, US)
Alina Spas / Dr. Brendan Bo O’Connor / Imagination Lab (Albany, NY, US)
Dr. Yuliia Rozmyrska / Lesya Ukrainka Volyn National University (Lutsk, Ukraine)
THE PROJECT
Moving, Imagining, and Unbroken is a co-authored dance and movement program designed specifically for Ukrainian combat veterans—wounded and non-wounded alike. Grounded in Exit12’s proven trauma-informed methodology and adapted entirely for Ukraine’s cultural moment and combatants’ realities, the program integrates contemporary movement with surrealism-based visual art practices. Through intuitive drawing, symbolic collage, and imaginative reinterpretation alongside body-centered trauma recovery work, participants process loss and uncertainty in collective, non-confrontational spaces.
THE PARTNERSHIP
Exit12 Dance Company is a New York-based nonprofit co-founded by Román Baca, U.S. Marine, Iraq War veteran, and professional ballet dancer, now Associate Artistic Director Lisa Fitzgerald. The project partners with the Imagination Lab at SUNY Albany. Brendan Bo O’Connor, PhD, brings research expertise in clinical populations and arts engagement, and Alina Spas, project coordinator, has developed arts-based programming with trauma survivors and Ukrainian communities, and brings deep cultural knowledge as a Lviv native.
LOOKING AHEAD
Independent implementation of “Moving, Imagining, Unbroken – Ukraine” with Ukrainian veterans and war-affected communities in 2027. A comprehensive Toolkit documenting workshop methods, facilitation guidance, surrealist arts adaptations, and research findings.
