This May, five world premieres and three dance companies from across the country converge in Miami for the 7th Annual Forward Motion Dance Festival and Conference of Physically Integrated Dance (FM7). Taking place May 16–17, 2026, at the Sandrell Rivers Theatre, FM7 delivers a coast-to-coast exchange featuring the most compelling physically integrated choreographers working in the US today.
The festival arrives at a milestone moment: KPD’s 35th anniversary and Founder Karen Peterson-Corash’s receipt of the Dance Miami Choreographer’s (DMC) Award. Forward Motion has distinguished itself as a festival where accessibility drives the creative vision.
”There is no better city in the world to have this conversation,” says Peterson-Corash. “Miami’s diversity, its energy, its refusal to be put in a box – that is exactly what physically integrated dance is. FM7 is a celebration of that spirit, and I am so proud to bring it home.”
This year’s festival unites 3 companies at the forefront of physically integrated dance: Los Angeles-based Infinite Flow Dance Company, founded by Marissa Hamamoto, a United Nations speaker and the first professional dancer named to People Magazine’s “Women Changing the World”; Tampa’s REVolutions Dance, led by Artistic Director Dwayne Scheuneman, whose shaped nearly two decades of professional inclusive performance; and Miami’s own pioneering Karen Peterson Dancers.
Together they present 5 world premieres by choreographers who have spent careers expanding what dance can be.
On Sunday, May 17, Forward Motion becomes a hub for the physically integrated dance community. The FM7 Conference brings dancers, educators, and advocates together for hands-on workshops and a roundtable led by Silva Laukkanen, Director of Integrated Dance at Art Spark Texas and one of the field’s most internationally recognized voices in accessible dance education. The day is capped by a reception where the conversations that begin on stage carry on in person.
That spirit of connection runs through everything KPD does. With support from the Pérez CreARTE Grant, KPD’s Everyone Dances program now serves more than 250 students across Miami-Dade County Public Schools, part of a body of work that has brought physically integrated dance to over 6,000 young people across South Florida.
FM7 also coincides with Peterson-Corash receiving the Dance Miami Choreographer’s (DMC) Award, a tribute to her decades-long commitment to transforming what professional dance can look like and who it belongs to.
Located at the Sandrell Rivers Theatre (6103 NW 7th Avenue, Miami), FM7 performances are on Saturday, May 16 at 2 PM & 7 PM; the FM7 Conference follows Sunday, May 17, 12 PM–6 PM.
Tickets are $20–$25 and can be purchased here and at karenpetersondancers.org. Sunday’s conference is open to the community and is donation-based.
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