What is Scoops of Inclusion?
Scoops of Inclusion by Infinite Flow Dance, a professional dance company composed of multiracial dancers with and without disabilities, is a short film and online learning platform celebrating diversity and empowering kids to take an active role in making the world a more inclusive place where we each feel we belong.
Made for kids, schools, and families, Scoops of Inclusion comes with lesson plans, worksheets, and contests, and is easily integrated into school curriculum, and can be enjoyed also as a family activity. And it’s available at No Cost.
Scoops of Inclusion was born from taking Infinite Flow’s in-person school assembly program to a virtual program during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it was produced following Covid-19 filming guidelines and best practices. Scoops of Inclusion premiered on Oct 10, and is now available to watch on this website.
Scoops of Inclusion includes open captioning, ASL interpretation, and audio description.
About
Infinite Flow
Infinite Flow is a Los Angeles-based nonprofit and professional dance company composed of dancers with and without disabilities using dance to promote inclusion and innovation.
Since 2015, Infinite Flow’s professional dancers have performed over 100 times, from school assemblies to corporate events with Apple, Facebook, Red Bull, Porsche, Kaiser Permanente, and Farmers Insurance, among others. Our dance videos have been viewed by over 75 million people on Facebook alone, and they have been featured by NBC Today, ABC Good Morning America, among other national and international media outlets. Infinite Flow was founded by Marisa Hamamoto, a professional dancer and stroke survivor who was temporarily paralyzed from the neck down while a college student.
About Infinite Flow Kids
Infinite Flow Kids is a youth dance group, where kids with and without disabilities dance and grow together, cultivating young leaders and dancers, and shaping a new generation where inclusion is a new reality. The youth cast in Scoops of Inclusion are members of Infinite Flow Kids.
The Story
Story by Marisa Hamamoto, Executive Director & Producer, Founder, Infinite Flow Dance. Based on Infinite Flow’s in-person school assemblies. The characters in this film use their real names and identities that are authentic to real life. All cast members were already part of Infinite Flow’s company prior to producing the short film.
Scarlett and Henry, real-life 9-year old twins take a tour of their new school, the School of Us, a radically inclusive school. Scarlett has had cerebral palsy since a baby and uses a wheelchair. Scarlett and Henry have had to change schools 8 times due to a lack of inclusivity at their previous schools. NOTE: In real life, they’ve changed schools 4 times.
Guided by school co-presidents Kai and River, Scarlett and Henry visit 7 classrooms and meet their new teachers, including Adelfo, a paraplegic gym teacher; Natalie, a blind school newspaper editor; Marc, a paraplegic science teacher; Lionel, a dance teacher with a learning disability; Mia, a paraplegic art teacher; Shaheem, a deaf music teacher; Dmitriy, an amputee dancer, Russian language teacher, and refugee; and Tony, the “Dancing Physician Assistant”.
As co-presidents, Kai and River are in charge of planning the Ice Cream Extravaganza and are put to test by School of Us Principal Marisa to make the party inclusive where everyone can enjoy ice cream together. They invite Henry and Scarlett to help them with the planning.
The story concludes with the characters + a few new friends “flashmob” to the “Ice Cream Rap”, created by Joey and Jay, both music artists with physical disabilities.
Behind the Scenes
We had to get creative and think outside the box to make this project happen during the Covid-19 pandemic. All rehearsals were done over Zoom. One third of the cast shot remotely, setting up their own green screen studios in their homes. All cast and crew got tested for Covid-19 prior to coming on to set. We minimized the number of people on set and spaced out the shoot schedule. All cast wore masks up to the point of shooting in front of the camera. Hand-shaking, hugging, and dancing hand-to-hand was prohibited (and yes it was awkward).
We are grateful that we were able to safely create this masterpiece.
From the Executive Producer & Director
I grew up in Irvine, California during the 80s to 90s, and being one of the few Asian-Americans at elementary school, I experienced bullying due to looking different, whether it was the shape of my eyes or being made fun for bringing a Japanese bento lunch. At dance class after school, I also found myself being the only person of color, but something about moving together with others to music made me feel I belonged. Dancing became my happy place, and eventually became my life passion.
I suffered a spinal stroke in college, which temporarily paralyzed me from the neck down. This eventually led me to create Infinite Flow. But as the years went by, I realized we were more than a dance company. We are a global movement for inclusion and we exist to transform hearts, bodies, and souls, one dance at a time.
Diversity-Equity-Inclusion is more important than ever. And within DEI, the topic of disability inclusion and intersectionality is often left out. In the meantime, due to Covid-19, most schools are still running classes online, extracurricular activities have further been cut out, and teachers are under high pressure and high stress to keep students engaged. We hope Scoops of Inclusion will add some fun learning in classrooms and living rooms across the country and world. Welcome to our family! It’s never too late and NEVER TOO EARLY to become an inclusive leader!
Marisa Hamamoto
Executive Producer & Director, Scoops of Inclusion
Founder, Infinite Flow Dance
History
2016
Our first in-person school assemblies at Gabriella Charter School and Linwood E. Howe Elementary School.
2017-18
We receive 30+ inquiries for school assemblies. We find out most schools don't have a school assembly budget to bring us.
Dec 2018
School assembly at El Marino Elementary School. Infinite Flow Founder Marisa Hamamoto re-realizes the power and impact of the school assemblies and commits to finding funding for disadvantaged schools during 2019.
Oct 13, 2019
Marisa launches a crowdfunding campaign to raise funds for sponsored school assemblies at disadvantaged schools.
Oct 28, 2019
Marisa and Piotr makes a guest appearance on Good Morning America 3rd Hour: Strahan Sara Keke. During the show, they get a surprise $10k donation from Capezio. Marisa receives 100+ inquiries for school assemblies from educators and parents across the country within a few hours.
Nov 21, 2019
Infinite Flow receives a $20k donation for the school assembly program, from Farmers Insurance during a corporate speaking & performance engagement.
Nov 26, 2019
Marisa's father dies from prostate cancer. The campaign ends early.
March 11, 2020
Los Angeles goes on lockdown due to Covid-19. All schools transition to a virtual classroom and all assemblies are canceled.
Summer 2020
Recognizing the need for more DEI education following current events, we decide to take our school assembly program online. Scoops of Inclusion is born.
