Kitty Lunn, Pioneering Ballet Dancer and Disability Advocate, Dies at 76

 Kitty Lunn, the American ballet dancer, actress, disability advocate, and founder of Infinity Dance Theater, has died at 76, according to reports published September 24, 2026. Her death closes a remarkable life in which professional ballet, a devastating spinal injury, wheelchair dance, and disability advocacy became parts of one continuing artistic journey. Lunn’s work helped challenge assumptions about who could be a dancer and opened space for performers with disabilities to be recognized as artists.

Lunn’s relationship with dance began when she was eight and saw Moira Shearer in the film The Red Shoes. She later trained in New Orleans and received a scholarship to Washington Ballet, where she studied with Mary Day and Edward Caton and encountered artists including Martha Graham, Agnes de Mille, José Limón, and Erik Bruhn. Her professional repertoire included major classical works such as Swan Lake, Giselle, Les Sylphides, and The Nutcracker, establishing a substantial ballet career before an accident changed her physical circumstances.

In 1987, while preparing for her first Broadway show, Lunn slipped on ice, fell down a flight of stairs, and broke her back. The spinal cord injury left her paraplegic and using a wheelchair. After spinal surgeries and years of recovery, she returned to ballet classes. Instead of treating the wheelchair as the end of her dancing life, Lunn began developing ways to transpose classical ballet technique for wheelchair users. That process became central to the next chapter of her career.

In 1995, Lunn founded Infinity Dance Theater, a nontraditional company featuring dancers with and without disabilities. The organization’s mission was to expand the boundaries of dance and change perceptions of what a dancer could be. Lunn developed wheelchair dance techniques rooted in classical ballet and modern dance, while creating opportunities for performers with disabilities. Infinity’s history records performances in New York and elsewhere, including participation in the cultural program connected to the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.

Her influence extended beyond her own performances. Lunn became an advocate for inclusion in the performing arts and demonstrated that disability did not eliminate the possibility of technical training, artistry, or professional ambition. Through classes, workshops, choreography, performances, and mentorship, she helped dancers and educators reconsider how movement could be taught and presented. Her approach was not simply about placing wheelchair users onstage; it emphasized technique, artistic expression, partnership, and the development of dancers as performers.

Lunn also worked as an actress and pursued education later. At John Jay College, she studied legal studies and graduated in 1995 with a 4.0 GPA, receiving the Leonard E. Reisman Medal, according to the college. Her artistic career included screen and television work, while her dance career continued to evolve through Infinity Dance Theater. These chapters reflected a life that moved across ballet, acting, education, advocacy, and organizational leadership while keeping dance at its core.

Kitty Lunn leaves behind a legacy that reaches beyond the stages where she performed. Her experience after the 1987 injury became a foundation for work that encouraged ideas about accessibility and artistic possibility. Infinity Dance Theater continues the inclusive model she established, featuring dancers with and without disabilities. Lunn’s life will be remembered through the performers she influenced, the advocates she inspired, and the audiences who saw dance differently because she insisted that movement could continue in forms once overlooked.