Dance and disability: the dancer, the viewer and the presumption of difference

Abstract

This paper aims to address two related themes. The first theme is the current provision for practical skill development for disabled dance students within Higher Education in the UK, and the extent to which inclusive pedagogical approaches challenge conceptions of the disabled body, both within and beyond dance. The second theme draws on the first as a basis for discussion and explores ways of seeing and interpreting the dance and in particular the different strategies and resources the viewer draws upon when viewing the disabled dance performer. These themes have emerged from a recently completed period of research, conducted with my own staff and students at Coventry University, which has focused predominantly on the experience of disabled dance students, the development of an inclusive curriculum framework and the different ways in which students learn dance techniques in class.

Acknowledgements:

This paper is a development of a paper I presented at The Society for Dance Research inaugural Dance Research Conference, Middlesex University, March 2006. The title of my paper was Dance and disability: visibility, invisibility and the interpretation of difference. I am indebted to all those who have given me valuable input, suggestions and support for my work in this area. These include Mara de Wit, Helen Thomas and particularly Louise Katerega, who has contributed so much to this project as well as to the students’ learning and development. Additional thanks go to Kath Kimber McTiffen, my research assistant for the Body Realities project, and to Cecilia Macfarlane and Vivien Freakley, who have both given me useful feedback about this paper and have been so generous in sharing their knowledge and expertise in this area of work. Finally, my thanks go to the dance students and staff at Coventry University.

Notes

1. CandoCo is probably the best‐known company in the UK but there are several other companies with a national profile, including Common Ground Sign Dance Theatre, a company rooted in Deaf culture and committed to integrating sign language into performance, and Anjali Dance Company, who employs dancers with learning disabilities.

2. The title of the project was Body Realities: Strategies for Inclusion in Dance in HE. ‘Body Realities’ was derived from Albright who, in describing her own performance, created whilst temporarily a wheelchair user, stated that ‘the work was a conscious attempt to both deconstruct the representational codes of dance production and communicate an “other” bodily reality’ (2001, 56).

3. The Learning Support Assistant at Coventry has generally been described as ‘Facilitator’, but both titles are used from time to time by those in the role. The recently adopted guidelines for those in this role are one way of clarifying the nature of the role as well as the title.

4. Coventry University has a long‐standing relationship with Hereward College in Coventry, the National College for students with disabilities. Several students participated in Swell, Coventry’s first adult community dance group, directed by Cecilia Macfarlane and based at Coventry University, and have progressed to further training in the Performing Arts. It is partly this relationship that has attracted disabled students to Coventry University to study dance. Cecilia Macfarlane, who is Associate Senior Lecturer in Community Arts at Coventry University, has many years of experience in the field of disability dance and integrated dance.

5. The aims of the project were partly motivated by Albright’s observations and descriptions of her experience whilst a wheelchair user (2001).

6. These Schools include London Contemporary Dance School, Northern School of Contemporary Dance, Central School of Ballet and Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance. The Conservatoire for Dance and Drama was founded in 2001 to protect and promote some of the best schools in the UK offering vocational training in dance, drama and circus arts. See http://www.cdd.ac.uk/aboutcdd.html.

7. The term ‘coaching’ refers to the activities when students are asked to observe and provide feedback (either through commentary or ‘hands‐on’ work) to fellow students. As part of their development as reflective practitioners, students are encouraged, through coaching, to increase observational skills, critical ability and encourage peer support.

8. One of the biggest challenges for our own disabled students has been finding an LSA to work with. The teaching team provides what support it can and often recommends LSAs from its own pool of recent graduates who not only have relevant dance experience but have an interest in pursuing work in this field. Whilst there is Institutional support and recognition for those who provide academic support for students with disabilities, there is no equivalent support structure for those who take on the LSA role in practical class activity. The project has revealed the need to extend ways to accredit training and acknowledge the experience of those in this role, and thereby improve recognition for this important work.

9. Within class time, students are asked to reflect on their experiences. Students are encouraged to record in words and also in pictures, sketches and other visual forms, collectively termed ‘mark‐making’.

10. Dualism, in which the more valued ‘mind’ has been associated with the masculine whilst the meaningless ‘body’ has been associated with the feminine has often been cited as a reason why dance has been marginalised as a legitimate subject for enquiry until relatively recently. There are many writers who provide extensive discussions on this theme but for the relevance to the discussion in this paper I would recommend Briginshaw (2001), Grosz (1994), and Young (1990).

11. It is acknowledged that by participating in the project and by already having an understanding of some of the issues of dance and disability, and the politics surrounding dance and disability, students were perhaps checking their own comments that they were making to me. Furthermore, it is likely that those who volunteered were also students who had some direct interest in inclusive practices.