Classroom Activities Discuss: Talk about the Nancy Mairs’ essay. One of the most important points in this piece is her discussion about how her writing voice got stronger as her physical body became weaker. Given that we tend to equate personal agency with physical ability, how does Mairs experience offer alternative …
Classroom Activities Discuss: Talk about the King article with the whole group. One of King’s most salient points concerns the equation of physical ability and autonomy. Do you agree or not? What examples can you find in your life that either proves or disproves that equation? Move: In pairs or small groups try a variety …
As an art form comprised of physical movement, dance has traditionally privileged the extraordinary body. Dancers are often treated with a certain paradoxical awe that is an odd mixture of respect for the physical discipline of daily technique classes, fascination with what is often supposed to be a “natural” gracefulness …
Bodies and Machines foregrounds the issue of physical ability in dancing bodies, exploring the spectrum of aesthetic possibilities from the greatly challenged body to the extraordinarily skilled body, integrating diversities of ability in dance with social and cultural ideas about physical skill, relationships between machines and the body, kinds of …
