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 ways of thinking about the connections between our bodies and our sense of ourselves?

Write: What limitation (physical or psychological) do you have that you can re-imagine as a place of personal power and social agency?

Share: In groups of two or three, read one another’s writings. Come together as a class to share the small group observations.

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 of movement experiences in which there is a physical limitation:

• Blindfolded activities: walking, talking, retrieving an object, performing a task such as
  finding and turning on or off a light switch or picking up a book from the floor, etc.
• Restricting movement to one leg, one arm, etc.
• If available, assign activities to be done from a wheel chair.
• Time permitting, it might be interesting to have “showings” and discussions of these activities, so that a pair or small group can be observed by the rest of the group.

Reflect: Did those physical activities changes your ideas at all about King’s argument?

Given that disability signifies the cultural antithesis of the fit, healthy body, what happens when visibly disabled people move into the role of dancer, the very same role that has been historically reserved for the glorification of an ideal body? Does the integration of disabled bodies into contemporary dance result in a disruption of ableist preconceptions about professional dance? Or does the disabled body “transcend” its disability to become a dancer? What is at stake in these questions is not merely the physical definition of a dancer’s body, but the larger (metaphysical) structure of dance as a form of representation. When dancers take their place in front of the spotlight, they are often displayed in ways that accentuate the double role of technical prowess and sexual desirability (the latter being implicit in the very fact of a body’s visual availability). In contrast, the disabled body is supposed to be covered up or hidden from view, to be compensated for or overcome (either literally or metaphorically) in an attempt to live as “normal” a life as possible. When a disabled dancer enters the stage, he or she stakes claim to a radical space, an unruly location where disparate assumptions collide.

The intersection of dance and disability is an extraordinarily rich site at which to explore the overlapping constructions of the body’s physical ability, subjectivity, and cultural visibility. Excavating the social meanings of these constructions is comparable to an archeological dig into the deep psychic fears that dis/ability creates. As Ynestra King puts it in her insightful essay “The Other Body”: “Visibly disabled people (like women) in this culture are the scapegoats for resentments of the limitations of organic life.” In order to examine ableist preconceptions in the professional dance world, one must confront both the ideological and symbolic meanings that the disabled body holds in our culture, as well as the practical conditions of disability. Once again, we are in the position of having to negotiate between the theatrical representations of dancing bodies and the actuality of their physical experiences. Watching disabled bodies dancing forces us to see with a double vision, and helps us to recognize that while a dance performance is grounded in the physical capacities of a dancer, it is not limited by them.

Classroom Activities

Watch: View the tango section from the film Outside/In by Victoria Marks and Margaret Williams with Candoco, a mixed ability dance company from England.

Write: Take ten minutes to free-write about watching the dance.

Discuss: As a full group, consider issues of ability and disability:

• What is ability, in its broadest definition?
• Some kinds of abilities are visible and others are invisible. Discuss examples of each kind.
• What is disability, in its broadest definition?
• Some kinds of disabilities are visible and others are invisible. Discuss examples of each kind.
• Where do limitations on able and disabled bodies come from? Are they self-imposed? Are they socially imposed?
• Are there persons you know or have heard about who have overcome specific limitations?

Note to teachers: Guide the discussion so that some examples are “normal” limitations that most people experience (such as the human inability to fly, for example). Other examples should be limitations that are unusual or specific to a small number of people. Some examples might be visible limitations, other examples might be invisible limitations.

The purpose of this section of Accelerated Motion is to explore the interconnections between bodies and machines in contemporary dance. We will look at a variety of choreographies that incorporate machines or devices of various sorts in order to extend the movement capacities of human bodies. We will also investigate how we use machines in our daily lives, culling movement possibilities from these interactions. Most importantly, however, these discussions will lead us to reflect on the myth of the dancer’s body as a perfect, well-oiled, and efficiently working machine. This, in turn, will help us understand how physical limitations, rather than restricting our access to dance, might inspire new movement possibilities, leading us to re-imagine which bodies can be seen as dancing bodies.

All human bodies share an extensive number of similarities, yet individual bodies vary widely in movement capacity, including such factors as size, strength, and flexibility among others. Some bodies are severely limited by specific physical restrictions in motion while others are maximized through the practice of a variety of training systems. Moreover, the same body undergoes changes in capacity throughout the life cycle. Dancing bodies come in a range of sizes, shapes, ages and skill levels, an important notion to consider in a democratic society whose constitutional values espouse egalitarian ideals regarding inclusion and access.

Discuss 

• What is a “normal” body?
• How can bodily capacities be altered by machines?
• Do gender and age play a role in the kinds of skills or capacities a body can have?
• Do physical abilities determine or influence an individual’s social value?
• How are bodies with specific physical challenges valued and/or restricted from participation in public life?
• How are bodies with extraordinary physical skills valued and/or restricted from participation in public life?
• How does the U.S. government address public rights for persons with varying physical abilities?

Next Section: Exploring the Connections Between Bodies and Machines