A dance revolution? Responding to dominant discourses in contemporary integrated dance

Abstract

This research is informed by 6 months of ethnographic fieldwork and 10 semi-structured interviews with 10 members of an integrated dance company. Through the use of Foucauldian theory and discourse analysis, we found that the discourses of legitimacy circulating in and through contemporary dance have typically excluded the bodies and artistic contributions of dancers with disabilities. The participants in this research provided examples of actively resisting dominant discourses of validity and professionalism in dance and also provided alternative discourses to what is regarded as the valid dancing body and aesthetic through their creation of integrated dance works. Their desire to gain recognition and appreciation as dance professionals, however, did at times create tensions with their equally strong desire to challenge dominant discourses of what professional dance and dancers should look like. As a result, this research furthers scholarly understandings of the ways in which persons with disabilities, and more specifically dancers with disabilities, negotiate societal discourses.