Choreographing the Disabled Body: Performing Vulnerability and Political Change in the Work of Tamar Borer

Abstract

Choreographing the Disabled Body: Performing Vulnerability and Political Change in the Work of Tamar Borer Ilana Szobel (bio) With the most powerful tool we have as human beings—the imagination—we produce change, healing and transformation of both our mind and physical condition.1 –Tamar Borer The Israeli-Jewish performance artist Tamar Borer, born in 1965, was trained in many different forms of dance in institutions worldwide. She studied classical ballet at the American Ballet Theatre in New York, modern dance at the Rina Sheinfeld Dance Theatre (where she performed for seven years), authentic Balinese dance in Indonesia, and trance dance in Mexico. In 1992, she traveled to Japan to study with Kazuo Ohno, the well-known and skilled founder of Butoh-soul dance. More than two decades after this formative encounter, Borer remains one of the most innovative and influential Butoh performers and teachers, not just in Israel but worldwide.2 She has been invited as an esteemed guest to a variety of dance festivals across the globe and has won many awards and prizes, including the first prize at the Gvanim beMahol (Shades in Dance) Competition for First Independent Work (1988), the Distinguished Artist Award from ballet master Albert Gaubier’s Foundation (1996), and the Buchman Hyman Fund’s Promising Artist Award (1997).3 Borer choreographs and performs solo, duets, and ensemble productions throughout the world. Despite her worldwide presence, her studio is located in Tel Aviv, and the vast majority of her noteworthy performances and collaborations take place in Israel. Her performances raise questions and concerns about Israeli subjectivity—particularly in relation to the Israeli– Palestinian conflict. In this context, while creating a home-grown as well as transnational artistic venue for addressing the political situation in which Israel is embroiled, Borer’s work functions not just as a productive point of departure for social critique and change, but most pointedly as an invitation to a kind of social self-reflection for contemporary Israelis. [End Page 55] Click for larger view View full resolution Figure 1. Piano Forte. Photographed by Tamar Lem (2013), courtesy of Tamar Borer. In 1990, Borer was involved in a car accident that left her paralyzed in both legs. This life-changing experience prompted a continued exploration of her body and sense of embodiment, alongside her physical training, creative expression, teaching, and professional performances. Her remarkable talent and dedication won her the Willie and Celia Trump Medal of Mercy and Equality Award (Ot Hachesed) in 2002, “for serving as a role-model for growth and empowerment in the face of disability.”4 Experiencing dance in a new way enabled—and forced—Borer to critically examine both her capabilities as well as her own limitations, and it prompted her to encounter dance and performance through her unique body and self. This process is shared by many professional artists, but as Western dance traditionally idealizes and privileges the able and “capable” body—the Apollonian robust and stable body5—the integration of a disabled body into contemporary Israeli dance resulted in radical redefinitions of physical expression and grace by disrupting and challenging the cultures that have evolved around dance. In understanding Borer’s work as a physically disabled dancer, I examine the implications of disability and embodiment, focusing on the artistic and aesthetic in Israeli society. Thus, I am interested in questions such as: What does it mean to address the political arena from the position of the disabled occupier? In what ways do the visual markers of “limited” mobility, such as walkers, wheelchairs, or canes, affect sociopolitical concepts such as [End Page 56] control, agency, and authority? And, in a broader sense, how can the physical, emotional, social, and existential perspectives of the non-Apollonian frame challenge Israeli perceptions of the Israeli–Palestinian conflict?6 My study examines the nexus of disability and performance, which introduces us to new perceptions of bodies, agency, and space, and invites us to rethink our personal, collective, and national stability. This rethinking of what constitutes stability challenges our conceptualization of the Zionist movement in general, and of the Israeli occupation in particular. Politicizing the Disabled Body From its inception, the Zionist movement has created a conceptual connection between...