Meaning in Motion: The Embodied Poetics and Politics of Dancing Wheels

Abstract

This essay examines poetic sense-making and illustrates the significance of numerous story forms, including dance, for organizations that do the work of social movements. We demonstrate how meaning emerges through motion, even as it is expressed and negotiated in language in two vital ways. First, we engage the early work of Kenneth Burke to explore the poetic nature of storied forms and connect it with contemporary studies of dance that emphasize the agency of bodies. Second, we illustrate the efficacy of this position by bringing into focus the efforts of The Dancing Wheels Company & School, a modern dance company integrating professional stand-up and sit-down (wheelchair) dancers in performances that seek to transform public understandings of disability. We construct an account of how the studio and its members rely on movement and other signifying practices to engage, orient, and motivate contemplators, remember history, and enlarge possibilities for individuals marked as disabled.