Abstract
My aim here is to use the notion of critical hope as a lens for exploring how a dramaturgy of Affect can create spaces for challenging the on-going marginalization resulting from the intersection of disability, race and access in the context of South Africa's much-lauded “inclusive” constitution. Given that the body, especially the black and disabled body, has been seen as a site marked by physical and structural violence, a focus on what the body can do, rather than how it is seen, has particular relevance for exploring the work of Unmute, the first integrated dance company in South Africa to incorporate differently abled dancers. This discussion will take into account the effects generated by the affective performance techniques employed, as well as the discomfort experienced by spectators when familiar perceptions are disrupted. It will be argued that these disruptions have a liberatory dimension in that they can trigger cognitive shifts which are productive for conceptualizing critical hope.
Highlights
My aim here is to use the notion of critical hope as a lens for exploring how a dramaturgy of Affect can create spaces for challenging the on-going marginalization resulting from the intersection of disability, race and access in the context of South Africa’s much-lauded “inclusive” constitution
My aim is to explore how a dramaturgy of affect can create spaces for critical hope which challenge the on-going marginalization resulting from the intersection of disability, race and access, despite South Africa’s much-lauded “inclusive” constitution
Inclusivity in relation to disability is a core concern, Unmute engages more broadly with current injustice in South Africa ranging from the Marikana massacre to xenophobia and gender violence (Ashed, 2015), to colonial injustice (Sold, 2016), which explores the histories of four Herero/Nama women whose unspeakable histories are recreated in this piece
Summary
My aim here is to use the notion of critical hope as a lens for exploring how a dramaturgy of Affect can create spaces for challenging the on-going marginalization resulting from the intersection of disability, race and access in the context of South Africa’s much-lauded “inclusive” constitution. My focus will be on two of Unmute’s arguably “darkest” works both performed in 2015, namely Trapped, which exposes three personal experiences of grappling with disability, and Ashed, where the opening stage image evokes the Marikana Massacre in 2012 when 34 miners were shot by police.
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