Micro-bodily mobilities: choreographing a geographies and mobilities of dance and disability
Micro-bodily mobilities: choreographing a geographies and mobilities of dance and disability
This paper examines the mobile and embodied geographies of four abled-bodied dancers following their artistic encounters with disability in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Uniquely, I work with the dancing body to examine the differentiated experiences of mobility, and to uncover the performative role of the able body in unravelling assumptions around the skills and artistry of disability dance. Empirical research developed in response to a choreographic dialogue held between the dance company BalletBoyz, and the disabled dancers of Ethiopia’s Adugna Potentials. Post-artistic exchange interviews and performance-based observations with the BalletBoyz are mobilised here to advance geographical knowledge about the embodied, performative and practiced dimensions of micro-bodily mobility. Equally, I assert the creative potential of the dancing body to probe the social construction of imperfect mobility by exceeding an ablest mobile experience, and inverting expectations around bodily disability.
Creativity, dance, disability, embodiment, geographies of mobility, mobile methods
Veal, Charlotte
e631b98d-0115-4909-803f-700339892a25
Veal, Charlotte
e631b98d-0115-4909-803f-700339892a25
Veal, Charlotte
(2017)
Micro-bodily mobilities: choreographing a geographies and mobilities of dance and disability.
Area.
(doi:10.1111/area.12377).
Abstract
This paper examines the mobile and embodied geographies of four abled-bodied dancers following their artistic encounters with disability in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Uniquely, I work with the dancing body to examine the differentiated experiences of mobility, and to uncover the performative role of the able body in unravelling assumptions around the skills and artistry of disability dance. Empirical research developed in response to a choreographic dialogue held between the dance company BalletBoyz, and the disabled dancers of Ethiopia’s Adugna Potentials. Post-artistic exchange interviews and performance-based observations with the BalletBoyz are mobilised here to advance geographical knowledge about the embodied, performative and practiced dimensions of micro-bodily mobility. Equally, I assert the creative potential of the dancing body to probe the social construction of imperfect mobility by exceeding an ablest mobile experience, and inverting expectations around bodily disability.
Text
Veal_2017
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More information
Accepted/In Press date: 25 June 2017
e-pub ahead of print date: 31 August 2017
Keywords:
Creativity, dance, disability, embodiment, geographies of mobility, mobile methods
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Local EPrints ID: 412736
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/412736
ISSN: 0004-0894
PURE UUID: 7a431fa8-6b81-45f1-9f5b-ffea25cb6e6e
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Date deposited: 28 Jul 2017 16:30
Last modified: 16 Mar 2024 05:34
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Author:
Charlotte Veal
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