Ruumiillinen erilaisuus: tanssi ammattina?

Over the past three decades Western theatrical dance has been experiencing time of growth, development and change in its ontology. As a part of this shift of paradigm, dancers with bodily differences have made an entrance and initiatives across various contexts in dance: on stage, education and research. Most commonly, inclusive and integrated discourse of dance and disability research has been focusing on access and participation in dance. Dance artists with disabilities, and their experiences on bodily difference has been under-researched. Hence, emphasis on bodily difference has been on social meaning, instead of dancer’s movement.

This article focuses on professional dancers with disability within the context of socialization. Thus, factors such as dance ontology and its normative expectations, education, employment and spectators’ gaze that may facilitate or hinder dancer with disability are discussed. In short, the change for disabled dancer has been gradual, and obstacles partly still remain. Thus, it is essential to ensure that this progression continues. One possibility could be in utilising knowledge and experience existing in disabled dance artists as well as acknowledging the art behind the hypervisibility of bodily difference. Therefore, dance as an art form would be valued in its all existence.