Social Lives
Authors: Ann Leahy, Post-doctoral Researcher, and Delia Ferri, Professor of Law, ERC Project DANCING, Assisting Living and Learning (ALL) Institute, School of Law and Criminology, Maynooth University
The Project “Protecting the Right to Culture of Persons with Disabilities and Enhancing Cultural Diversity through European Union Law: Exploring New Paths (DANCING)”, based at the ALL Institute, reached an important milestone at the end of February 2023. The initial work on an inclusive and accessible piece of contemporary dance created by Lucy Bennett and Stopgap Dance Company for DANCING was performed in Dublin in front of an invited audience. The work will be fully ready next year, and we are already looking forward to the world premiere in Dublin in early 2024.
On 24th February 2023, Stopgap shared their work-in-progress in a pre-staging fashion, and without costumes or lighting at DanceHouse in a dedicated event organised in collaboration with Dance Ireland. ‘Lived Fiction’ – the title of the work being created by Lucy Bennett and collaborators from Stopgap – is an original piece of choreography that is performed by a group of disabled and non-disabled dancers and endeavours to be accessible to all. Stopgap’s devising process is based on key inclusive methods that the company has collectively developed and is a living example of how society should and could be, valuing the richness that comes from diversity. Experimenting and working on accessibility for both dancers and audience allows for a deep understanding of what accessibility really means. However, this choreographic work is also meant to be a “tool for change” by raising awareness on inclusive cultural participation.
It was soon clear that this was a performance with many differences from the mainstream when eight dancers started by introducing and describing themselves while moving into the space. Their descriptions were often lucid and beautiful in themselves. For example, one dancer, Nadenh, introduced himself, saying that he chose to strap himself into his wheelchair, ‘so we can dance together always’.
In this work-in-progress sharing, the performers moved through a series of scenes involving ensemble pieces, solos, duets and trios, some of which were fast and full of energy, with others being slow and gentle. Dancers explored movements and engaged with their diverse bodies, experimenting with balances, counterbalances, falls and touch. Through lifts and rolling across the floor, sometimes leaning away from each other, sometimes in what seemed effortless lifts onto shoulders, hips and backs, the dancers brought an emotional truth to the movement. The choreographic piece allowed for exploring different capabilities and possibilities of diverse human bodies, whereby all dancers were diverse yet equal in their interactions.
The performance included not only audio description as an intrinsic part of the process, but also a range of other access measures that were central to the choreography. These included one performer (Kane John) who acted as an “Access Guide” and interacted with the audience and the dancers. For example, Kane warned when the music accompanying a piece was going to get loud, and assured the audience that it would be all right to leave the room or to make noise. As he said, ‘… the performers will not be distracted. In fact, they love the liveness of that’. A sign language interpreter also translated the audio-description into Irish Sign Language in a comprehensive artistic effort.
Sharing of the work-in-progress also allowed Stopgap and the DANCING team members to seek feedback from the audience about the piece, about the extent to which it represented disability and its accessibility. Such feedback was collected by means of a written survey which we are now analysing and will report upon in our next publications.
Sharing such an important work-in-progress makes us keen to see how the choreography develops and “comes to life” when lighting and costumes are added and when captions are projected onto a screen. Opportunities for audience members will also be included to allow them to engage in a tactile experience of the performance by touching the dancers and the costumes. We cannot wait!
The DANCING project has received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) under the European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation programme (grant agreement No. 864182).
