| DESCRIPTION: |
The Dance and Disability Project is a joint venture of the British Council and the National Institute of Music and Dance, organized in the spaces of the Rozbark Theater in Bytom and the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. The aim of the project is to change the field of performing arts to make it more accessible and open to the initiatives of artists with alternative motor skills. As part of the program, people interested in the broadly understood performance could take part in workshops with experienced dancers, as well as exchange perspectives and get to know each other. Creative cooperation of participants with and without disabilities allows for discovering in practice how nuanced the concept of alternative motor skills is and how fluid is the boundaries of bodily normativity. Although the project is implemented in part by institutions, it is based on the principles of partnership and independence of the people participating in the program. Therefore, the workshops took the form of laboratories based on experimental methods and, more or less targeted searches, so that the participants could see their potential and follow their own curiosity. Laboratory leaders are to provide inspiration and tools that will be useful in further artistic work. This approach results from the very idea of open art - constantly shaped by the living experience of people existing between categories and generally accepted norms. Five duos, selected in an open call, were invited to participate in the laboratories, which were to work on their own material under the supervision of dancers: Iwona Olszowska and Kate Marsh. Thus, the Dance and Disability initiative created an opportunity for establishing contacts and cooperation between artists and artists who in the future may significantly affect the situation of people with alternative motor skills in the art of performance. Some of the participants are already developing their artistic careers and social activities.
|
| METHODS OF IMPLEMENTATION: |
During the workshops, there was an atmosphere of deep concentration - each participant persistently pursued his own practice, oscillating between an individual process and a connection with a partner and the rest of the group. The pair work model has revealed some particularly interesting aspects of creative presence, such as dialogue, relationship, mutual inspiration and mutual limitations. That is why workshop talks and exercises often took up the topic of communication and creative cooperation. Through movement tasks in pairs, the exchange of ideas and suggestions for a joint composition, as well as group feedback after each session, the participants considered and tested various ways of negotiating, examining the mechanisms of dependence and the potential that is triggered by the meeting of two different sensitivities. One of the postulates of open art is participation instead of competition. At times, one could get the impression that the participants put more energy and effort into cooperation than into physical activity itself, which was also present during many hours of practice. Working in duos also drew on the collective dynamics of the group. Joint warm-ups, group exercises and the ongoing exchange of experiences created a supportive atmosphere, which was a kind of vessel for what happened in pairs and in each person. Kate Marsh, who chaired the second convention in October, made every effort to ensure that all participants felt the interaction and benefited from the natural strength of the collective as much as possible. In her classes, she used practices related to contact improvisation, mainly oriented towards attentive coexistence and conscious movement together in space. The dancers had enough time and freedom to get used to the various dimensions of encounters: from meeting their own body and need for expression, through random and intentional encounters with individuals, to meeting everyone with everyone in a shared dance experience. Adaptation is not only a passive adaptation to the situation but an active process of searching for solutions. It is also not inferior or insufficient to the standard answer. Intelligent adaptation means taking up the challenge of being here and now despite various difficulties that at first glance seem to constitute a defect. The point is to practically redefine the very concept of lack and see it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Participants tested this approach on their own bodies, finding that there is no correct movement pattern. So they sought an agreement with their "kinesthetic self" while at the same time tuning in to external conditions. The activities during the laboratories were aimed at constantly shifting meanings: the wheelchair became a mobile construction and a dance partner, the non-normative body gained its specific drama, and the performative sign language blurred the line between speech and bodily presence. Most of the time, the duets worked on their own material, and professional dancers acted as mentors in creative activities. The laboratories were to enable the participants to gain greater awareness of their own artistic vision and find the means of expression appropriate for them. It was primarily an intensive conceptual work: searching for structures for movement and analyzing the content and intentions contained in the dance. It turned out that in performance, choice and precision are as important as creativity or expression. Participants learned to balance these elements in their practice. In addition, everyone had to research their resources and answer the question: "How much am I able to do?" The motto of the project - "crossing borders" - can be interpreted as ambition, but also as a mature concern for one's own spiritual and vital strength. In the end, the pairs presented the results of their work. The topics discussed concerned various spheres of existence, from the most intimate ones to social and political matters. Anyway, in the case of a project focused on the development of open art, private and public dimensions are strongly intertwined. Each of the participants danced their own story, but on stage, these stories could become a reference point, stimulus for reflection, and shared experience. The performers saturate their movement with an intense presence that engages the viewer in non-verbal communication. Thanks to the capacious metaphor of dance, a space for meeting above the barriers has opened up.
|
| LESSONS LEARNED – OTHER DETAILS: |
Independent work at the laboratories showed the participants how they can use their own language of movement and thus communicate with a wider group of recipients. In the context of disability, open performance art serves to regain connections lost as a result of stigmatization and social neglect. What was previously inaccessible and marginalized is made present through the dancing body. However, it is not an easy path. Artists with alternative motor skills realize that there is still a lot of work to be done. Active reflection on the social status quo was an integral part of the laboratories - participants showed a lot of determination about their own needs and expectations. Some pointed out that more similar workshops and training sessions for people with disabilities from different backgrounds could be useful. The importance of allied attitudes, i.e. support from people involved in culture, was also emphasized. Polish culture is still maturing to a paradigm shift, which is why projects such as Dance and Disability are of significant importance for the development of social awareness, and above all, they are part of the trend of activism, which gradually breaks down system barriers. In this respect, performing arts have unique opportunities as their primary medium is the body that speaks for itself, naturally and directly. The subject of disability may be clearly visible in them, but not dominant unless the artist decides otherwise. The situation of people with alternative motor skills is ambivalent, because on the one hand, they have to actively claim their rights, and on the other hand they strive to normalize and accept psychophysical differences between people. Maintaining the balance between these two poles in artistic work was one of the tasks of the project. The Dance and Disability project provides some ideas as to how we could build a non-exclusive art environment. In practice, this means a considerable organizational effort, as public institutions are still not fully accessible and open to activities outside the area of normativity. Many of the current solutions are, to a greater or lesser extent, half-measures and improvisation. As the basic expression of inner agitation, dance has always been and will be the source of all vitality, change and hope.
|
