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Overcoming and Denial: Disability and Modern Dance in the United States

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  29 December 2020

Bailey Anderson
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Abstract

Dancers and choreographers have always been navigating disability within an ableist representational form. This article questions the ableist histories of modern dance in the United States and seeks to redefine how disability is conceived of within the field of dance. The article explores five themes found within archival research, including overcoming narratives, symbiotic and inseparability of dance and disability, denial of disability, changing choreographic practices, and disability aesthetics. Examples of these themes are found in primary source documents about and by Martha Graham, Ted Shawn, and Doris Humphrey and contextualized throughout the article with dance and disability studies theorization.

Keywords

choreographydenialdisabilitydisability aestheticsMartha GrahamDoris Humphreyinjury—overcomingmodern dance—United StatesTed Shawn

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Type
Articles
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , December 2020 , pp. 58 - 75
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2020. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Dance Studies Association

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References

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