You Are Able to Dance As dance, of all styles, becomes prevalent, an increasing number of people choose to dance for their profession and career. They devotedly train and practice dancing in order to show audiences the best performances. Audiences, as a result, learn to appreciate dance performances as pieces of art works. They become more willing to see how dancers use their bodies to express a special feeling or to tell a distinctive story aesthetically and exquisitely. Nevertheless, they seem to forget about a group of people who have physical defects and cannot dance freely as they wish.
Amongst this group, some lost their limbs, whereas the others lost their sense of hearing and sight. Many of them, however, have one thing in common despite their different disabilities, that is, they love to dance as much as the able-bodied. Therefore, several dance companies have stood out to support these disabled dancers and offer them the opportunity for dancing on the stage. Amongst these companies, Candoco Dance Company, consisting of disabled and able-bodied dancers, has the most impact on erasing the stereotype that stigmatizes disabled dancers.
On the account of their assistance, the disabled eventually find their own stage. Disabled dancers in Candoco Dance Company, by continuously performing creative and outstanding dance pieces, prove to the audiences that they have the ability to dance as well as the ablebodied dancers. Celeste Dandeker-Arnold and Adam Benjamin founded Candoco Dance Company in 1921. Celeste was once an able-bodied dancer. However, an accident happened in Manchester Opera House lead to a sad fact that she has to spend the rest of her life on the wheel chair.
A miscalculated leap caused her to flop with her chin striking to the floor first. Her broken back called to a pause on her dance career until Adam came to her with the request for co-founding a dance company for disabled dancers (Church). Celeste gives herself as well as all disabled dancers a change to dance again. According to an interview with Candoco Dance Company, the company expresses that their aim is to “change people’s perception of disability, and highlight what people can do, not can’t” (Disability Horizon).
In other words, they want to give audiences an entire different perception of art and ability of dance. Candoco Dance Company is so successful that dancers from this company got a chance to perform at the Paralympics closing ceremony in 2012. At the Paralympics closing ceremony, the disabled dancers used their upper bodies to dance on wheel chairs while the others were crawling on the ground. This sharp contrast gave audiences a huge impression that disabled dancers can dance as good as or even better than others, which successfully fulfills the initial goal of Candoco Dance Company.
To further exploit and develop their ability, Candoco Dance Company teaches dancers how to use their supplemental tools, such as crutches and wheelchairs, to make up for their missing body parts. For instance, they use special-designed wheel chairs, which allow dancer to create and accomplish challenging movements, substitute for lower limbs. The uniqueness of disabled dancers result in giving choreographers special ideas to design a new form of dances that is best suitable for them.
Candoco has a large series of excellent dance pieces, “Notturnino” by Thomas Hauert, “Let’s Talk About Dis” by Hetain Patel, “Beheld” by Alexander Whitley, etc. Notturnino” that is inspired from the film Tosca’s Kiss is one of the most influential ones among all. It gathers both disabled dancers and able-bodied dancers as a whole. Thomas Hauert created the piece hoping to elicit own memories, sensibilities and concerns of each audience. Hauert explains that throughout the show, nearly all of the movements contain the interaction between all dancers, which gives audiences “a sense of utopia. ”
In my interpretation, the dance is eliminating the separation between those with and without a disability. Notturnino” reflects an everyday issue but forgotten by most people, that is, how aging deteriorates our body from healthy to disabled, says a disabled dancer. By expressing that idea, “Notturnino” reminds audiences of their fragility and conveys to them that they are or will finally be similar with these disabled dancers (Candoco). It deeply reveals what disability is indeed, and how dancers utilize their disabled bodies with the assistance of crutches or wheelchairs. One scene stands out to me in “Notturnino” is when every dancers start to dance with a crutch at a same time.
They push crutches into the floor in order to get the force to walk, to jump, to leap in the air. That addresses the beauty of the application of crutches. This scene emphasizes the excellence of dance that is performed by disabled people, because for able-bodied dancers, without the support of crutches, it is difficult for them to leap high and stay in the air for long time. Candoco Dance Company effectively changed the situation of disabled dancers from being left-outs to become popular and socially accepted.
Without Candoco Dance Company, people would only think of the able-bodied dancers who use their elegant and exquisite body language to express their dances when dance came to their mind, whereas disabled dancers were left behind. Candoco Company has always aimed to emphasize “what people can do, not can’t,” and they are successfully achieving it (Disability Horizon). Candoco Dance Company totally altered the “norm” of dance. They are creating a new standard, constructing a new stage that bridged disabled and able-bodied dancers altogether to dance differently.
