Dance, disability and aesthetics: A changing discourse

This chapter argues for an expanded aesthetics in theatre and dance that includes people who do not conform to the standard bodies and techniques of crafted performance work, but does not dispense with rigor. An overview of the contemporary context is offered via specific examples of well known theatre and dance works by people with disabilities. Alongside these the authors practice based research is offered as further example towards the argument. The argument focuses on marginalization of people with learning disabilities within a market economy and proposes that people with disabilities have valuable contributions to make that lie outside this context of the body as marketable. The author argues that we might expand our understandings of political potential within the aesthetic and our aesthetic sensibilities towards work by people with disabilities and in particular learning disabilities.