Dance and disability: the dancer, the viewer and the presumption of difference

This paper aims to address two related themes. The first theme is the current provision for practical skill development for disabled dance students within Higher Education in the UK, and the extent to which inclusive pedagogical approaches challenge conceptions of the disabled body, both within and beyond dance. The second theme draws on the first as a basis for discussion and explores ways of seeing and interpreting the dance and in particular the different strategies and resources the viewer draws upon when viewing the disabled dance performer. These themes have emerged from a recently completed period of research, conducted with my own staff and students at Coventry University, which has focused predominantly on the experience of disabled dance students, the development of an inclusive curriculum framework and the different ways in which students learn dance techniques in class.