Making an Entrance: Theory and Practice for Disabled and Non-Disabled Dancers

by Benjamin; Adam

• ISBN13: 9780415251440
• ISBN10: 0415251443
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2001-12-28
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

This clearly written, thought provoking manual includes over 50 exercises and improvisations designed to stimulate and challenge students-disabled and non-disabled-----at all levels of dance. Taking improvisation as his focus, Adam Benjamin asks what it has to offer as an art form and how it can be better used to meet the changing needs of dance education. He also explores the history of a dis-integrated dance practice, placing it within the wider context of cultural and political movements. He includes useful hints on the practicalities of setting up workshops covering issues as diverse as the safety aspects of wheelchairs and the accessibility of dance spaces.

Author Biography

Adam Benjamin is one of the leading practitioners of integrated dance. He is founder and former Artistic Director of CandoCo Dance Company and is now a dance artist working in South Africa, Ethiopia, Israel, Japan and throughout Europe

Table of Contents

List of figures	xiii
Foreword	xv
Preface	xvii
Acknowledgements	xxi
PART I Introduction	1	(76)
Introduction: life after Stages	3	(4)
Improvisation - access - training - touching on a definition	7	(5)
A little on language, disability, integration and inclusivity	12	(7)
Disability-specific groups and the Simpson Board	19	(4)
A serious dislocation	23	(20)
The god, the bad and the ugly: three approaches to dance in one mythical family	23	(1)
Apollo's mission: the elevation and inaccessibility of dance	24	(1)
Louis XIV: the king who stole space to make steps	25	(1)
Darwin, eugenics and state control	26	(2)
`Some of the people' v. `All of the people'; Hitler v. F. D. Roosevelt	28	(1)
Natura non facit saltum: leaps of the imagination - Cunningham and keller	29	(1)
Natura facit saltum: nature dances, and so do disabled people; contact improvisation and developments in America	30	(2)
A dance whose time had come: disabled people make an entrance	32	(4)
X marks the spot: X.24 to X6 - contemporary and new dance initiatives in the UK	36	(4)
The hobbling dance	40	(3)
`Just' moving: ethics, integration and the discipline of improvisation	43	(6)
The great mistake: response-ability and feedback	49	(3)
Tension seekers: a poet/hunter's guide to improvisation	52	(3)
Tension as a guide to feedback	55	(4)
Demons and dragons: some thoughts on becoming blocked in improvisation	59	(3)
Is it therapy?	62	(5)
Tears and fears	65	(2)
Special schools, special students and integrated practice	67	(4)
Learning with difficulty	68	(1)
When to say `no'	68	(3)
Lost narrative	71	(2)
Access v. excellence	73	(4)
Setting up	73	(1)
An integrated group does not handicap its non-disabled dancers	74	(1)
Selection criteria	75	(2)
PART II Exercises and Improvisations	77	(149)
Working against resistance: an introduction to the improvisations and exercises	79	(3)
An unruly location	82	(11)
Ground rules in the studio	82	(4)
The dance space	86	(1)
Wheelchairs: safety and etiquette	87	(2)
Hard metal, soft bodies: avoiding injury	89	(2)
Helping yourself: teachers' supports	91	(2)
Introductory work	93	(22)
Stretching a point	94	(3)
Flock: in search of a `common sense'	97	(4)
Breath, proximity and distance	100	(1)
Spirit level	101	(1)
Breathing Space	102	(2)
Seaweed exercise	104	(2)
Linear pathways exercise	106	(4)
Receiving: stopped in your tracks	110	(2)
Open hand	112	(3)
Listening through touch	115	(22)
Leading and following	115	(10)
Interloper: introducing the third person	125	(2)
Departures	127	(1)
Freewheeling	127	(3)
The art of stealing	130	(2)
Cascade	132	(3)
Aerial pathways	135	(2)
Making an entrance in time and space	137	(13)
Crossing the line: `inscaping' not escaping	139	(3)
Lessons in non-competition: hubris and nemesis	142	(1)
Crossing the line on time	142	(2)
Arch Enemies and rites of passage	143	(1)
Making an entrance: a development of crossing the line	144	(1)
Entrancelexit	145	(1)
Encounters	146	(1)
Vocal scores	147	(3)
Con-temp-lation: thinking about space, time and centre	150	(13)
A meditation in situ	150	(2)
What is the point of balance?	152	(1)
Pivot: an introduction to plateau	153	(1)
Plateau: A practical exploration	153	(1)
Balancing the picture	154	(2)
Ordering space	155	(1)
Playing for space	156	(1)
Resting is dancing	157	(2)
Free improvisation in the studio	159	(1)
Improvisations and the environment	159	(4)
Graceful ways, or seaching for clews	163	(9)
Traverse: travelling in a group	164	(3)
Narrative traverse	167	(1)
Narrative, musical, traverse	168	(1)
The far side	168	(2)
Amoeba, and the single-cell solo	170	(2)
Individual considerations	172	(5)
Soloing: an exercise in confronting dragons	172	(1)
Contradiction: Creating counter movements	173	(4)
Lightly balanced on the edge of centre	177	(13)
Reaching: a warm-up	178	(1)
Suspended weight: a development of reaching	179	(2)
Testing structures	181	(1)
Tilting sculptural forms	182	(1)
Dynamic stretch	183	(2)
Ropes and mountains	185	(1)
The gentle circle	186	(4)
Disabled students and lifting	188	(2)
Counter-balances and chair tilts: dicing with Newtonian physics	190	(9)
Back tilting from the front	192	(2)
Back tilting from behind	194	(2)
Partnered side tilt using a manual chair	196	(3)
Art and theatre	199	(8)
Freeze-frame	199	(2)
Line dance	201	(1)
Impressions	202	(3)
Placement replacement	205	(2)
Speed and timing	207	(7)
Gateway: without deviation or hesitation	208	(3)
Gauntlet	211	(3)
A little more time: exercises to develop an understanding of rhythm and the duration of a simple gesture or action	214	(4)
A simple exercise in timing	214	(2)
A not so simple exercise in timing	216	(1)
A not at all simple exercise in timing	216	(2)
Live music	218	(8)
Calling	219	(3)
Musicians and dancers	222	(1)
In opposition	222	(4)
Appendix 1 Directory	226	(11)
Appendix 2 Excerpts from an African diary	237	(5)
Appendix 3 Glossary	242	(4)
Bibliography	246	(3)
Index	249