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

Description

Making an Entrance is the first ever practical introduction to teaching dance with disabled and non disabled students. This clearly written, thought provoking and hugely enjoyable manual is essential reading whether you're just starting out or are already active in the field. Taking improvisation as his focus and as the starting point of choreographic exploration, 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. In the theoretical section Benjamin explores the history of a disintegrated dance practice, placing it within the wider context of cultural and political movements. He questions what is meant today when we talk about 'inclusive' or 'integrated dance' and what we might expect of it. The book includes over 50 exercises and improvisations designed to stimulate and challenge students at all levels of dance. Benjamin also includes useful hints on the practicalities of setting up workshops covering issues as diverse a class size, the safety aspects of wheelchairs and the accessibility of dance spaces. Cover Title Page Copyright Page Dedication Table of Contents List of figures Foreword Preface Acknowledgements Part I Introduction 1 Introduction: life after Stages 2 Improvisation – access – training – touching on a definition 3 A little on language, disability, integration and inclusivity 4 Disability-specific groups and the Simpson Board 5 A serious dislocation The god, the bad and the ugly: three approaches to dance in one mythical family Apollo's mission: the elevation and inaccessibility of dance Louis XIV: the king who stole space to make steps Darwin, eugenics and state control 'Some of the people' v. 'All of the people'; Hitler v. F. D. Roosevelt Natura non facit saltum: leaps of the imagination – Cunningham and Keller Natura facit saltum: nature dances, and so do disabled people; contact improvisation and developments in America A dance whose time had come: disabled people make an entrance X marks the spot: X.24 to X6 - contemporary and new dance initiatives in the UK The hobbling dance 6 'Just' moving: ethics, integration and the discipline of improvisation 7 The great mistake: response-ability and feedback 8 Tension seekers: a poet/hunter's guide to improvisation 9 Tension as a guide to feedback 10 Demons and dragons: some thoughts on becoming blocked in improvisation 11 Is it therapy? Tears and fears 12 Special schools, special students and integrated practice Learning with difficulty When to say 'no' 13 Lost narrative 14 Access v. excellence Setting up An integrated group does not handicap its non-disabled dancers Selection criteria Part II Exercises and Improvisations 15 Working against resistance: an introduction to the improvisations and exercises 16 An unruly location Ground rules in the studio The dance space Wheelchairs: safety and etiquette Hard metal, soft bodies: avoding injury Helping yourself: teachers' supports 17 Introductory work 1 Stretching a point 2 Flock: in search of a 'common sense' Breath, proximity and distance 3 Spirit level 4 Breathing Space 5 Seaweed exercise 6 Linear pathways exercise 7 Receiving: stopped in your tracks 8 Open hand 18 Listening through touch 9 Leading and following 10 Interloper: introducing the third person 11 Departures 12 Freewheeling 13 The art of stealing 14 Cascade 15 Aerial pathways 19 Making an entrance in time and space 16 Crossing the line: 'inscaping' not escaping Lessons in non-competition: hubris and nemesis 17 Crossing the line on time Arch Enemies and rites of passage 18 Making an entrance: a development of crossing the line 19 Entrance/exit 20 Encounters 21 Vocal scores 20 Con-temp-lation: thinking about space, time and centre A meditation in situ What is the point of balance? 22 Pivot: an introduction to plateau 23 Plateau: A practical exploration 24 Balancing the picture Ordering space 25 Playing for space 26 Resting is dancing 27 Free improvisation in the studio 28 Improvisations and the environment 21 Graceful ways, or seaching for clews 29 Traverse: travelling in a group 30 Narrative traverse 31 Narrative, musical, traverse 32 The far side 33 Amoeba, and the single-cell solo 22 Individual considerations 34 Soloing: an exercise in confronting dragons 35 Contradiction: Creating counter movements 23 Lightly balanced on the edge of centre 36 Reaching: a warm-up 37 Suspended weight: a development of reaching 38 Testing structures 39 Tilting sculptural forms 40 Dynamic stretch 41 Ropes and mountains 42 The gentle circle Disabled students and lifting 24 Counter-balances and chair tilts: dicing with Newtonian physics 43 Back tilting from the front 44 Back tilting from behind 45 Partnered side tilt using a manual chair 25 Art and theatre 46 Freeze frame 47 Line dance 48 Impressions 49 Placement replacement 26 Speed and timing 50 Gateway: without deviation or hesitation 51 Gauntlet 27 A little more time: exercises to develop an understanding of rhythm and the duration of a simple gesture or action 52 A simple exercise in timing 53 A not so simple exercise in timing 54 A not at all simple exercise in timing 28 Live music 55 Calling Musicians and dancers 56 In opposition Appendix 1 Directory Appendix 2 Excerpts from an African diary Appendix 3 Glossary Bibliography Index