Disability and Contemporary Performance

Epilog

Toward the unknown body

Stillness, silence, and space in mental health settings

Since 1970, my practice and resources as a dancer and choreographer have shifted from physical to perceptual challenges.

(Deborah Hay, 1988: 22)

As a disabled performance artist who has spent many years exploring physical and dance theater, I have attempted to find new and collaborative ways of creating performances with disabled people, including people who are living with pain, people living with cancer, and older people. In this work, the need to evade, play with, or subvert the meanings of bodies – whether gendered, disabled, racial, or class-based – has been paramount. Initially, my practice focused on creating stage performances inspired by Brecht, ...