Performing Disability - Staging the Actual

The actual disabled body in dance and theater closes §representational structures; it is always the most§present presence. §With this as her premise, Telory Davies uses physical§and cognitive §impairment to unsettle naturalized assumptions about§ability. §Changing notions of the body are central to her work §and §contemporary critical theory in general; disability§is her point of §entry into this larger conversation. She proposes actualism as §contemporary disability performance s strongest §means of §transforming U.S. dance and theater. This new§practice makes the §accommodation of difference more tangible and §encourages §audience members to look with alternative viewing§strategies; in §effect, to look differently at difference. Through§interviews and §performance analysis, Davies explores the artists §goals and the §performers experiences in order to demonstrate how§disability §performance challenges non-disabled space,§interpersonal relations, §and definitions of ability. Disability scholars and§activists, §Performance Studies instructors, and anyone§interested in identity §politics will benefit from this book s combination of§theory, history, §and thick description.