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Thematic Section: The diversity of theatrical dance in Portugal

Vol. 2 No. 2 (2024): Revista Estud(i)os de Dança 4

The difference that difference makes – the embodied discourses of Diana Niepce and Mickaella Dantas

DOI
https://doi.org/10.53072/RED202402/00208

Abstract

Dancers and professionals with disabilities are agents that presently ensure the diversity of dance in Portugal. The theoretical discourse on dance and disability has stressed the political power of bodies and works that address difference due to physical or intellectual disabilities, highlighting their role in dismantling cultural constructs that stigmatize individuals within society. However, in theatrical dance, the conventional body is built under ideals of perfection that reflect a hegemonic power in the arts, that comes from the privileged classes, and that has revealed to be exclusive and prejudiced. Using referential work in performance studies that focus on theatrical practices and dance in particular, this essay seeks an affective and analytical engagement with dancers Mickaella Dantas and Diana Niepce. On the one hand, I wish to show the quality of their performance and discourses, where disability is overcome without being neutralized nor spectacularized, thus seeking to understand their contribution to the language, processes, and themes of contemporary dance. On the other hand, I intend to frame their choreographic practices within the academic discourse on performance and disability.

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