Caroline Bowditch - Academia.edu (original) (raw)
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Papers by Caroline Bowditch
Collaboration in Performance Practice, 2016
"The disability rights slogan acquires particular vehemence when applied to the performing a... more "The disability rights slogan acquires particular vehemence when applied to the performing arts, where questions such as “what is this piece about?” are never distant (for better or worse) from audiences’ minds. Moreover, the physical presence of the performer’s body determines much of this “about-ness”, and complicates the relations between signifier, signified and referent. With a long history of representations of disability (from Tiresias to Richard III and beyond), theatre and performance have always been fascinated by the problematics of “abnormal” bodies – even if these bodies were generally not allowed to perform themselves. While the disability arts movement has done much to redress this imbalance, disability performance is still perceived as a niche/ghetto practice. Collaborations between disabled and non-disabled artists are therefore political by virtue of their very existence. Quite apart from the issues of authorship and ownership that any collaboration might give rise to, these collaborations offer the opportunity for “alliances”, to borrow a term from Feminist Criticism. This round-table discussion with Caroline Bowditch (Scottish Dance Theatre) and David Bower (SignDance Collective International) addresses some of the problems and pleasures associated with such practices."
Scottish Journal of Performance, Dec 2013
This article analyses the growth of professional equality in the dance industry. It defines the g... more This article analyses the growth of professional equality in the dance industry. It defines the growth of professional equality as a social movement driven by a group of core and peripheral individuals and organisations bound together by a shared cause. Through defining professional equality as a social movement, the article analyses the challenges, strategies and contextual factors that enabled the emergence of Scotland as a ‘hotspot’ for disabled dancers. The data used in this article comes from an autoethnography of professional equality co-produced by the first author (as interrogator) and the second author (as autoethnographer). Using autoethnography allows us to address the development of professional equality ‘from within’ the movement and to highlight three key factors that drive the movement forward: The genesis of the professional equality movement within the dance industry (rather than outside it); informal networks, which secure information sharing and collective advocacy across the sector; and the institutional characteristics of the industry, in particular the lack of a national disability arts organisation.
Collaboration in Performance Practice, 2016
"The disability rights slogan acquires particular vehemence when applied to the performing a... more "The disability rights slogan acquires particular vehemence when applied to the performing arts, where questions such as “what is this piece about?” are never distant (for better or worse) from audiences’ minds. Moreover, the physical presence of the performer’s body determines much of this “about-ness”, and complicates the relations between signifier, signified and referent. With a long history of representations of disability (from Tiresias to Richard III and beyond), theatre and performance have always been fascinated by the problematics of “abnormal” bodies – even if these bodies were generally not allowed to perform themselves. While the disability arts movement has done much to redress this imbalance, disability performance is still perceived as a niche/ghetto practice. Collaborations between disabled and non-disabled artists are therefore political by virtue of their very existence. Quite apart from the issues of authorship and ownership that any collaboration might give rise to, these collaborations offer the opportunity for “alliances”, to borrow a term from Feminist Criticism. This round-table discussion with Caroline Bowditch (Scottish Dance Theatre) and David Bower (SignDance Collective International) addresses some of the problems and pleasures associated with such practices."
Scottish Journal of Performance, Dec 2013
This article analyses the growth of professional equality in the dance industry. It defines the g... more This article analyses the growth of professional equality in the dance industry. It defines the growth of professional equality as a social movement driven by a group of core and peripheral individuals and organisations bound together by a shared cause. Through defining professional equality as a social movement, the article analyses the challenges, strategies and contextual factors that enabled the emergence of Scotland as a ‘hotspot’ for disabled dancers. The data used in this article comes from an autoethnography of professional equality co-produced by the first author (as interrogator) and the second author (as autoethnographer). Using autoethnography allows us to address the development of professional equality ‘from within’ the movement and to highlight three key factors that drive the movement forward: The genesis of the professional equality movement within the dance industry (rather than outside it); informal networks, which secure information sharing and collective advocacy across the sector; and the institutional characteristics of the industry, in particular the lack of a national disability arts organisation.