Pushing the Limits: Making Dance Accessible to Different Bodies through Assistive Technology

In this article, I draw critical attention to the assistive mobility devices that individuals who are differently bodied often use in dance and suggest that the dance genre presents the opportunity for reimagining the technological possibilities of these devices and creating more diverse repertoires. As an intervention and example, I describe the design, development, and implementation of an innovative wheelchair for dance with qualitative research data collected from six wheelchair users who experimented in the chair under a study approved by an institutional review board. Further, based on practitioner experience in the field, I discuss embodiment techniques for assistive devices as a focused part of dance training, specifically important for dancers with disabilities who use devices as bodily movement extensions. In sum, this article highlights the need for more research and attention in the dance genre directed at the artistic, technological, and human interface factors of assistive devices for dance experience

Re-Thinking Ballet Pedagogy: Approaching a Historiography of Fifth Position

This article addresses the use of the fifth position in historical and current dance training practices with particular emphasis upon examining the 180° aesthetic and its hegemonic, idealized persistence in dancing bodies, as a marker of perfection and “beauty”. Historical research is interwoven with practice-based experience and dance medicine research to reveal the conflicted issues within the pedagogy, its rationale, ideology and continued practice in dance classrooms. The author argues for a more thorough the examination of how traditional dance practices and their dominant aesthetics exert power and control in the psyches of today’s dancing bodies, urging pedagogical re-evaluation and evolution

Comparison of the Metabolic Demands of Dance Performance Using Three Mobility Devices for a Dancer with Spinal Cord Injury and an Able-Bodied Dancer

Mobility devices for dancers with physical mobility impairments have previously been limited to traditional manual or power wheelchairs. The hands-free torso-controlled mobility chair is a unique powered mobility device which allows greater freedom and expression of movement of the trunk and upper extremities. This study compared differences in energy expenditure during a standardized dance activity using three mobility devices: the hands-free torso-controlled mobility chair, a manual sports wheelchair with hand-arm control, and an electric power chair with hand-joystick control. An experienced dancer with C7 incomplete spinal cord injury (SCI) and an experienced able-bodied dancer were recruited for testing. Three measurement trials were obtained for each chair per subject. Oxygen uptake (VO2) and heart rate (HR) were measured continuously during the dance activity. Immediately following the dance activity, subjects rated perceived exertion. Significant differences (p\u3c0.05) and similar linear patterns in VO2 and HR responses were observed between chairs for both dancers. When the hands-free mobility chair was used, the dance activity required a moderate level of energy expenditure compared to the manual sports chair or electric power chair for both dancers. Higher ratings of perceived exertion were observed in the manual chair compared to the other chairs for the dancer with SCI, but were similar between chairs for the able-bodied dancer. These results suggest that for a dancer with high-level SCI, the hands-free torso-controlled mobility chair may offer improved freedom and expressive movement possibilities and is an energy-efficient mobility device