ABSTRACT
Dance is an art form where the body is always on show, always on display. Dancers with different physicalities are therefore always performing their disability (Garland-Thomson 2009). For dancers with other kinds of impairments, whether sensory, cognitive, or a condition that is apparently invisible – such as chronic illness – disability can be something that each dancer will relate to differently. For some, identifying as a dancer with a disability can be important, whilst for others they prefer to eschew a disability identity. For those with invisible disabilities, the artist can find herself in a paradox whereby she wants to transmit something of her condition as it can determine how the choreography takes shape (whether or not ‘disability’ is subject matter) whilst not wanting to be viewed as anything other than a professional artist on her own terms and in her own right.
