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Dancing with a Disability

Aubrey Dearwester

Created on November 14, 2023

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PRESENTING

Dancing With a Disability

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Eating Disorder

Anxiety

Deaf/Hearing Imparied

Blind/Vision Impaired

Wheelchair Users

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Dancing with an Eating Disorder

Stats: From a systemic review and analysis, it was concluded that nearly one-fifth of ballet dance students have an eating disorder, predominantly EDNOS (known as anorexia or bulimia) Coping Strategies: Journaling, tracking to find out what one's triggers are, therapy, and growing one's support system. One could also try to eat food that makes their body feel good (as opposed to binging junk food), as well as being patient with themselves. Early Signs: Perfectionism, Self-criticism, feeling guilty about eating and body image pressures. Misty Copeland's Experience: Misty Copeland was American Ballet Theater's first Black Prima Ballerina and struggled with binge eating. She was told several times throughout her career that she did not have the right body shape and needed to lose weight to have the right lines for Ballet. Misty eventually found that finding foods that made her body feel good and eating as much as she needed to nurture her body was more important than peoples' opinion of what a Ballerina should be. Misty stated in an interview that, "My curves are an integral part of who I am as a dancer, not something I needed to lose to become one." Eating Disorders need to be talked about and addressed in the dance community, to prevent body image issues in future dancers.

Stats: A study was done on 104 classical dancers to examine anxiety and coping strategies in dancers. The study found that 96% of the dancers could be classified as high or low trait-anxious. This usually occurs due to performance stress. Coping Strategies: Concentrated breathing, counting to ten, limiting caffeine, and getting adequate sleep. As well as talking to a therapist and/or taking medication. - EDF Tapping: Tapping acupuncture points such as hands, face, shoulders, etc. while thinking of a problem one has, in order to calm down and/or come to a resolution. Signs: Faster breathing, sweating/hot flashes, panic attacks, feeling restless, and feeling lightheaded/dizzy when stressed. Abi Stafford's Experience: Abi Stafford was a professional dancer who had anxiety. She wrote a paper on her feelings on dance and why the lack of resources for mental health ultimately made her stop dancing. Abi talks about the immense pressure put on dancers to prepare a vast repertory, while still taking time to hone their craft. Abi states that from a young age, dancers are encouraged to have competitive behavior, which leads to lots of comparison of one's classmates and a feeling of isolation and fear of judgment. She has since learned how to cope with her anxiety and has returned to her love of dance.

Dancing with Anxiety

" There needs to be more mental health support within the dance companies. Psychological services should be made available to all dancers and artistic staff-including ballet masters" - Abi Stafford

Dance as a person who is Deaf/Hearing Impaired

Misconception: The deaf community dances by feeling the vibrations through the floor. This cannot be the only way the deaf community dances in productions, because for starters while a person is dancing there is so much movement they are not always in contact with the floor. Another reason this is false is that if the floor is concrete or another material, vibrations do not pass through as easily. Techniques: One of the first techniques used is to count every step in sign when a dancer is learning a piece for the first time. A second step is to use a drum or another object to represent what the beat of the movements should visually be. A dancer can also watch a peer who hears the music and follow along until they get a good enough sense for the rhythm. To truly have a dance down it takes lots of practice, but it takes lots of practice for all types of dancers. Some hearing impaired dancers can hear the deeper sounds of the music a little and use it to listen for cues here and there. Alexandria Wailes's Experience: Alexandria Wailes is a deaf dancer who performed in a groundbreaking performance of For Colored Girls as the Lady is Purple. She incorporated ASL into her dance movements to enhance the story. The director stated, "She didn't just translate the words, she translated the experience and emotion." Alexandria tells the readers how dance can break down barriers between languages. She explains how signing is naturally rhythmic, the challenge is deciding how long to honor each sign in the dance so that it fits within the piece correctly.

Dance as a person who is Blind/Vison Impaired

Misconception: Blind people will be unable to move around the stage with ease. There are tools blind people can use to enter, exit, and move around the stage as any other performer would. One is simply practicing a dance in the space it will be performed to get a sense of how far one should travel and where one should be cautious of the edge. Techniques: Body awareness exercises along with traditional dance training can increase a blind person's balance and functional reaches. Integrating verbal and tactical modes of instruction is another strategy that has had good results. For example somatic approaches, physical guidance, and one-to-one partner teaching. Jamie Meyer's Experience: Jamie Meyer was diagnosed at thirteen with a rare progressive retinal disease that impairs central vision while leaving peripheral vision intact. She doesn't want any pity or special treatment for her condition. She explains that classmates guide her off and on the stage, but other than that she feels like any other student. Having learned the basics before she lost her vision was also helpful when relearning how to dance with a vision impairment. She has now received several dance scholarships.

Wheelchair Users in the world of Dance

Misconception: All wheelchair users cannot move their legs at all. This is not a true statement, some people can, but only for a time/energy limitation. There is also the misconception that wheelchair users cannot dance however, there are many wheelchair dancers these days, even a group called the Rollettes (see the next page for a video). Techniques: Wheelchair users can move around the stage in their chair and do all of the upper body movements if possible. They can also lift their chair's wheels by leaning back or they can lift one side by the help of another dancer to create new and interesting movements. There is even guides for how to do different types of dances for wheelchair users, from ballroom to folk dance. Kate Stanforth's Experience: Kate was diagnosed with MS (Myalgic Encephalomyelitis) at a young age and has loved dancing all her life. She teaches dance now and often gets told she is faking it or that she is using her wheelchair for pity to get ahead. This is not true in the slightest and it has been hard for Kate to have the confidence to dance and speak out without worrying about comments such as those. Kate can move her legs a little as seen in the picture to the right, but she cannot do so for long and gets very fatigued after she dances. However, she is a more than capable dancer/choreographer and is going to continue her love for dance no matter what the haters say.

Dance Patterns

Rollettes

Wheelchair Dance Patterns

Tango

Square Dance

Waltz, Box Step

Rollettes

Sources

Arcelus, Jon. “Prevalence of Eating Disorders amongst Dancers ... - Wiley Online Library.” Wiley Online Library, 26 Nov. 2013, onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/erv.2271. Barrell, Gene Margaret, and Peter Charles Terry. “Trait Anxiety and Coping Strategies among Ballet Dancers.” Latest TOC RSS, Science & Medicine, Inc., 1 June 2003, www.ingentaconnect.com/content/scimed/mppa/2003/00000018/00000002/art00004. Energetiks. “Misty Copeland on Body Issues and Binge Eating.” A Dancer’s Life, A Dancer’s Life, 4 Oct. 2021, www.energetiksblog.com.au/blog/2014/3/27/misty-copeland-on-body-issues-and-binge-eating. Fishman, Margie. “Blind Ballerina Doesn’t Want Pity; She Wants to Inspire.” The News Journal, Wilmington, 14 Dec. 2014, www.delawareonline.com/story/life/2014/12/12/blind-ballerina-want-pity-wants-inspire/20305429/. Gallaudet Dance Company. “Dance Techniques Taught to Deaf Performers - Gallaudet Dance Company.” Gallaudet University, 10 Nov. 2022, gallaudet.edu/art-and-media-design/gallaudet-dance-company/dance-techniques-taught-to-deaf-performers/. Hill, Kathleen. “Dance for Physically Disabled Persons: A Manual for Teaching Ballroom, Square, and Folk Dances to Users of Wheelchairs and Crutches.” ERIC, Physical Education and Recreation for the Handicapped, Information and Research Utilization Center (IRUC), 1201 Sixteenth Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20036 ($7.95), 31 May 1976, eric.ed.gov/?id=ED146720. Kourlas, Gia. “My ‘Face Is My Voice’: A Deaf Dancer Lands Her Dream Role.” The New York Times, The New York Times, 19 Nov. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/11/19/arts/dance/alexandria-wailes-deaf-dancer-for-colored-girls.html. Larsson, Lena, and Kerstin Frandin. Body Awareness and Dance-Based Training for Persons with Acquired ..., 13 July 2009, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13882350600964667. Miller, Lucy. “Inclusive Dance Sessions Launched for Blind and Partially Sighted People.” Association of Optometrists (AOP) - Homepage, 12 July 2021, www.aop.org.uk/ot/industry/charity/2021/07/12/inclusive-dance-sessions-launched-for-blind-and-partially-sighted-people. Rollettes. “Wheelchair Dance Team: Los Angeles, CA, United States.” Rollettes, 2012, www.rollettesdance.com/. Sehman, Jenny. Extending Our Vision: Access to Inclusive Dance Education for People ..., 14 Sept. 2015, www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15290824.2015.1059940. Stafford, Abi. “I’m a Professional Dancer with Generalized Anxiety Disorder. Here’s Why Dance Companies Need to Start Prioritizing Mental Health.” Dance Magazine, 9 Dec. 2021, www.dancemagazine.com/abi-stafford-anxiety/.