May 1, 2008

Advancements in Prosthetic Devices Are Transforming Our Perception of Dance and the Human Form

How do we perceive people with physical and mental disabilities? How does dance portray those with non-"normal" bodies? How are recent advancements in assistive devices and prosthetics changing how we think about the possibilities of the human form?

Below you'll find a video introduction to mixed-ability dance performances and competitions. Then, I focus on South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius who was barred from competing in this summer's Olympics because of the "unfair advantage" his two artificial legs would give him. And I close with highlights of a versatile prosthetic arm that has been commissioned by the US Defense Department.

As we enter a post-human era where different types of physical and mental enhancements become commonplace, it will be fascinating to see how mixed-ability and other dance companies explore these challenging and complicated issues.

Mixed-Ability Dance Companies

In "The Art of Movement video," you can watch an excellent mini-documentary about the physically integrated, Oakland, California-based AXIS Dance Company. And you can visit the AXIS channel on YouTube to watch a few of their performance videos including this excerpt from "Decorum":

Last Saturday night, I saw a performance of Heidi Latsky Dance at the Abrons Art Center on the Lower East Side. Heidi has recently been working with dancers with mixed abilities. At times I felt the dancers were sharing their anxiety about their bodies and at other times I felt that they were savoring the sexuality of their unique body types. I've always enjoyed seeing Heidi and her dancers' work since I saw her company perform at Dance Theater Workshop last year.

Here's a highlight video of "From the Limb." The duet with Jeffery Freeze and Lawrence Carter-Long that you'll see on the clip was performed on Saturday along with new pieces Heidi created with other dancers during her residency at Abrons. (The beginning of this video features double-leg amputee Lisa Bufano who is also briefly in the AXIS Dance video above, "The Art of Movement." Bufano did not perform Saturday night):

Breakdancing Competition

Below is a video that features two disabled dancers LazyLegs and Hourth competing in a breakdancing competition. Wheelchair Dancer writes that this competition appears to

be designed for the non-disabled world. In such a world, the measure of a dancer seems to be the degree to which s/he can approximate the physicality and "Normal" movement of non-disabled breakdance.

This approach misses what, to me, are some of the other more important criteria: artistic merit, individual expression, the creation of a vocabulary of movement that maximizes an individual dancer's body.

Sprinter Oscar Pistorius Barred From Olympics

South African sprinter Oscar Pistorius, a double amputee who has two artificial legs created by high-tech orthopedic device-maker Ossur, has been denied an opportunity to participate in this summer's Olympics due to his having an "unfair advantage" over other athletes. Here's a video clip about this story from ABC News:

(Here's a video, in Italian, of Pistorius competing in a 400 meter race.)

A recent ESPN article "Let'em Play" highlights the confusion over whether or not prosthetic devices should be allowed in competitive sports and explores weather athletes with such augmentations have an unfair advantage over able-bodied competitors. Also read related ESPN article, "The Disadvantage Advantage: Is being "disadvantaged" now better for you as an athlete?"

A Versatile Prosthetic Arm

In this Ted Talk, Dean Kamen: New prosthetic arm for veterans, you can learn about the development of a prosthetic arm commissioned by the US Defense Department. The last minute of the video shows a demonstration of this arm:

And here's additional video footage of this prosthetic arm in action.

I would like to hear from dancers exploring the above topics and be pointed to online videos that addresses these issues.

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