Myths and realities

There are many myths around dance and disability, and also some hard truths. But there is also much that is a murky grey, shaded by different opinions, contexts and perspectives.

The Dance agent for change post wanted to dig deep and uncover some of these, and expose them to the light.

We asked 50 people - dancers (disabled and non disabled), policy makers, reps from companies and others who'd been in contact with the Dance agent for change post - for their opinions, and now we want to know what you've got to add to the debate.

If you any other 'myths' you think we should look add - you can add them below.

a piece of paper on a table saying: non disabled dancers have nothing to gain from interacting with disabled dancers

Myth one: 'Non-disabled dancers have nothing to gain by interacting with disabled dancers'

This was categorically rejected by our respondents with 92% of those responding feeling that this was totally untrue... want to know what they said?

a piece of paper on a table saying: disabled dancers should only teach other disabled people

Myth two: 'Disabled dancers should only teach other disabled people'

This was also categorically rejected by our respondents 92% again feeling that this was totally untrue...

A photo of a piece of paper on a table with audiences do not like seeing disabled dancers on stage, it makes them uncomfortable written on it

Myth four: 'Audiences do not like seeing disabled dancers on stage, it makes them uncomfortable'

Controversial one, this one. 42% of our respondents felt the statement has a grain of truth in it

A photo of a piece of paper on a table with disabled dancers are one trick ponies written on it

Myth five: 'Most disabled dancers are one trick ponies - they just repeat the same limited movement vocabulary'

This was felt to be completely untrue by the majority of people (67%), although that grain of truth came out for others.

A photo of a piece of paper on a table with all dance involving disabled dancers is bound to result in a drop in quality written on it

Myth six: 'all dance involving disabled dancers is bound to result in a drop in quality'

Not surprisingly, the statement was felt to be completely untrue by the majority of people we asked, but interestingly 16% of people felt that there was either a grain of truth in the statement or they could understand why people felt that.

A photo of a piece of paper on a table with Disability dance is about the participation not about the performance; its community dance  written on it

Myth seven: 'disability dance is about the participation not about the performance; its community dance'

There were different opinions in the responses here too - 78% felt it was a complete myth, and nearly a quarter of the respondents could understand why people felt that.

Comments

If you have any thoughts or ideas of what we are missing here, do let us know by adding a comment. You can never have too much of a good thing!

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