‘Integrated dance’ is not a genre. Perhaps,
Article Cover Photograph is of Choreographer
at best it denotes, like any innovative
Marc Brew at the Catalyst Dance Residency, 2016 at
approach to dance, a movement within
Critical Path. Photographer: Gisella Vollmer
Contemporary dance. It is not necessarily about disability, nor is it forcibly practised
1
by those who identify with disability, but it
Arts, see ‘About’. Online: http://aarts.net.au/
is always – visibly or invisibly – inflected by
catalystdance/
Catalyst Dance is an initiative of Accessible
lived experiences of disability. In observing participants create work, I feel a struggle,
2
like choreographer and scholar Margaret
program notes. See also online: http://www.
Ames, ‘to find adequate words to describe
marcbrew.com/marc-brew-company/biography/
Excerpt from Catalyst 2016 private showing
the cultural knowledge they express’.5 3
Catalyst nourishes and celebrates this
Excerpt from Catalyst 2016 private showing
program notes.
movement in contemporary dance practice. However, this year represents
4
Ibid.
opportunities are paramount to sustain
5
Ames, Margaret. ‘Dancing Place/Disability’.
artistic practice and ensure the availability
Theatre Research International 40 (2015): 170-185.
the final iteration of the program. Similar
of professional pathways for future inclusive dance praxis. Thanks to Catalyst, the pathways of Australian dance artists working inclusively crisscrossed twice over the past two years. The group’s experience working together was evident in their ease, efficient pace and synergistic presence. Indeed, the two-year process catalysed, as one artist in residence described it, ‘an atmosphere of journeys’. Now, bodies, minds and imaginations cultivated, they are raring to journey on.
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