1.2: Virtuosity
Section aim

The objective for section two is to re-think virtuosity. As Ramsay Burt said in his book Ungoverning Dance, ‘Dance performance is a field in which virtuosity, in the conventional sense of the display of exceptional technical accomplishment, is valued’ (2017: 57).

How can we move beyond this established idea to encourage new ways of thinking about virtuosity in disabled dance practice?

At the end of this section, the objective is that both venue programmers and dance artists with disabilities will start to encourage new ways of thinking about and articulating virtuosity in dance: for the venue programmer this will help when reaching out to funders and audiences to make the case for scheduling disabled dance.

For dance artists with disabilities, this will be a first step in articulating a clear statement of what your practice is, whether for future funding applications or for developing and business plan.

“Virtuosity for me, its not just physical. And all of our dancers work on whatever their virtuosity is, to keep growing that and improving that.”

– Ramsey Burt

Notions of Virtuosity

When considering the articles below on virtuosity in disabled dance, think about the following questions:

  • How do these writers refer to virtuosity in dance? Are references direct or indirect? Do these references support or inhibit the participation of dancers with disabilities in the dance sector?
  • What terms do the writers use to describe the work of the dancers?
  • Do you think these texts will encourage audiences to rethink preconceived notions of what dance is and who can dance?
  • How do you think that the work and performances by disabled dancers might challenge received notions of virtuosity in dance?

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Reflections

How do you define virtuosity within dance made by and including disabled artists? Do you think it should be the case that disabled artists are critiqued the same as non-disabled dance artists, why/why not?

You can respond to this question in one or more of the following ways:

  • a reflective blog/vlog post
  • a social media post
  • raise it as a discussion point at your organisation – make notes and reflect


Don’t forget to:

  • share your blog via the Resilience and Inclusion website by sending it to the team at invisiblediff@gmail.com
  • share any useful links/resources you’ve discovered via social media or the project blog
  • use the #resinctoolkit