The InVisible Difference project seeks to extend current thinking that surrounds the making, status, ownership and value of work by contemporary dance choreographers. We are researchers from two different disciplines – dance and law – and our primary focus is on dance made and performed by disabled dance artists because we still have a long way to go before dancers with impairments are fully integrated within mainstream dance performance.

We are asking why this is the case; what is it in existing theoretical and legal frameworks that helps or hinders the participation of disabled dance artists in the mainstream? We will work closely with disabled dancers to consider perceptions of creation, interpretation and authorship. In doing so, we seek to uncover and discover new ways of thinking about how dance that is made and performed by disabled dancers contributes to our cultural lives. We hope this will strengthen the case for change (where necessary) in working practices and the legal frameworks that underpin the artists' work.

Audio transcription