'In Dianne Ried's recent work Dance Interrogations (a Diptych), performed a part of the 2015 Melbourne Fringe Festival by Ried and collaborating artist Melinda Smith, spectators had no seats but rather roamed, observing two mature dancers. In this article, I explore Reid and Smiths's live performance, a combination of structured movement improvisation and screendance, as a provocation of the relationship between movement and agency. I address the theatrical though the multifaceted lens of the performers' experiences, spectators responses and my own observations.Smith is also a wheelchair user and her movement quality is in stark contrast to that of fellow performer Reid, who sweeps through the space with the typical ease and flow of a trained dancer. Spectators' identification of Smith's particular movement aesthetic not only expands traditional conceptions of the dancerly body , bears social implications for those of us perceived to be with disability. Most poignantly, one such implication is the importance of being seen on one's own terms. As Smith crawls on the floor, stands precariously on her knees and is lifted in the air, her palpable effort and slow movement defy what Tobin Siebers identifies as an 'ideology of ability' (2010).
(Publication Abstract)
