ABSTRACT
The collapse of apartheid in South Africa saw many barriers to learning removed and a fight for equal education for children with disabilities advanced. But questions around dance performance by the disabled seemed to remain. Unpacking the issues of histories, aesthetics and norms for people with disabilities becomes heightened by oppressive laws. In the case of South Africa, understanding how apartheid statutes propped up a colonial hierarchy and thus cultural superiority is to discover how privileging of only certain bodies that were permitted to dance operates. The notion of ‘black is beautiful’ and svelte dancing bodies take on a particular meaning in this context where the majority of the populace were defined as ‘the Other’. Black children with disabilities in South Africa were shockingly maltreated. My research conducted in the late 1990s revealed that the number of schools for disabled allocated to white learners was more than double allocated to that of black learners (Samuel, 2012). But the momentous transition period also saw greater opportunities arise for South African artists and teachers ‘of colour’ (such as myself), who were previously tethered to engage in international arts and education projects. The cultural boycott which was a part of the anti-apartheid movement that many in Europe (and elsewhere) had supported, was a powerful mechanism to bring about social transformation. It also had the effect of limiting the exchange of new ideas and best practices in pedagogic and artistic spheres. The birth of democracy in 1994 saw a flurry of cultural exchange.
