Bel and his Butterflies

Jérôme Bel’s most recent stage work can easily be identified as the choreographer’s most audacious venture yet. Over the past two decades, Bel has established his name as an offbeat choreographer, raising questions on what dance is and what it could be. With his minimalist style and conceptual approach, he has consistently challenged audiences and redefined contemporary performance. Now, he has overstepped yet another boundary by collaborating with unconventional actors.

Disabled Theatre is a piece performed by Zurich’s Theater Hora. The actors all have a handicap, ranging from Down Syndrome to severe learning difficulties. The performance is simple and direct, owing to Bel’s choreographic style rather than the capabilities of the actors. Unsure of what is scripted and what is improvised, the audience is presented with comical occurrences and confronted with the dilemma of whether to laugh or not. The social preconception that laughter may be demeaning is countered with the fearlessness of the actors to express themselves as people. They are courageous, adventurous and creative; as the piece unfolds, their imaginative approach to movement and sound is revealed in surprising and poignant ways.

 

This piece inadvertently prompts our perception of the handicapped and what their role is in contemporary society. Accepting and embracing the disabled is a highly sensitive topic, especially in politics. It was only recently that the welfare reform minister, Lord Freud, claimed that some disabled people are not worth the minimum wage. His words, still ringing loudly with the advent of the 2015 elections, were passionately disputed in parliament. The debate soon escalated into the usual rivalry between Labour and Conservative, ultimately turning into the ever-present, archaic question of which party should be in power. Although Lord Freud had undoubtedly acted insensitively, the policy may have been a viable option to encourage more disabled people to work and feel valued by society. Instead of listening to each other and coming up with other solutions, the politicians carried the issue into a battle-field which was further dramatised by the media.

Regardless of whether the proposal had potential or not, it was shunned immediately due to the moral taboo of discrediting individuals born with a disadvantage.


It seems to be a recurring pattern that political stigma impedes objective analysis of any given situation. The attempted protection of ‘weaker minorities’ clouds the vision of what is actually the problem. In this case, the small portion of the British population that is deemed disabled is repeatedly generalised and their representatives have become overprotective. These representatives, both in parliament and at home, shout so loud that the people affected are not given the chance to speak for themselves.

However, through art, that seems to be changing. Disabled Theatre is just an example of more and more pieces that involve performers with handicaps. These art works raise questions on what it is to be different, not disabled. A physical or mental disability may be a disadvantage in some ways, but in others an enrichment - it is entirely dependent on one’s interpretation. Essentially, we are all different, and everyone has their unique quirks and imperfections. If anything, personal idiosyncrasies and diversity in opinion is what drives us forward - both as individuals and on a larger scale, as a society. Progression is a result of thinking outside the box, or in other words; daring to be different.

With this piece, Jérôme Bel lends these individuals a voice, an artistic input that carries more weight than its political counterpoint. Without making a statement or suggesting a particular response, Disabled Theatre is what it is. It opens up a space for human differences to be celebrated, admired and enjoyed. These actors are given the opportunity to project not only their handicaps but also their personalities into the world, which one day may aid us in changing our perception of the differently abled and how they contribute to society.

Beatrix Joyce




*The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (2007) film by Julian Schnabel. Jean-Dominique Bauby wakes from a coma with locked-in syndrome and proceeds to write a book on his condition by developing a system of communication with his speech therapist. Another example of shifting public consensus through art.