Pierre and partner, Doris

feat

ure

sPierre and partner, Doris

feat

ure

s

Claire CunninghamThe acclaimed disabled dancer and choreographer offers up a starkly honest and intriguing challenge

Claire Cunningham is a Scottish singer, dancer and choreographer who

has used crutches since she was 14. In compelling solo performances

like Guide Gods and Give me a reason to live she has created a

captivating, multi disciplinary art form through which she proves in every

knowing twist and turn that physical impairment is no barrier to movement,

nor to a poetry of the body nor to art. Why would she, she says, not want to

be disabled? What follows is a transcript of Claire’s thoughts, as she expressed

them on Radio 4’s Four Thought programme.

Claire: I grew up not wanting to be disabled. I knew no other disabled

children or adults. I went to ‘mainstream’ schools. I was the only child in those

schools who had a visible physical impairment (related to osteoporosis) that

Above: Claire Cunningham

performing ME (Mobile Evolution)

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affected how I walked. It meant I couldn’t walk far and that

when I turned 14 I had to start using crutches. I kept thinking

I would be off them in six weeks, next month, a few months,

next year. It’s been 23 years.

I hated my crutches with a passion and because I was a

teenager when I started using them and I guess we are so very

conscious of how we look and how others view us at that age,

I became convinced that the crutches and my physicality

meant that I was repulsive. I felt very much ‘other’. So, I grew

up with no role models, no disabled people to show me that

it was OK to be disabled – just the typical western media

filled with images of people that were non-disabled. This was

the ideal. This was how you were supposed to look. In the

portrayals that I did see of disabled people, either they were

objects of pity to be helped, or they were movie villains –

people who had acquired an impairment and were so bitter

about this that they would therefore blow up the world as

revenge – someone no one wanted to be....

On being asked, “what’s wrong with you?” I didn’t think

twice about telling people what my medical diagnosis was,

or being offered the prayers of strangers who wanted to

pray that I would be healed. I didn’t question this. I was

surrounded all my young life by non-disabled people and a

media that imbued me with the idea – not consciously – that

it would be preferable not to be in my state, that of course I

would want to be fixed, that there was naturally something

wrong with me or indeed that I was unnatural. I did want to

be ‘fixed’.

Then, in 2005 I had an epiphany, my road to Damascus

moment. I discovered dance. I didn’t mean to, it was an

accident! I’d never intended to dance. I had always thought

that dance was for – as I would have referred to them at

that time – able bodied. Super fit people, people who could

move really quickly and jump and had straight pointy arms

and straight pointy legs – clean lines. That’s not my body.

However, I was lucky to meet a choreographer who wasn’t

so obsessed, as most of them are, with the notion that those

kinds of bodies are necessary for dance. His name was Jess

Curtis. And what Jess saw, and began to make me see was

that the way my body had developed and evolved through

using the crutches meant it has great strength, and very

specific strength.

By the time I met Jess, I had been using them for 14 years.

My body had also grown certain skills and knowledge.

It understood, without me thinking about it how the crutches

were weighted, how my weight was positioned on them,

how to manipulate this skillfully and play with it, how to

balance, how to lift and suspend my body using the strength

in my arms and be able to leap and drop back onto the floor,

but in the weightless way that a cat might land because my

shoulders had learned to absorb the weight in the way that

the knees of a non-disabled person might.

“In the dance performances that I create, I use my crutches in different ways”

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Above: Claire Cunningham

performing ME (Mobile Evolution)

Things that I had done playing on my crutches, little

balances, turns, tricks, things I had cultivated just when I was

bored from standing waiting for a lift or to cross the road

suddenly became recognisable as something unusual and

skilled. I discovered that giving my crutches to young, super

fit non-disabled professional dancers; they couldn’t do what

I could do. Now part of that was due to experience. I had used

them for a long time and I knew them well as objects in the

way a juggler in the circus might know his clubs perfectly.

But it was also about my own specific body, proportions and

strength that meant that these dancers with all their fitness

and idealised bodies were unable to do what I could do.

In the dance performances that I create, I use my crutches

in different ways, taking these objects that are so loaded

with negative stereotypes by society and turning them into

beautiful things. I began to accept that my use of crutches

was offering me opportunity as an artist and that my specific

physicality because of my medical condition was giving me

my own vocabulary to make work that spoke to both disabled

and non-disabled people. And, in regognising this I began to

take on the identity of being a disabled person for myself.

I began to acknowledge that it shaped my work, literally but

also that my lived experience of being disabled meant that

I had a unique perspective. And this was something I began

to treasure, that being different was – well maybe the more

religious among you might say a ‘blessing’. I guess I’d say

an ‘advantage’.

I began to use the term non-disabled as a replacement

for able-bodied as for me I liked the twist. My move into

working in dance brought me into a world where the body is

central. It is the tool of the art form, and it was now all about

letting people see my body and how it moved. Therefore what

also came with that were discussions around the aesthetics

of bodies. Dance is, to me, the most body fascist of all arts

and there is indeed the tradition that only young, super fit,

non-disabled, and in this country still predominantly white

bodies are mostly what is seen on stage. Personally I find this

just a bit boring. My interest has been to push the notion

that disabled bodies are not ‘wrong’ but rather ‘different’

and therefore also present more interesting, unexplored

possibilities for movement, more colours on the palette you

might say.

Recently I told a leading national non-disabled

dance company that I honestly wasn’t that interested in

choreographing for them – “you all look the same to me” I

told them. These young dancers were horrified – “but you

can’t say that. That’s discrimination”. Yes, it is discrimination.

Of course, I don’t truly mean it but it is fascinating to me to

see the reaction it provokes, to suddenly see people who have

assumed that they are in a better position than you, who

think that they would not want to be you presented with the

idea that perhaps I’m taking pity on them, that I do not want

to be them.

Now I am not saying that being disabled is a wonderful

or easy thing. I don’t in any way mean to underplay or be

flippant about the experience of those who have much more

limiting or debilitating medical conditions than me, and who

do face huge problems in terms of discrimination or lack of

opportunity. But I do know many disabled people, both those

Top: Claire Cunningham performing

‘Guide Gods’

Above: Claire Cunningham performing

‘Give Me a Reason to Live’

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For more information about Claire Cunningham,

visit her website: www.clairecunningham.co.uk.

For more information about Jess Curtis and Gravity,

visit: www.jesscurtisgravity.org.

“It was now all about letting people see my body and how it moved”

who have been born with impairments and

those who have acquired them, even those

who live with chronic pain that have said

openly to me that they would not want to

be otherwise, that the experience has

brought them extraordinary

opportunities and insights.

Of course, that is not true for everyone.

I also know those who do not want to be

disabled. The difficulty with disability is that

so many hugely diverse people are pushed

under its umbrella and it’s not appropriate

to make sweeping generalisations. I can only

speak from my own experience. But I feel

that if we can start to shift the way disability

is viewed to more acceptable, positive and

valid experience, part of the diversity of

humanity rather than a mistake, then it will

only help everyone.

Thinking around disability continues

to change. There is current thought about

looking at disability in an affirmative

frame. Affirmative as it acknowledges that

disability is part of who someone is but not

everything about them; looks at disability

as a natural state and something that will, in

time, affect everyone. The natural progress

of the human body as it ages is to develop

mobility impairment, sensory impairment

such as hearing and sight loss, and learning

impairment. Again it is loss and therefore

people grieve, but it is natural and as long

as we treat disability as being something

inferior or shameful we neglect to recognise

the barriers in place for disabled people and

we make it harder for everyone.

Who doesn’t know a grandparent or an

aging parent who’s losing their hearing or

developing difficulty walking but refuses

to get a hearing aid or a walking stick? I

believe that the shame around disability is

very much linked to this. The idea that the

state of disability is inferior and undesirable

reinforces this. If instead, when you are

young and you are non-disabled (as you

see it) then all investment you make in

reconsidering your perspective on disability

as a negative thing is simply an investment

in your own future, if you’re lucky enough to

live to a ripe old age.

Disability for me is a state of existence,

a way of being in the world. It is related to

having a medical condition and to how I’m

treated in the world and the perspective

that gives me; what I would refer to now

as the lived experience of disability, and

that is now important to me, but it is not

everything that defines me. I have, and can

have many identities. I’m a human being, I’m

a woman, I’m Scottish, I’m short, I’m white,

I’m an artist, I’m European, I’m an Aunt, I’m

single, I’m a home owner, I’m a daughter,

I’m a thirty-something, I’m a sister and I’m

disabled. I would not want to be non-disabled,

to be able-bodied as we used to say. I would

not be the person that I am. No offence to

anyone out there who’s not disabled, I’m sure

you’re great! But, I really wouldn’t want to be

you, I’m just fine the way I am, thanks.

Claire Cunningham, Four Thought

on BBC Radio 4

Latin American dancing was first

brought to the UK in the 1930s by

Pierre Jean Phillipe Zurcher-Margolle

(known professionally as ‘Pierre’), but

it wasn’t until 1947 that a section of the

Ballroom Branch of the Imperial Society of

Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) was formed under

the name of Latin and American Dancing.

The committee, chaired by the renowned

Pierre, created the first Latin American

syllabus consisting of Cuban Ballroom

Rumba, Brazilian Samba, Spanish Paso Doble

and American Swing (Jive). All of these dances

were based on the national rhythms of the

countries in which they originated. The

syllabus included ‘crush’ versions of each

dance. This was deemed necessary as due

to the popularity of the style in the venues

where Latin American music was played they

were notoriously crowded, hence ‘crush’ style.

The demand for examinations had to be met

by the only three examiners employed at

this early stage: Pierre, Doris Lavelle (who had

been his dance partner since the early 1930s)

and Doris Nichols.

In 1951, approval was given for the

transformation of the Latin American section

into a Branch of the ISTD. The existing

committee at the time of Chairman Doris

Nichols, Constance Grant, Dimitri Petrides,

Gwenethe Walshe and Harry Tucker remained

in office and were joined by Pierre, Doris

Lavelle and Holdora Mac.

In 1963, Pierre and the Latin American

Branch committee were honoured by the

Official Board of Ballroom Dancing when

they were asked to describe the official

technique of Latin American dancing for a

published textbook. This technique would

then be the one adopted by all societies on

the Board.

Pierre was to be the recipient of the

Imperial Award for 1962, a unanimous

decision of Council, for his unique

contribution to the technique and

development of Latin American dancing.

The Latin American Faculty historyThe fourth in our series of faculty histories

Above: Pierre, a pioneer in Latin

American dance development and

Chair of the Latin Branch of the

ISTD since its foundation in 1951

until his death in 1963

“In 1963, Pierre and the Latin American Branch committee were honoured by the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing”

38 issue no. 471

DANCE FEATURES

Latin American dancing was first

brought to the UK in the 1930s by

Pierre Jean Phillipe Zurcher-Margolle

(known professionally as ‘Pierre’), but

it wasn’t until 1947 that a section of the

Ballroom Branch of the Imperial Society of

Teachers of Dancing (ISTD) was formed under

the name of Latin and American Dancing.

The committee, chaired by the renowned

Pierre, created the first Latin American

syllabus consisting of Cuban Ballroom

Rumba, Brazilian Samba, Spanish Paso Doble

and American Swing (Jive). All of these dances

were based on the national rhythms of the

countries in which they originated. The

syllabus included ‘crush’ versions of each

dance. This was deemed necessary as due

to the popularity of the style in the venues

where Latin American music was played they

were notoriously crowded, hence ‘crush’ style.

The demand for examinations had to be met

by the only three examiners employed at

this early stage: Pierre, Doris Lavelle (who had

been his dance partner since the early 1930s)

and Doris Nichols.

In 1951, approval was given for the

transformation of the Latin American section

into a Branch of the ISTD. The existing

committee at the time of Chairman Doris

Nichols, Constance Grant, Dimitri Petrides,

Gwenethe Walshe and Harry Tucker remained

in office and were joined by Pierre, Doris

Lavelle and Holdora Mac.

In 1963, Pierre and the Latin American

Branch committee were honoured by the

Official Board of Ballroom Dancing when

they were asked to describe the official

technique of Latin American dancing for a

published textbook. This technique would

then be the one adopted by all societies on

the Board.

Pierre was to be the recipient of the

Imperial Award for 1962, a unanimous

decision of Council, for his unique

contribution to the technique and

development of Latin American dancing.

The Latin American Faculty historiesThe fourth in our series of faculty histories

Above: Pierre, a pioneer in Latin

American dance development and

Chairman of the Latin Branch of the

ISTD since its foundation in 1951

until his death in 1963

“In 1963, Pierre and the Latin American Branch committee were honoured by the Official Board of Ballroom Dancing”

The Award was to be presented to him at a

luncheon at Quaglino’s restaurant, London

on 3rd April but sadly Pierre passed away just

a week before the event. His colleague and

partner, Doris Lavelle, accepted the Award

in his memory and the Pierre Trophy was

purchased for the Branch as a memorial.

The inscription on the trophy begins with:

‘Commemorating his pioneer work as

exponent and teacher in introducing Latin

American dancing into Great Britain’.

Circa 1972, a sub-committee of the Latin

American Branch, comprising Doris Nichols,

Doris Lavelle, Peggy Spencer, Elizabeth

Romain, Dimitri Petrides and Sydney Francis,

had been meeting at ISTD Headquarters

every week to work on revisions to the Latin

American technique. The long awaited book

of the complete revised technique was

completed by 1974 and was subsequently

adopted by ADTV (trans. General German

Dance Teachers Association), the supreme

examining body of Germany and was also

translated into Japanese for use in the

Far East. Peggy Spencer became the third

Chairman following the retirement of Doris

Nichols and served until 1999 when Elizabeth

Romain took over.

The performance presentation of

Latin American dance has moved with

contemporary cultural trends. For example,

since the 1980s, the music has slowed down

and costumes are constantly changing in line

with fashion. In the 1970s it was very popular

for men to wear catsuits but nowadays they

“The performance presentation of Latin American dance has moved with contemporary cultural trends... since the 1980s, the music has slowed down and costumes are constantly changing in line with fashion”

Top left: Doris Lavelle, Pierre’s dance

partner and one of the first three

Latin American dance examiners

employed by the ISTD (along with

Pierre and Doris Nichols)

Top right: Doris Nichols, one of the

first three Latin American dance

examiners employed by the ISTD

issue no. 471 39

DANCE FEATURES

The Award was to be presented to him at a

luncheon at Quaglino’s restaurant, London

on 3rd April but sadly Pierre passed away just

a week before the event. His colleague and

partner, Doris Lavelle, accepted the Award

in his memory and the Pierre Trophy was

purchased for the Branch as a memorial.

The inscription on the trophy begins with:

‘Commemorating his pioneer work as

exponent and teacher in introducing Latin

American dancing into Great Britain’.

Circa 1972, a sub-committee of the Latin

American Branch, comprising Doris Nichols,

Doris Lavelle, Peggy Spencer, Elizabeth

Romain, Dimitri Petrides and Sydney Francis,

had been meeting at ISTD Headquarters

every week to work on revisions to the Latin

American technique. The long awaited book

of the complete revised technique was

completed by 1974 and was subsequently

adopted by ADTV (trans. General German

Dance Teachers Association), the supreme

examining body of Germany and was also

translated into Japanese for use in the

Far East. Peggy Spencer became the third

Chairman following the retirement of Doris

Nichols and served until 1999 when Elizabeth

Romain took over.

The performance presentation of

Latin American dance has moved with

contemporary cultural trends. For example,

since the 1980s, the music has slowed down

and costumes are constantly changing in line

with fashion. In the 1970s it was very popular

for men to wear catsuits but nowadays they

“The performance presentation of Latin American dance has moved with contemporary cultural trends... since the 1980s, the music has slowed down and costumes are constantly changing in line with fashion”

Top left: Doris Lavelle, Pierre’s dance

partner and one of the first three

Latin American dance examiners

employed by the ISTD (along with

Pierre and Doris Nichols)

Top right: Doris Nichols, one of the

first three Latin American dance

examiners employed by the ISTD

wear more subdued and casual separate tops and trousers

to aid their movement. For the ladies’ costumes, fringing

was popular in the 1980s, then went out of fashion and has

now returned. Penny discs were fashionable in the 1970s,

along with ruffles, which likewise have now returned to style.

Feathers and sequins have been popular or otherwise but

nowadays it is more common to wear diamantes. Hairstyles

for the ladies were very ‘large’ in the 1960s and 1970s, with

beehives and pleats, but nowadays most Latin hairstyles are

very slick: in a bun, ponytail or very smart short or ‘bob’ cut.

Recently, Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC has enhanced the

popularity of Latin American dancing, especially with adults.

In 2001, the Latin American Faculty completed the new

technique in all five dances: Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha

Cha Cha and Jive. Faculty committee members held seminars

around the country to explain the new work to members

and students. Lorna Lee served for many years as the fifth

Chairman and now Julie Tomkins takes on that role. She

serves on the committee together with Vice Chair Graham

Oswick, Simon Cruwys, Janet Clark, Matthew Cutler & Jeffrey

Dobinson. All of these, through the Latin American Faculty,

look to serve the members and uphold the principles and

high standards of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Julie Tomkins, June 2014

Alexandra Carter

The ISTD faculty histories have been edited by Alexandra

Carter. Alexandra is Professor Emerita in Dance Studies at

Middlesex University, London. She is semi-retired and now

lives in Suffolk, where she has returned to dancing after three

decades of academic activity. One of her own research fields

was in the lost recorded heritage of dance in Britain in the late

19th century. To work on the continuing histories of dance

through the 20th and into the 21st century has proved to be

very enjoyable.

Above: Peggy Spencer MBE, currently

serving ISTD President

Above Right: Pierre, pioneer in

Latin -American Dance development

with his partner Doris Lavelle.

40 issue no. 471

DANCE FEATURES

wear more subdued and casual separate tops and trousers

to aid their movement. For the ladies’ costumes, fringing

was popular in the 1980s, then went out of fashion and has

now returned. Penny discs were fashionable in the 1970s,

along with ruffles, which likewise have now returned to style.

Feathers and sequins have been popular or otherwise but

nowadays it is more common to wear diamantes. Hairstyles

for the ladies were very ‘large’ in the 1960s and 1970s, with

beehives and pleats, but nowadays most Latin hairstyles are

very slick: in a bun, ponytail or very smart short or ‘bob’ cut.

Recently, Strictly Come Dancing on the BBC has enhanced the

popularity of Latin American dancing, especially with adults.

In 2001, the Latin American Faculty completed the new

technique in all five dances: Samba, Rumba, Paso Doble, Cha

Cha Cha and Jive. Faculty committee members held seminars

around the country to explain the new work to members

and students. Lorna Lee served for many years as the fifth

Chairman and now Julie Tomkins takes on that role. She

serves on the committee together with Vice Chair Graham

Oswick, Simon Cruwys, Janet Clark, Matthew Cutler & Jeffrey

Dobinson. All of these, through the Latin American Faculty,

look to serve the members and uphold the principles and

high standards of the Imperial Society of Teachers of Dancing.

Julie Tomkins, June 2014

Alexandra Carter

The ISTD faculty histories have been edited by Alexandra

Carter. Alexandra is Professor Emerita in Dance Studies at

Middlesex University, London. She is semi-retired and now

lives in Suffolk, where she has returned to dancing after three

decades of academic activity. One of her own research fields

was in the lost recorded heritage of dance in Britain in the late

19th century. To work on the continuing histories of dance

through the 20th and into the 21st century has proved to be

very enjoyable.

Above: Peggy Spencer MBE, currently

serving ISTD President

Above Right: Pierre, pioneer in

Latin -American Dance development

with his partner Doriz Lavelle.