CandoCo Dance Company: Disabled & Non-disabled Dancers

Ian C. Langtree - Writer/Editor for Disabled World (DW)
Published: 2009/08/17 - Updated: 2015/05/30
Topic: Recreation and Entertainment - Publications List

Page Content: Synopsis - Introduction - Main

Synopsis: The CandoCo Dance Company is a contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers.

Introduction

The CandoCo Dance Company, founded in 1991 by Celeste Dandeker and Adam Benjamin, is a contemporary dance company of disabled and non-disabled dancers pushing boundaries to broaden perceptions of what dance truly is.

Main Item

As a successful repertory company, CandoCo pushes boundaries and challenges conventions of contemporary dance resulting in work of extreme physicality and expressive emotion.

The physically-integrated dance movement is part of the disability culture movement, which recognizes and celebrates the first-person experience of disability, not as a medical-model construct but as a social phenomenon, through artistic, literary, and other creative means.

Dandeker, who had previously trained with the London Contemporary Dance Theatre suffered a fall whilst dancing on stage.

A consequent spinal injury prevented her ability to dance, until choreographer Darshan Singh Buller persuaded Dandeker to dance again, albeit from her wheelchair for the subsequently award-winning dance film "The Fall".

CandoCo is part of a larger physically-integrated dance movement, which seeks to increase opportunities for artistic expression through movement for a wide spectrum of physical attributes and disabilities, and has worked with many contemporary choreographers including Rafeal Bonachela, Fin Walker, Siobhan Davies, Javier De Frutos and Stephen Petronio, amongst many others

To truly appreciate the CandoCo Dance Company, it has been said that one should discard all conventional notions of the dancing body.

The CandoCo Dance Company (www.candoco.co.uk) is a registered charity based at Aspire National training center in Stanmore, North London.

Author Credentials: Ian was born and grew up in Australia. Since then, he has traveled and lived in numerous locations and currently resides in Montreal, Canada. Ian is the founder, a writer, and editor in chief for Disabled World. Ian believes in the Social Model of Disability, a belief developed by disabled people in the 1970s. The social model changes the focus away from people's impairments and towards removing barriers that disabled people face daily. To learn more about Ian's background, expertise, and achievements, check out his bio.