Hip hop dancing highlights disability rights

Hip hop dancing can be used to spread awareness of disability rights and help those with sight problems to participate in performance equally, a new study says.

Breakin’ – which is commonly referred to as breakdancing – is good for mobility and helps promote balance and stability as well as wellbeing.

It also offers an important opportunity for people to slow down and to connect with their inner selves, their feelings, their bodies, and their peers, according to researchers. It has been used to treat symptoms of depression, anxiety and PTSD.

Nathan Geering, Artistic Director and creator of The Rationale Method, and Dr Simon Hayhoe, from the University of Exeter, analysed the impact of an educational technology and choreography project called Sound Pad. It involved Breakers, choreographers and those with visual impairments working collaboratively to develop a form of participatory dance education.

The project was set up to encourage people with visual impairment to move more, to feel more included in mainstream dance culture and develop a greater sense of inclusion. Other aims were to give participants a greater understanding of dance as an art form and the career pathways for people with disabilities as choreographers and music directors.

As part of the project dancers performed the work of visually impaired choreographers in Sheffield. Those involved with visual impairments had watched three different dance styles without musical accompaniment and then answered specific questions about the accessibility of each form of dance. The participants’ answers seemed to confirm that Breakin was the most accessible of these three forms.