As far as I understand it, there is a divide between what is sometimes called “High Art” (traditionally ballet and opera and Shakespeare, but now including Performance Art) and “community art”. The division seems to be clear- although it does ignore areas like “popular art” and probably, cinema- and has certainly been a factor in the allocation of funds since the creation of the Arts Councils after WWII. Every other company that I have interviewed has expressed, to a greater or lesser degree, cynicism about the recent SAC emphasis on “community”.
The artists’ objection is usually fair, if a little self-serving. They tend to maintain that “community” has become a box to tick on the funding application and that other companies, more cynical than themselves, chase funding through a deliberate policy of community tokenism. Having been once warned not to bend my art out of shape to get funding, I agree. Then again, I am getting pretty bent out of shape by the lack of money rolling my way.
Today’s company, Amici, exists in the zone between High and Community Art. Sort of, I think. I know that what they do- encourage integration between able and disabled bodied performers- ticks plenty of community boxes. Like Indepen-Dance, another company I’ll get round to considering soon, they don’t come off as a charity job, though. They make work that gets reviewed in the same terms as any other dance outfit.
Amici was founded in 1980 by Wolfgang Stange, a student of the expressionist dancer Hilde Holger. Stange had been a professional dancer who, while performing at a home for disabled, found himself asking profound questions about the relationship between able-bodied dancers and a disabled audience. Amici tries to bridge the gap.
Amici aren’t just a performance company: Stange is a teacher, holding weekly classes and workshops: his website stresses that his approach is based on sharing abilities, rather than imposing a top-down model on his students.
This rounded programme strikes me as being where the real community aspect of Amici comes in: they are not “community” because they allow disabled people on stage. For all of Stange’s good intentions, he made an aesthetic choice to be inclusive. This is very different from tokenism or altruism, even if it happens to tick the right box.
Hilde Holger is one of the less famous names in the dance world, but her students- ranging from Ivan Illich to Lindsay Kemp- seem to be very loyal to her, and her principles. There is an anarchist inclusiveness in their works, a consistent effort to break down barriers and question boundaries. Amici don’t include the disabled in order to make a point, get money or please an arts council. They are posing interesting questions about possibility, and the gifts of each individual.