Titles are tricky. They can mark a professional identity or indicate an intellectual direction. Finding the right title to fit a dance, a book, or a series of essays is an interesting process. Sometimes the title comes first, arriving in a flash of inspiration or recognition, indicating the precise location of a gesture or question. Other times titles are more elusive, and finding the right one can be akin to groping for a light switch in the dark. Although we had articulated the general area of enquiry in our call for submissions to this special issue of Choreographic Practices on Dance and Disability, it was not until we were at the end of an eighteen-month process of reading, choosing and editing the essays included here that we were forced to name the issue by finding an appropriate title. We chose Dis/abilities in order to signal both the multitude of perspectives and set off the cultural implications and political complications of its prefix by adding a diacritical slash.As a prefix, dis pulls away from the word that follows it. Disconnect can mean the opposite of connect, and likewise disability can mean the opposite of ability. But in the monosyllabic utterance that marks the 'other' direction lies a tension -a tight-wire of signification -that sponsors a reflection back to the original point of departure. For instance, disorientation is not only the opposite of orientation, it can also create an opportunity to understand why we feel lost, giving us a moment to we were forced to name the issue
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