Book Tour: Cripple Poetics by Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus

Homofactus Press has us on their blog book tour schedule (and apparently CripChick and Wheelchair Dancer are also stops on the tour). The book they've sent us information about this time is Cripple Poetics by Petra Kuppers and Neil Marcus (photos by Lisa Steichmann), which they describe as "by turns playful, unsettling, raw, and moving...an immersive and sensual correspondence that builds and heats by accretion--one keystroke at a time." Kuppers and Marcus are each, individually, respected performance artists in the field of disability studies. If that sounds like your bag, check it out when it's released this summer--or check out some excerpts here. New to the idea of "crip poetry"? Check out Jim Ferris's "Crip Poetry, or How I Learned to Love the Limp" essay, here.

Petra Kuppers was my roommate at the first Society for Disability Studies conference I ever attended, in 1999, which was also where I first met Mike Dorn. (Petra laughed because I bundle up to sleep, socks and all. You might guess from her work that she's not so much for the bundling.) Whenever you think, wow, it would be so cool if someone could combine this topic and that topic and do something provocative with all the intersections and overlaps and contradictions--well, Petra's one of the people who can do such things, and does them beautifully.

July 21: Harry Relph (1867-1928)

On a day when much of the blogging world is reading the last installment of the Harry Potter series, a post about another English Harry:

Music-hall entertainer Harry Relph (shown at left, in a publicity pose), known as "Little Tich," was born on this date 140 years ago, in the present-day London borough of Bromley. He was the sixteenth of his father's children, and was born with six digits on each hand and foot; his short stature would become apparent later. Relph's adult height was four feet, six inches.

As a boy, Harry Relph was a barber's assistant, and began performing locally, dancing and playing a tin whistle. He also did blackface acts, early in his career, but eventually found a more unique performance of his own--dancing with large custom "flaps," or elongated shoes (about 28 inches long). His shoes countered his weight, allowing him to bend full over in any direction without falling; he could also balance on the tips of his flaps, lifting himself to a precarious height.

Relph was hugely popular: his frequent appearances in Paris got him elected to the Academie Francaise, and his act was mentioned in anecdotes about World War I English servicemen and skiing. In addition to his "Big Boots" dance, he also performed in drag, and sang. Because of the timing, nature, and popularity of his act, Relph's Big Boots dance is preserved in silent film--and viewable on YouTube, of course (see below for embedded footage). The word "titch" survives in some places as a colloquial term for a little person, after this Tich.

RIP: J. Kutty (1984-2007)

Noted Tamil performer J. Kutty has died, after a fall at a hotel in Paramakudi. Kutty, born Philip Breet Mankoshy, was just 23 years old. He is best known for his role in "Dancer," a 2005 Tamil film about a one-legged dancer, based in part on his personal story. Kutty lost his own right leg in a motorcycle accident in 1998. He was in Paramakudi to perform at a temple festival with an arts ensemble.