Relative Virtuosity

A concept from performance studies arguing that what constitutes a virtuoso performance cannot be separated from the social and material expectations around non-normative bodies. For disabled performers, virtuosity is shaped by how their bodies interact with the world, their assistive technologies, and their creative tools—meaning that mastery is always relative to the performer's embodied context rather than measured against an abstract norm. The concept challenges ableist assumptions about what skilled performance looks like and positions disabled artists' innovative approaches to their craft as legitimate forms of artistic excellence.