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Dancing Solutions to Conflict

Center of Kinesthetic Education

New York, United States of America  

• Impact local level

• Transferability

• Innovative practice

This practice is used in conflict resolution processes in school. The ability to creatively resolve conflict supports excellence in communication and fosters a positive classroom/studio climate. Despite the fact that school violence continues to be high, many schools fail to teach conflict management, social-emotional skills, or community building to all educators. 

This research-based article shares a dance strategy that leads toward peaceable behaviour using somatic explorations.

Dance is used to identify problems from bullying to gun violence and to find solutions. The author’s Dynamic EmbodimentTM approach to somatic education provides skill-building for stress reduction, enhanced understanding of body cues and opportunities for the practice of embodied socio-emotional development and conflict resolution. The approach includes a unique progression she has developed to enhance human tolerance, connection, and understanding of issues, feelings, cultures, and values when under stress. 

Even though this practice comes from a school setting, which means that it was not initially intended for adult learners, it provides good examples of exercises to include in Dancefulness curricula. 

• High-school and college students

• Teachers

This practice involves teacher modelling activities and tools to include in dancing lessons for problem-solving or skills development. 

“CAPS” is a traditional negotiating tool for problem situations and a movement model. CAPS stands for Cool down, Agree to solve the problem, Points of view, and Solve the problem.

• COOL DOWN—BREATHE deeply and fully, emphasizing the exhale

• AGREE TO SOLVE THE PROBLEM—BOW to your partner or contestant before engaging in dissecting the conflict or any negotiations (verbally or through dance).

• POINTS OF VIEW—DANCE YOUR STORY This can involve still pictures, tableaus, or movement dialogue you set up.

• SOLVE THE PROBLEM—CREATE A DANCE TOGETHER

Somatic awareness increases bodily sensitivity by enhancing awareness of both sensation and of movement. Individuals become more self-aware and in theory more self-regulating - better able to change directions in the course of escalating tensions, self-soothe, and get calm instead of lashing out and hurting others verbally or nonverbally.

The process of exploring new responses is central to somatic education; physical habits are studied and new behaviours are explored.

Somatic education is effective in eliciting new responses because it awakens awareness and helps to break old patterns such as impulsiveness and angry outbursts. Conflict induces stress. Somatic education provides relief from stress and teaches mindfulness while in action. Somatic activities and somatic dance provide opportunities to respond to the stimuli and to begin to calm down, deescalating the situation versus escalating it. Somatic dance experiences can actually help an individual to perceive a trigger before it happens, or much sooner in the cycle, and open up the range of potential responses to the trigger.

• Martha Eddy CMA, RSMT, EdD (2016) Dancing Solutions to Conflict:

Field-Tested Somatic Dance for Peace, Journal of Dance Education, 16:3, 99-111, DOI:

10.1080/15290824.2015.1115867

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/15290824.2015.1115867

 Common Cultural Heritage Project

Aktywni XXI Foundation

Poland

• Impact local level

• Impact national level

• Impact EU level

• Transferability

• Quality assurance

• Innovative practice

The project titled Common Cultural Heritage (2018-2020) was written and coordinated by Aktywni XXI Foundation. It had two partners – from Spain and Italy. The project focused on three cultural fields: history, visual arts and music because after discussion the partners in the project decided that these fields would be most interesting for their senior students. Foundation Aktywni XXI was responsible for the music. Music and dance is a great way of communication for people from different countries. The seniors themselves chose classical music and folk and national dances as the main points of discussion. 

For the practical workshops dances in the circle were chosen, since most of the senior students were female. Pair dancing would be exclusive because female and male students were not equally represented. In the circle, everyone is included no matter what sex or age they are. It also appeared that dance is a common and perfect way of communication between seniors from different countries who speak different languages. Dances in the circle are slow – suitable for seniors. They also give a chance to stop and think and cherish the moment. They are obviously also physical exercises. Dances in the circle are also a great opportunity to practice leadership. Each participant can take over the control of the group and lead the dance. They can lead the dance taught in the workshops or their own, which improves their creativity. 

Seniors

In this project, the senior students took part in both local and international workshops. The first meeting of the seniors was organised in Poland in 2019 and focused on dance. The three groups of seniors presented theoretically the national and folk dances of their countries. In the practical part of the workshops, the seniors could learn dances in the circle, inspired by the music of the three countries. The workshops were led by a dance teacher who also encouraged the seniors to lead their own dances in the circle. 

They also gave shows of their national dances to the participants of the workshops.

The seniors liked the dancing workshops so much that they decided to continue the dances in the circle on regular basis. They organized the place and the teacher themselves. Now they meet once a week and practise dancing.  It appears that interest and pleasure motivated the seniors to act and lead their way to regular dance classes.

Music has always got a positive effect on our mood. Inclusive dance such as dance in the circle appears to be very effective in this respect. What is more the level of endorphins in the seniors’ bodies rises, as is the effect of every sport and movement. Dance in the circle is not demanding for elderly people. It gives them satisfaction. Moreover, it is a perfect way to socialize and go out. 

The biggest advantages of circle dancing are that the participants can also learn leadership and that it is an inclusive kind of exercise – everyone can do it whether the participants are young or old, male or female. We are certain that this kind of workshop would be suitable for most age groups.

Ana L. Borges da Costa & Diane L. Cox (2016) The experience of meaning in circle dance, Journal of Occupational Science, 23:2, 196-207, DOI: 10.1080/14427591.2016.1162191

• www.aktywni21.org.pl

• Traditional dances by Maja Huminiłowicz on Prezi Next  

 Dance and Disability: crossing borders

 Narodowy Instytut Muzyki i Tańca, British Council

Poland

• Impact local level
• Impact national level
• Transferability
• Quality assurance
• Innovative practice

The Dance and Disability Project is a joint venture of the British Council and the National Institute of Music and Dance, organized in the spaces of the Rozbark Theater in Bytom and the Center for Contemporary Art in Warsaw. The aim of the project is to change the field of performing arts to make it more accessible and open to the initiatives of artists with alternative motor skills. As part of the program, people interested in the broadly understood performance could take part in workshops with experienced dancers, as well as exchange perspectives and get to know each other. Creative cooperation of participants with and without disabilities allows for discovering in practice how nuanced the concept of alternative motor skills is and how fluid is the boundaries of bodily normativity. 

Although the project is implemented in part by institutions, it is based on the principles of partnership and independence of the people participating in the program. Therefore, the workshops took the form of laboratories based on experimental methods and, more or less targeted searches, so that the participants could see their potential and follow their own curiosity. Laboratory leaders are to provide inspiration and tools that will be useful in further artistic work. This approach results from the very idea of open art - constantly shaped by the living experience of people existing between categories and generally accepted norms. 

Five duos, selected in an open call, were invited to participate in the laboratories, which were to work on their own material under the supervision of dancers: Iwona Olszowska and Kate Marsh. Thus, the Dance and Disability initiative created an opportunity for establishing contacts and cooperation between artists and artists who in the future may significantly affect the situation of people with alternative motor skills in the art of performance. Some of the participants are already developing their artistic careers and social activities. 

• People with disabilities

• Professional dancers

During the workshops, there was an atmosphere of deep concentration - each participant persistently pursued his own practice, oscillating between an individual process and a connection with a partner and the rest of the group. The pair work model has revealed some particularly interesting aspects of creative presence, such as dialogue, relationship, mutual inspiration and mutual limitations. That is why workshop talks and exercises often took up the topic of communication and creative cooperation. Through movement tasks in pairs, the exchange of ideas and suggestions for a joint composition, as well as group feedback after each session, the participants considered and tested various ways of negotiating, examining the mechanisms of dependence and the potential that is triggered by the meeting of two different sensitivities. One of the postulates of open art is participation instead of competition. At times, one could get the impression that the participants put more energy and effort into cooperation than into physical activity itself, which was also present during many hours of practice. 

Working in duos also drew on the collective dynamics of the group. Joint warm-ups, group exercises and the ongoing exchange of experiences created a supportive atmosphere, which was a kind of vessel for what happened in pairs and in each person. Kate Marsh, who chaired the second convention in October, made every effort to ensure that all participants felt the interaction and benefited from the natural strength of the collective as much as possible. In her classes, she used practices related to contact improvisation, mainly oriented towards attentive coexistence and conscious movement together in space. The dancers had enough time and freedom to get used to the various dimensions of encounters: from meeting their own body and need for expression, through random and intentional encounters with individuals, to meeting everyone with everyone in a shared dance experience. Adaptation is not only a passive adaptation to the situation but an active process of searching for solutions. It is also not inferior or insufficient to the standard answer. Intelligent adaptation means taking up the challenge of being here and now despite various difficulties that at first glance seem to constitute a defect. The point is to practically redefine the very concept of lack and see it as an opportunity instead of an obstacle. Participants tested this approach on their own bodies, finding that there is no correct movement pattern. So they sought an agreement with their "kinesthetic self" while at the same time tuning in to external conditions. The activities during the laboratories were aimed at constantly shifting meanings: the wheelchair became a mobile construction and a dance partner, the non-normative body gained its specific drama, and the performative sign language blurred the line between speech and bodily presence. 

Most of the time, the duets worked on their own material, and professional dancers acted as mentors in creative activities. The laboratories were to enable the participants to gain greater awareness of their own artistic vision and find the means of expression appropriate for them. It was primarily an intensive conceptual work: searching for structures for movement and analyzing the content and intentions contained in the dance. 

It turned out that in performance, choice and precision are as important as creativity or expression. Participants learned to balance these elements in their practice. In addition, everyone had to research their resources and answer the question: "How much am I able to do?" The motto of the project - "crossing borders" - can be interpreted as ambition, but also as a mature concern for one's own spiritual and vital strength. 

In the end, the pairs presented the results of their work. The topics discussed concerned various spheres of existence, from the most intimate ones to social and political matters. Anyway, in the case of a project focused on the development of open art, private and public dimensions are strongly intertwined. Each of the participants danced their own story, but on stage, these stories could become a reference point, stimulus for reflection, and shared experience. The performers saturate their movement with an intense presence that engages the viewer in non-verbal communication. Thanks to the capacious metaphor of dance, a space for meeting above the barriers has opened up.

Independent work at the laboratories showed the participants how they can use their own language of movement and thus communicate with a wider group of recipients. In the context of disability, open performance art serves to regain connections lost as a result of stigmatization and social neglect. What was previously inaccessible and marginalized is made present through the dancing body. However, it is not an easy path. Artists with alternative motor skills realize that there is still a lot of work to be done. Active reflection on the social status quo was an integral part of the laboratories - participants showed a lot of determination about their own needs and expectations. Some pointed out that more similar workshops and training sessions for people with disabilities from different backgrounds could be useful. The importance of allied attitudes, i.e. support from people involved in culture, was also emphasized. 

Polish culture is still maturing to a paradigm shift, which is why projects such as Dance and Disability are of significant importance for the development of social awareness, and above all, they are part of the trend of activism, which gradually breaks down system barriers. In this respect, performing arts have unique opportunities as their primary medium is the body that speaks for itself, naturally and directly. The subject of disability may be clearly visible in them, but not dominant unless the artist decides otherwise. The situation of people with alternative motor skills is ambivalent, because on the one hand, they have to actively claim their rights, and on the other hand they strive to normalize and accept psychophysical differences between people. Maintaining the balance between these two poles in artistic work was one of the tasks of the project. 

The Dance and Disability project provides some ideas as to how we could build a non-exclusive art environment. In practice, this means a considerable organizational effort, as public institutions are still not fully accessible and open to activities outside the area of normativity. Many of the current solutions are, to a greater or lesser extent, half-measures and improvisation. 

As the basic expression of inner agitation, dance has always been and will be the source of all vitality, change and hope.

Maria Pastwa (2021): The body says otherwise. Report from the Dance and Disability laboratories

Taniec i niepełnosprawność - NIMiT 

Taniec i Niepełnosprawność: przekraczanie granic | British Council Polska

www.taniecPOLSKA.pl

Ciało mówi inaczej. Relacja z laboratoriów Taniec i Niepełnosprawność – taniecPOLSKA