Abstract
TaPRA 2023
Applied and Social Theatre Working Group: Borders and Boundaries: crossing contested spaces in applied and social theatre
Crossing City Boundaries
In a city like Bristol (UK) – named by the 2017 Runnymede report as one of the most diverse yet divided cities in the UK – how might creative practice allow us to find new ways to facilitate meaningful dialogue and promote empathy between young people living in different parts of the same city? There is a body of research that has begun to focus on how adolescents as a particular group can interrupt patterns of segregation in society (Taylor and McKeown, 2021; Taylor, 2020, Simpson, 2018) and within this research the promotion of empathy has been identified as an important part of promoting prosocial behaviour towards different communities. This paper will discuss a pilot project, an engaged digital dance project that aimed to bring together young people from different areas and communities in Bristol to examine how the translation between verbal and non-verbal forms of communication can facilitate meaningful dialogue. The project brought together young people from RISE Youth Dance Company and Virtual Reality filmmaker Aayush Dudhiya to experiment with co-creating 360° VR Dancing Postcards. The young people worked with the filmmaker and myself to explore site-responsive choreographic approaches and co-produced films that share their chosen location and communicate their experience of/ relationship to this location. Understanding that ‘words alone are not enough to express the totality of experience’ (Levy, 2014:1), this paper will aim to explore how encouraging participants to articulate spatial relationships via a combination of verbal and non-verbal methods can expose nuances in meaning and experience that cannot be communicated by either form of communication alone. In doing so, the paper aims to ask questions about the possibilities for creative practice to deepen residents’ understanding of each other’s experiences of place and seeks to imagine a better model for navigating our shared co-existence in public space.
Applied and Social Theatre Working Group: Borders and Boundaries: crossing contested spaces in applied and social theatre
Crossing City Boundaries
In a city like Bristol (UK) – named by the 2017 Runnymede report as one of the most diverse yet divided cities in the UK – how might creative practice allow us to find new ways to facilitate meaningful dialogue and promote empathy between young people living in different parts of the same city? There is a body of research that has begun to focus on how adolescents as a particular group can interrupt patterns of segregation in society (Taylor and McKeown, 2021; Taylor, 2020, Simpson, 2018) and within this research the promotion of empathy has been identified as an important part of promoting prosocial behaviour towards different communities. This paper will discuss a pilot project, an engaged digital dance project that aimed to bring together young people from different areas and communities in Bristol to examine how the translation between verbal and non-verbal forms of communication can facilitate meaningful dialogue. The project brought together young people from RISE Youth Dance Company and Virtual Reality filmmaker Aayush Dudhiya to experiment with co-creating 360° VR Dancing Postcards. The young people worked with the filmmaker and myself to explore site-responsive choreographic approaches and co-produced films that share their chosen location and communicate their experience of/ relationship to this location. Understanding that ‘words alone are not enough to express the totality of experience’ (Levy, 2014:1), this paper will aim to explore how encouraging participants to articulate spatial relationships via a combination of verbal and non-verbal methods can expose nuances in meaning and experience that cannot be communicated by either form of communication alone. In doing so, the paper aims to ask questions about the possibilities for creative practice to deepen residents’ understanding of each other’s experiences of place and seeks to imagine a better model for navigating our shared co-existence in public space.
| Original language | English |
|---|---|
| Publication status | Published - 30 Aug 2023 |
| Event | TaPRA 2023: Theatre and Performance Research Annual Conference 2023 - University of Leeds , Leeds, United Kingdom Duration: 30 Aug 2023 → 1 Sept 2023 |
Conference
| Conference | TaPRA 2023 |
|---|---|
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Leeds |
| Period | 30/08/23 → 1/09/23 |