SEMINAR

WORKSHOP 1ST PART

The workshop continued with a more active  lab of creative dance. 

The experience of movement as a tool for knowing the world belongs to each of us from the beginning of our lives; through movement we come out of the maternal womb that welcomed us and through successive and different acquisitions of movement skills we develop our being in the world, the awareness of our body, our identity and our relationship with others.

Dance is a possibility for everyone, which everyone can access with their own individuality, their own original interiority and their own characteristics

Including a creative movement activity within the activities among young people can be very useful for the integration of all these aspects; creative dance offers an experience that is realized through the body, in a group context that therefore requires respect for rules, in a shared space within which each child becomes aware of their own personal space and its management, and in which each one experiments with their own autonomy and original initiative in a context of relationship with others that has no competitive connotation.

Young people are guided to focus their attention on the act of moving, on feeling the movement, and on awareness. A dance that therefore does not consist in the repetition of predefined exercises, but that seeks knowledge of the possibilities of the body and the expression through it of feelings, images and personal sensations. 

Exploring its aspects in a free but protected dimension, puts children and young people in the condition to inhabit their own body in a constructive and creative way, to activate their own resources to express sensations, images, emotions and re-create their own personal history discovering new possibilities and abilities in respect of themselves and others.

A creative dance path that uses movement as a universal language to promote social inclusion, encourage personal expression and stimulate collaboration between participants of different backgrounds, abilities and socio-cultural contexts.

Objectives:

• Explore the body and movement as tools for communication and creativity.

• Promote interaction and collaboration between participants through group activities.

• Stimulate self-esteem and mutual trust through the sharing of bodily experiences.

• Develop progressive awareness of one's body and its possibilities

• Promote the acceptance of diversity and the overcoming of cultural, physical and social barriers.

• Create a safe and non-judgmental environment where every participant can feel welcomed.

• Experience the importance of each individual emotion in the construction of oneself, including the so-called 'negative' ones, recognizing the limits and resources of their expression, therefore distinguishing between the need to feel emotions and be able to express them from reacting to them impulsively.

 

Purpose:

• Social inclusion: Create meeting spaces and connections between people who may not interact in everyday life.

• Psychophysical well-being: Offer moments of relaxation and emotional release through movement.

• Personal empowerment: Encourage participants to discover and enhance their own abilities and feel an active part of the community.

Target:

Age: Open to all age groups, but specific groups can be created (e.g. adolescents, adults, elderly people).

Origin: People with different physical abilities, cultural and socio-economic experiences.

Inclusion of subjects at risk of social exclusion: migrants, people with disabilities, elderly people living alone or young people in difficult situations.

Workshop structure:

• Participants were asked to focus on melody and rhythm. They were invited to represent with their body, using the space around them, an imaginary melody; then they were invited to use their body to be beaten following an imaginary rhythm. 

• The simple choreographies created were now repeated following a given sound track

 

• The participants were asked to focus on 5  emotions and how they would have represented them with their body, their facial mimic and their movements. Thus they mimed the joy, the sadness, the anger, the disgust, the fear. They were invited to close their eyes and create their choreography for each emotion following an imaginary music. While dancing with closed eyes the music was addede, and they were asked to adapt their movements to the music.

 

• Finally they were asked to think about an action they normally do in everyday life, which doesn’t generate in them a good feeling. They started miming this action and making it smaller and smaller and then bigger and bigger, exaggerating, involving all the body in making this action.

 

• Then they were asked to repeat the action, but this time it had to be an action of daily life which gives a good feeling. 

 

• They they had to combine the two movements, exaggerating an d moving in the space, following an imaginary melody. While practicing they were surprised by different type of music. They had to adapt their choreography to the different types of melodies. 

 

• Finally, while dancing, they were asked to coop with the others and make one whole choreography, adapting it at the chaging music.

 

The workshop was nice, and could catch the attention of participants. It needed more time.