The interviews - They were an initial opportunity to be close to one another and to experience social interaction during the weekend workshop. As mentioned before, most of these participants had never met each other before. Even though they are familiar with dance studio practice, it is my role as a teacher and facilitator to guide them into a warm and safe circle for sharing.
I set out to explore how a short, co-created dance workshop — beginning with circle interviews, moving through object-based warm-ups, pair work and finishing with group performative tasks — could generate feelings of care, belonging and non-hierarchical co-learning. I wanted to know whether these methods would support healing, agency and collective creativity, and how structure/order affected participants’ comfort to perform.
I thought of what would be if I was not doing the tasks with the group and was observing from the outside. What would that feel like for them? I chose to do it with them as a way to be part of the group but I now wonder what the outcome would be for me if I allowed myself just to observe and guide. Would that role give me more insight about the groups participation in tasks, how they´re feeling towards these kind of tasks but also how they deal with each other as trios or duets for example.
I have anaylsed how as time passed by participants were more calm and felt welcomed in the group. A warmness and live dinamic had been installed. Some participants were more keen to share how they were into therapeutic practices and their healing properties, while others their curiosity for new dances and ways to be learning together with focus on non-hierarchical decolonial practices in dance studios. As observer I have sensed that being told what to and how to it, it´s not a teaching/learning tool we want to operate from anymore. And this was aligned with my methodology statements. So somehow the methods chosen show their effects positively. It was very inspiring to be part of how they – we - at a certain moment were taking care of the workshop and how we were all able to activate tools that were as welcoming as daring and we were co-creating this dance class together. Were a community based on individual agency and transformation of how we learn and have fun together. Feelings of belinging start to come to surface.