Body Shift: Dance and Social Justice

Body Shift project coordinator, Olivia O’Hare here to share some thoughts regarding our upcoming annual intensive, Patterns of Disruption with Sandra Paola, which will take place June 2-3, 2018. Paola’s focus lies at the intersection of dance and social justice/access/inclusion/diversity. This got me thinking about what social justice means within the context of Body Shift and DanceAbility. Though we do not openly state a political agenda, I do believe that the personal is political. Dance improvisation is extremely personal. Because the dancer generates their own movements and responds by intuition as well as conscious choice making, their personality, habits and desires show up immediately. In general, we do not openly discuss the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within our society that have shaped our bodies and the ways we have been taught are ‘appropriate’ for personal expression. Instead we focus on movement quality, body awareness, and relationship in real time with our dance partner(s). But what if we take some time to work using community-centered inquiry and turn research into movement?

Photo from Crippin' the Streets – DanceAbility Urban Intervention, Fusebox 2014

We might ask the following questions: How do Idealogical ‘Movements’ (i.e., Civil Rights Movement, Disability Rights Movement) affect our culture? How can our own ‘movements’ (physicality of/in ones body) affect our culture or be affected by our culture? By using the universal language of movement we can generate conversations and create art around social justice issues in our communities – ultimately movement initiating ‘Movements.’

It was a purposeful choice made by the Body Shift organizers to focus on dance improvisation, and more specifically the DanceAbility method, rather than styles of dance that emphasize learning steps or predetermined choreography. This is not to downgrade moving together through set choreography as repeating and refining movements can be very powerful. Rather it was a question of inclusivity. The flexibility allowed by improvisation more easily creates an environment that is non-isolating. By starting with improv, participants are given the opportunity to learn the language of their own body and discover their own unique ways of moving. Then participants themselves may be guided to choreograph from their own self-generated movements. (Video below shows more highlights from Crippin' the Streets – DanceAbility Urban Intervention, Fusebox 2014)

To improvise is to make choices in the moment. As Alito Alessi, founder of the DanceAbility method, says, “Always know what you are doing and what else is happening.” This seems very direct and simple but it is actually a skill that must be refined over time – the ability to sense and stay connected to your self while also opening your awareness to the choices that other people are making around you and how your environment shapes your choices moment to moment. By dancing together with people who have unique mental and physical characteristics that may be outside the established norms we are able to open ourselves to new ways of moving and thinking and go beyond habitual ways of being.

Sandra Paola

An excerpt from Sandra Paola’s website:

“I believe that learning about our body through our relationships with others in ensemble improvisation and social dance is an extraordinary way to achieve this and I seek to create spaces and environments where this can be possible. Acknowledging our body (and its relationship to others and the environment) is not something we are often taught. It is something that we have to seek out, or what is more often the case, something we never get to do. Recognizing ourselves in our body fosters a new understanding of who we are and how we relate to the world. This understanding allows love and compassion to flourish and deep transformation happens.

“…My dancemaking is community-driven and community-integrated and it tackles issues of identity and power. I am committed to creating access to experimental dance and improvisation in spaces where it is usually absent and to share its developmental power with the public. I use culture to organize community and organize community to create culture. 

“My work is political by nature; improvisation is playful resistance.”

I hope you will join Sandra Paola and the Body Shift crew for a weekend of dancing and inquiry into education and community organizing that relates to people as social creators of their lives. We will meet all day Saturday, and Sunday will be a continuation of Saturday's work but open to newcomers and will culminate in a jam. Click here to register for Patterns of Disruption with Sandra Paola.