AMB's Emergent Strategy: Reading Response

Chapter 4 – Fractals: The Relationship between Small & Large

In the very first sentence of this chapter, Adrienne Maree Brown states “How we are at the small scale is how we are at the large.” Thoughts about how large-scale change comes from multiple smaller, individual actions have been clouding my brain (in the most pleasant and exciting way) for the better part of a year. When Covid hit in spring 2020 I was working with a group called “Be The Street,” leading art and theatre workshops at a local elder care facility. After the pandemic forced us to stop our workshops, we were left with very few options for staying in contact with the people we had been working with. Many of our workshop participants did not have smartphones or know how to navigate the internet in ways that would allow us to transfer our work to an online platform in such short notice. Ultimately, I ended up calling participants about once a week to check in and see how they were holding up. While chatting on a random Tuesday, a participant was talking about how she had been using her extra time at home to reflect. She was reflecting on how our country had gotten to this point of devastating racial injustice. She was reflecting on the sensitivities surrounding Covid-19 and how some people were refusing to wear masks, ultimately putting others at risk through their individual actions. She was reflecting on herself, identifying how she became who she was at that moment and envisioning who she wanted to become once the pandemic ended.

Covid-19 has provided an opportunity for us all to pause, to step back and think about our lives and our roles in society. It has heightened the stakes of our individual actions—even the seemingly small actions like going to a grocery store—and how those actions directly impact the people around us. Brown quotes Grace Lee Boggs, “Transform yourself to transform the world” and goes on to say that for her, this has meant tuning into her body and feelings in the present moment. For myself, movement and somatic practices are the pathway toward this “tuning in.” Somatics—the use of mind-body connections in surveying our internal selves—is an embodied form of reflection. The idea of fractals, embodied self-reflection and social change really began to emerge in my research in fall of 2020, leading to my central research question: “How does individual reflection, healing and growth through somatic embodiment and art activate change and create social value in community?” I personally believe that reflection is the first step in what Brown calls intentional adaptation, or, how we change.

Chapter 5 – Intentional Adaptation

Working from fractals into the chapter on intentional adaptation, I find a lot of importance in how we adapt to disruption in our individual lives and the effects those intentional adaptations have in our communities. For the last year or so I’ve been thinking a lot about how society has shaped me and how I shape society. There are so many things about myself that I am working hard to intentionally adapt so that I can contribute more to my community (such as perfectionism and fear of failure). This process of pausing and considering what my strengths are, what my weaknesses are, and how I can show up for others is what I would like to lead program participants through by using movement. On page 69 Brown states “How we live and grow and stay purposeful in the face of constant change actually does determine both the quality of our lives, and the impact that we can have when we move into action together.” For the first part of my project, I want to use somatics, dance, art, and social justice education frameworks to guide participants through reflection and setting goals for personal growth. I’ve done something similar to this, on a smaller scale, while filming my piece Impetus for dance film I last semester.

This program will begin by guiding participants on a similar journey, individually. Participants will begin by reflecting on the past and envisioning the future. They will then develop capacity for adaptation, assessing their default reactions to change and whether their reactions provide opportunity to move towards their vision of the future. Classes will involve a community check-in, a warmup including meditation and breathing techniques, developing movement skills, group choreography/improvisation exercises and a community check-out. Classes will also provide social support structures for participants and an outlet for individuals to develop their voice through artistic expression and storytelling.

Chapter 6 – Interdependence and Decentralization

In her book And Then, You Act: Making Art in an Unpredictable World Anne Bogart discusses how political or historical events “drop a lens between the environment and the perceiver” which creates an “acute sensitivity to the globe’s interconnective tissues.” This statement pulls me back to Brown’s chapter on interdependence and decentralization. Bogart writes from a post-9/11 perspective, discussing how for many the events of September 11th, 2001 intensified feelings of isolation from the rest of the world, while for others it was a catalyst for identifying the globes interconnectedness. The second part of this project will be assessing and working toward group values in the Franklinton community by building interdependence through movement. Participants will develop interdependence through activities of shared leadership and problem solving such as mirroring and flocking. This will allow participants to share their individual strengths while creating goals and actions together as a group. I think adaptability and interdependence are such important skills for anyone to practice right now, and certainly as we move forward into the unknowns of our future.

Bogart goes on in her book to say “If, as the Buddhists suggest, the art of life is the art of adjustment, then what are the necessary adjustments for artists working in the present climate?” I find this quote to be important because it is directly relevant to current events and to my own creative practice today. In times of disruption, both political and personal, it can be very difficult for me to prioritize or see value in my artmaking. Covid-19 has caused me to feel both intense isolation as well as a heightened sense of interconnectivity to the world around me. It is important to remind myself that art is, and should be, a channel to work through these emotions as opposed to allowing current events to debilitate my creative process. Although it is easier said than done, these words help by reminding me that in order to move forward, I must adjust and react to the present environment and create work that is relevant to the moment for myself. Right now, it feels like the importance of my work is to share these strategies for adaptability, interdependence, and resilience with people in the community by facilitating space for community connection and collective action.

Nurturing Classrooms for Social Justice

August, 2020 Training workshop for graduate teaching assistants at The Ohio State University created & facilitated by KJ Dye and Michaela Neild of the Anti-Racist Working Group

This 2-hour workshop introduces social justice frameworks in dance education, inspired by and branching from the work of dance educators and scholars, social justice leaders, and creative thinkers such as Paulo Freire, Lisa Landreman, Dr. Nyama McCarthy-Brown, Sheila Kerrigan and many others. During our workshop we use the Critical Reflection Framework which requires reflection in relation to past and future action, asking our participants to move from "What" to "So What" and "Now What?" Critical reflection adds onto critical thinking by asking participants to think about their practices in the classroom and then challenging them to pause, examine their thinking, and strategize future actions.

Using this framework, we examine traditional "banking methods" often used in studio technique classes and offer student-centered and decentralized approaches to dance education. This includes the examination of syllabus statements, culturally relevant teaching strategies, diversification of class materials, project-based learning and collaborative activities, and co-creative feedback forms. Additionally, we provide space for individual and community reflection through the use of check-in and check-outs, interdependence activities, and exercises for analyzing social overtones and their effects on identity in the classroom.

This workshop is for those interested in nurturing their classrooms for social justice. It is important to note that we do not see ourselves as experts, and offer a space for all participants to learn and share resources together as a community.

Covid, Community, and Culture : A Virtual Exchange with Move-Ex @ OSU

In January of 2020 a faculty mentor introduced me to the nonprofit and U.S Embassy sponsored organization, Movement Exchange. Movement Exchange was founded in 2010 by Anna Pasternak and is dedicated to uniting dance and service both domestically and internationally through its network of university chapters, international dance exchanges, and year-round programs in underserved communities with affiliates in Panama and Brazil. Now, four months later, The Ohio State University has officially established a chapter of its own. The OSU chapter body consists of students ranging from undergraduate freshmen to graduate students; from dance majors to students majoring in mathematics, social work, clinical psychology, strategic communication, and exercise science; and from varying ranges of training experience including hip-hop, classical Indian dance, Russian Folk dance, ballet, modern dance, contemporary, and more.

But, with Covid-19 prohibiting in-person activities and international travel for the foreseeable future, what does community engagement in the arts--specifically movement--look like? In an age where screens overwhelm the walls in our restaurants and instagram replaces the counting of sheep before we sleep, I like to believe that there is hope and potential for adaptation.

On May 16th, 2020 Movement Exchange hosted its first-ever "virtual exchange" through the Carmen Canvas Zoom platform. Classes included improvisation, salsa, classical Indian dance, breakdance, ballet, and Panamanian dancehall; and dancers joined the exchange from all over the United States, Colombia, New Zealand, Panama, & Spain. In addition to the virtual exchange, Movement Exchange also offers free weekly classes on Instagram Live.

I had the pleasure of taking Classical Indian technique with instructor Supna Jain and participated from the comfort of my makeshift studio/office. This summer was supposed to be filled with teaching and taking dance classes in Panama, and learning about and exchanging culture through embodiment. Although I never imagined I'd be in front of a screen to do my research and engage in community, I am thankful for the opportunity to still be learning, growing, and moving with Movement Exchange.

With face masks, social distancing, and plexiglass shields taking over our daily lives, the future of community-engagement looks dismal. However, I like to think that we are more equipped today to tackle these challenges than ever before. With a digital spin on dance education, we are able to access and collaborate with communities from all over the world with a few keystrokes and some wifi. What happens, though, for those without wifi access? How do we dance a duet without touching? How do we keep our chapter members and their students safe? These are some of the challenges on the horizon for the OSU Move-Ex chapter. Luckily, the diversity within OSU's chapter body leads me to the belief that we have a plethora of unique insights which offer an innovative, multidisciplinary approach to creative problem solving. Covid-19 is affecting every community across the globe, although some communities worse than others. By coming together we have the potential to use this experience to uncover new ways of exploring dance, learning about culture, and building community that we otherwise may have never explored. In the meantime, as we strategize ways of offering service, it is important to remember that there are forms of service that do not require in-person activities. Advocacy, deliberative dialogue, philanthropy, socially responsible behavior, diversifying elements of daily life (e.g. the foods we eat, the friends we make, the books we read, the businesses we support) and formal political activities such as voting, are all valuable ways of contributing to social change that can be done at any time, pandemic or no pandemic. The future is uncertain, but what is certain is that we will all have to rebuild our lives and our communities. Now we have to envision what that rebuilding will look like, and take steps toward that vision through our actions.

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