School of Dance
Amount Awarded: $10,110.00
Awarded for 2017-18
Title: School of Dance Wellness Conference: Innovative Practices
Seeking funds to host a five-day Wellness Conference in the School of Dance. Scheduled for January 2018, this conference will be the first of its kind, offering diverse methods for approaching wellbeing. The project will bring internationally renowned artists, researchers and healers: Michelle Boulé (NYC), Jesse Zaritt (University of the Arts) and Debra Clydesdale (Somatic Experiencing Practitioner). Their involvement will include: panel discussions, lecture-demonstrations, a performance and inclusion in the School’s studio and lecture classes.
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It is with deep gratitude that we submit our final report and thank the council for awarding funds for the School of Dance: Wellness Conference. The updated name of the project became School of Dance: Wellness Immersion. We felt that the word immersion created a more substantive and focused engagement with complex ideas, investigating wellness in a multifaceted manner. Along with this letter, we are including a link to the performance footage and additionally, the financial documentation. The summary of the Immersion (from our application) is as follows: a five-day forum designed to approach wellness holistically, to broaden one’s understanding of emotional health, and to welcome diverse methods of approaching wellbeing within an artistic context. The Immersion was created in an effort to address the needs of the student body and to emphasize wellness within our School’s curriculum. The primary objective of the project was to infuse the School of Dance with new ideas and transformational research/practices that allow students and faculty to work together to create an environment where the whole person can thrive.
The three out of town guests (Michelle Boulé, Jesse Zaritt, and Debra Clydesdale) taught movement classes throughout the undergraduate and graduate curriculum in both programs, presented lectures on trauma and the body, participated in panel discussions (moderated by Assistant Professor Kate Mattingly), performed solo works, and visited seminars as guest speakers in classes such as: Senior Capstone and Graduate Teaching Methods.
The expectation of the Wellness Immersion was to provide all participants with strategies for becoming “ethically charged artist-citizens” (Zaritt). In the newly formed School of Dance, we are building our culture of wellness and relationships within collaborative projects such as this. Serving all students and faculty within the School, this project provided a map for responsible, empathetic citizenry, and entrepreneurial skill building that has had a life and impact beyond the Immersion itself. Feedback from the Immersion has been extraordinary, with both students and faculty members noting how impactful the week was. Here is a reflection from one student post-Immersion:
The wellness week served as an informative, enlightening time to think about holistic wellness for me. In my early dance training, there was an enforced mentality that technicality should be prioritized above all else. The final product was more important than someone's health and well-being, and health and wellbeing should be sacrificed for the sake of a good performance. To be able to work with these artists who have clear wellness practices and then see them also have enlivening, vibrant movement practices, helped to remind me that wellness is part of technique and artistry. I also felt like many of the conversations we had surrounding wellness during the week resulted in actionable, tangible ways to create change. I appreciated this, as sometimes I will be involved in a conversation about wellness that just labels problems without offering solutions as to how to fix them. Being reminded that we can both recognize issues we may be having and also do something about those issues was a refreshing way to talk about wellness for me. I left the week feeling more conscious and empowered (Junior, Modern Program).
The budget went as originally proposed. Please see the Financial Report for final details. Grant money from the Council of Dee Fellows also paid for guest instructors: Jennifer Ellen Mueller (yoga), Tom Welsh (Kinesiology), Carl Rabke (Feldenkrais), Erin Geesamen-Rabke (Feldenkrais). These guests co-facilitated break out discussions with the three out of town guests and taught within the Modern Program’s curriculum in classes such as Freshman Technique and Kinesiology.
Another key objective of this project was to enhance the teaching practices of both applicants. Molly’s teaching and research investigates performance as a cathartic act and the relationship between physical expression and emotion. The information presented in the Immersion expanded her teaching approaches within studio and lecture courses. Molly is also pursuing her certification in Somatic Experiencing (SE). Guest artist Debra Clydesdale is a SE Practitioner and her expertise within the field provided Molly with valuable resources. Much of Pamela’s teaching has somatic underpinnings as a way to holistically engage students in the learning process. Some of Pamela’s research investigates the interplay between somatics, anatomy/kinesiology, and artistry. The information presented in the Immersion provided Pamela with different ways in which to she could approach these aspects of her teaching and research.
We thank the Council of Dee Fellows for supporting this project. The Immersion provided the School of Dance with transformational tools and resources to embody, integrate, and honor wellness.
Link to the performance footage: https://www.dropbox.com/sh/55t1q7va0l9witm/AAB2AGtJZF7NQ5Q8ef3nefyTa?dl=0