Memorials for lost environments: Participatory practice and minimal ethics

Participatory performance can respond to differing temporal and spatial perspectives of Anthropogenic climate change as an embodied practice of 'minimal ethics' (Zylinska, 2014). By taking up the theme of 'survival', performatively I explore questions of survival in relation to the individual and larger society through the survival of being-with as a 'new' modality for living on this earth and beyond our selves (Heidegger, 1996). I draw the Poetics of Failure (Bailes, 2011) and Schneider (2011) in the creation of performance rituals that activate presence through absence. This paper discusses the performance walk, Be for barefoot - A survival walk on Ocean Beach in Dunedin, Otago, as a mobile community enacting a memorial emerging from the remains of personal and environmental tragedy. The walking and sharing of stories of survival contributes to rituals of wellbeing as a way to create hope in the face of environmental uncertainty

Translating home: dance, cities and moments

Creative practices emerge in relationship with ecologies, spaces and sites, where culture meets geography, where the terrain of the city meets the behaviours of its streets. This article translates the way one dancer has made her home in dance. It is structured around a series of narratives and employs practices of experimental writing in an attempt to capture affective moments. The paradigms that interconnect and inform this writing include practice-led research, contemporary dance, inter-disciplinary studio practices, somatic methodology and dance in tertiary education. Relationships between practices of dancing and writing are at the heart of this paper, which explores how affective spaces created by processes and ecologies of dance might be translated to the page. These auto-ethnographic narratives do not claim to speak for any communities of practice or to map relationships between cities and dancers. Instead, they concentrate on a few specific moments out of many, in the hope that these moments may illuminate a sense of how ecologies of dance, place and community interweave, creating all manner of different kinds of dance-homes, bringing sensoriums of proprioception, touch, connection and listening to the worlds of our cities

Rehearsing democracy: Enhancing community through the interdisciplinary performance improvisation series 'Shared Agendas'

This article presents the inter-disciplinary improvised performance series Shared Agendas, an annual event at the University of Otago, Aotearoa New Zealand, as a vehicle for reinforcing effective democratic community interaction. I am referring to interaction that is inclusive, open, non-hierarchical, non-judgemental and socially responsive and responsible. In couching these inclusive spontaneous events as a form of academic meeting, where members work together to solve problems and find a common ground of understanding or agreement, I contend that the artists involved are practising the kind of socially concerned democratic process that we might wish for all groups, organisations or nation states worldwide. Dance therapist Adwoa Lemieux (1988) suggests that, within a danced improvisation, any difficulties and conflicts of interest are evident, physical, real, immediate and therefore immediately resolvable. In this form of community engagement, the conversation is directed towards co-operation, mutual sharing and communication between the performers, technical personnel and the viewers as active critical witnesses. Because of the intense engagement and preoccupation with the process by all participants, including the audience, this kind of performance meeting becomes what Schechner (1988) terms, a 'living entity' or microcosm of society. In describing this theatre of inter-relationship, I draw on the literatures of art and social justice theory, deep ecology, cognitive biology, somatics, perception psychology, education and dance in order to support this discussion

Dance as activism: The power to envision, move and change

This article contains discussion of two main themes relating to the role of dance as activism and the power of dance to envision, move and create change. The first theme concerns practices of doing feminist pedagogy in relation to art, the body and social change. The second theme explores ways in which dance as aesthetic activism is ‘haunted by meaning’. These themes intersect through a focus on dance and social justice, and community engagement and this article draws on keynote presentations given to different dance events while I travelled within Aotearoa, New Zealand as Fulbright Specialist in dance in 2015

Developing experiential openness and reciprocity in Viridian (2014), a cross-generational community dance experience and practice as research screendance project

This article presents 'Viridian', a practice as research, cross-generational screendance project. Drawing upon seminal research into the fields of somatic movement arts and community dance practice it will discuss how Viridian fostered an inclusive community dance experience, and one which sought to embrace difference and develop understanding of the potential we have to empower each other through experiential openness. It will discuss how Shin Somatic principles and processes were applied in the making of the dance film Viridian and, in specific, reference to how the project facilitated empathic listening and an inclusive community dance experience. Comments and reflections from the perspective of the performers will be included to give voice to their experiences and reflections on the creative process. At the heart of this practice as research project lays the proposal that somatic bodywork can resource wellbeing and develop greater awareness of the importance of being in movement and in contact with others as we age

Editorial

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"Zorba the Flashmobian": National communities go viral

In July 2015 a group of people gathered at the Syntagma Square in Athens, Greece, and performed the dance Zorba the Greek in a flash mob manner. The event was then uploaded on YouTube with the title The Greek soul is not in crisis: Greece hold your head high as a response to the bailout referendum (July 5, 2015) where although 61 percent of the Greek population voted NO to austerity measures, the Greek Prime Minister signed a new bailout package with the European Union implementing more severe austerity measures on Greece. In this article I explore flash mobs as novel urban phenomena that employ dance, new technological media, the element of unexpected spectacle and temporary performance site as a means of social mobilisation and political activism. In particular, I focus on the role of Zorba the Greek flash mob as a means of resistance and a medium of identity expression within the current socio-political and economic climate in Greece. Furthermore, I discuss the paradox of employing an ephemeral performative event, such as a flash mob, to project and affirm the Greek national identity - an identity that is perceived to have a diachronic value.

Bharatanatyam in New Zealand: A story of dance, diaspora and cultural change

Experiences of migration or diaspora has led to new predicaments for maintaining dance traditions (Ahmed, 2013; Brooks & Meglin, 2011). Current research is exploring how migrants learn to inhabit these new geo-political spaces. This paper will serve as a springboard for investigating how classical Indian dance forms such as Bharatanatyam plays a role in enhancing Indian identity in New Zealand.  The study employs a combination of dance ethnography and autoethnography as methodologies for examining how this dance is being practiced in the South Pacific city of Dunedin

Dance in/for /with/as/community: Re-defining community dance in 2015-16

An introduction to the community dance topics within this issueAt no time in history has there been more emphasis on community and culture than now - as we witness communities torn apart by war and the destruction of habitat. Suddenly, the terms social justice, ethical practices, indigeneity and cultural practices have become part and parcel of our conversations around community dance participation. How, we ask, can dance play a meaningful role in fostering healthy communities while also maintaining its status as a contemporary art within the wider community? The Moving Communities International conference on Community Dance, hosted by the Dance Studies programme at the University of Otago in November 2015, both embraced the diversity that is community dance and offered meaningful re-evaluation and critique of the profession as defined by writers such as conference attendee Diane Amans (GB) and the British Dance council. This issue contains a selection of articles arising from the conference presentations

I can only hope ...

As community dance advocates we believe in teaching and learning practices that enhance tolerance, diversity, dialogue, compassion and empowerment. Caroline Plummer (1978-2003), a student at the University of Otago, New Zealand, was a passionate advocate for community dance. This paper reflects on her life as a student in dance at the University of Otago and her legacy - the Caroline Plummer Fellowship in Community Dance. The paper outlines meanings of community dance as written about by Caroline and other scholars and notes emergent and ongoing issues