The novelty of improvisation: towards a genre of embodied spontaneity

Improvisation has often been viewed and valued in terms of its service and resemblance to scripted traditions of theatre. Such a stance seriously undermines the significance and impact of this global performance modality, and has resulted in improvisatory modes being largely ignored or downplayed in modern historical accounts of theatre. This dissertation examines improvisation on its own terms, seeking to understand its unique features, functions and potentials, while freeing it from the heavy shadow of its scripted counterpart. To this end, the theories of literary critic, Mikhail Bakhtin, provide important methodological guideposts and allow the silhouette of the improvisational impetus to take form. Through the application of Bakhtin\u27s concepts of the chronotope, prosaics, polyphony and the carnivalesque, and his overarching schema of the genre as a way of seeing and experiencing the world, the communicative event of improvisation is revealed to be strikingly similar to Bakhtin\u27s preferred model, the modern novel. In this manner, the novelty of embodied spontaneity is uncovered. This heightened understanding of the improvisational impetus is considerably enriched through a detailed consideration of a diverse field of spontaneous movements that span numerous regions, periods and socio-political contexts. In addition to more widely recognized theatrical movements, such as the Roman mime, Italian Commedia dell\u27Arte, Augusto Boal\u27s Theatre of the Oppressed, Viola Spolin\u27s Theatre Games and Keith Johnstone\u27s Theatresports, the inclusion of lesser known (and marginal) practices, such as Japanese renga, Nigerian Apidan and Jacob Levy Moreno\u27s psychodrama, further elucidates and complicates improvisation\u27s generic qualities

GSEP Research Symposium Proceedings - 2024

The 8th Annual GSEP Research Symposium, was themed Dismantling Barriers between Research and Practice: Shining a Light on Global Interdisciplinary Solutions, took place on July 18-19, 2024, at the picturesque Château d\u27Hauteville in Saint-Légier-La Chiésaz, Switzerland. The annual symposium is hosted by the Pepperdine University Graduate School of Education and Psychology (GSEP). The symposium served as a dynamic platform for students, faculty, alums, and staff to come together and explore innovative ideas across multiple disciplines. Featuring 69 selected presentations under five distinct tracks, the proceedings showcase groundbreaking research, foster meaningful discussions, and promote professional development. The symposium aimed to bridge the gap between research and practice, highlighting GSEP\u27s commitment to academic excellence and the pursuit of knowledge. The proceedings include comprehensive abstracts and references, offering insights into the diverse and impactful research presented during this enriching two-day event.https://digitalcommons.pepperdine.edu/gsep_symp/1000/thumbnail.jp

Funk What You Heard: Hip Hop Is A Field of Study

The complete general issue of volume 9 issue 1

USING DRAMA THERAPY TO FOSTER PEER SUPPORT AMONG NURSE LEADERS

This study explored the use of drama therapy to support the social-emotional experiences of nurse leaders at a mid-sized regional hospital system in the Southeastern United States. Nurse leaders have experienced profound changes to their work environments in recent years and burnout has been at an all-time high among healthcare workers globally. Organizational supports for nurses and nurse leaders are both inadequate to meet the needs and under-resourced. The research questions explored 1) whether the drama therapy peer support initiative improved outcomes and 2) whether there was a significant relationship between measures, and 3) what nurse leaders described as facilitators and barriers to participation. To answer these questions, pre- and post- surveys were sent to nurse leaders (N = 32) who participated in the drama therapy program. Survey measures included Maslach Burnout Inventory-HSS, Toronto Empathy Questionnaire, and WHO-5 Wellbeing Index. The validated measures were helpful for providing baseline data that could uniquely inform the development of future support programs for nurse leaders at the study site. In addition to the quantitative measures, participants responded to brief qualitative questions on the pre- and post- surveys related to experiences, barriers, and facilitators associated with the initiative and the topic of peer support generally. Facilitator field notes were analyzed to assist with qualitative analysis and interpretation of data

California Institute of Integral Studies -- Catalog 2012-2013

This is the 2012-2013 catalog of courses, staff and faculty for the California Institute of Integral Studies (CIIS)https://digitalcommons.ciis.edu/academiccatalogs/1024/thumbnail.jp

BC Law Magazine Spring/Summer 2012

https://lawdigitalcommons.bc.edu/bclsm/1079/thumbnail.jp

Managing art projects with societal impact : study book for students, stakeholders and researchers

This publication is an outcome of a joint co-writing effort created together with several researchers: Riikka Anttonen, Victoria Ateca-Amestoy, Kaisa Holopainen, Tanja Johansson, Annukka Jyrämä, Anne Karkkunen, Kaari-Kiitsak Prikk, Kristina Kuznetsova-Bogdanovitš, Mervi Luonila, Juko-Mart Kõlar, Beatriz Plaza, Kätlin Pulk, Tiina Pusa, Anna Ranczakowska-Ljutjuk, Marge Sassi, Ira Stiller and Anne Äyväri. We have each contributed to the building and commenting on the chapters, not only within our fields of expertise but conjointly and collectively throughout the Study Book. The book is based on our joint activities within Managing Art Projects with Societal Impact (MAPSI) – project in EU Erasmus+ Lifelong learning –programme (201-32016). MAPSI joins five organizations that each bring into the project their special expertise; Estonian Academy of Theatre and Music, Estonian Business School, Laurea University of Applied Sciences, Sibelius Academy of the University of the Arts Helsinki and Universidad del País Vasco / Euskal Herriko Unibertsitatea UPV/EHU (for more information about the project please see http://www.mapsi.eu/). During the project we have learnt to question each other, reflect together, and jointly create new knowledge across the different fields of experiences. The Study Book highlights this process way of working. The aims of MAPSI project were: • To create a specialization module in master programs in management of artistic projects with societal impact • To create an international network focusing on educating cultural managers and facilitators to manage and mediate artistic and cultural projects with societal impact. • Create an innovative field of specialization in the context of art/cultural management master’s programmes that train the future managers and mediators for artistic projects with societal impact • Develop new teaching materials and content of high quality that contribute to the European arts/cultural management education • Build up a conception of new integrated models for interactive study and internships This Study Book is one way to respond to these aims. The book is particularly called a ‘study book’, aiming not to give direct answers, but to open avenues for students and practitioners to reflect and learn to create their own way of managing art project with societal impact. The book provides analysis of the current practices, skills and the competences need for successful interaction between art and society. It contains multiple cases and examples as well as theoretical perspectives and tools for managers to build up their knowledge, competences and skills to manage art projects with societal impact. Yet, as we firmly believe that there is never only one right way to do 4 this, we do not provide only one way or a model to apply, but various perspectives to create one’s own model or models that could work in some specific contexts and circumstances. The key target group of the Study Book is students in arts management, social studies, arts, or economics interested in the field where art is used for societal engagement. We also believe that it contributes to the people already working or aiming to work in art projects or organizations with societal impact. We hope that our readers will not only acquire answers but also new questions; new knowledge and new perspectives building further the content of the book

The disruptive aesthetic space: Drama as pedagogy for challenging pre-service teacher attitudes towards students with disabilities

© 2013 Dr. Jo-Anne RaphaelIncreasingly throughout Australia and internationally, there has been a movement towards the inclusion of students with mild to severe disabilities in regular classrooms. This has led to an increased need to ensure that regular teachers are adequately prepared to teach inclusively. This study brings together pre-service teachers and their lecturers with members of a community-based theatre company for people with intellectual disabilities. In a reversal of the usual relationship, the people with intellectual disabilities, working with the researcher, lead the pre-service teachers and lecturers in drama workshops with a focus on teaching for diversity, in which they learn with and from each other. The workshops explore the education experiences of students with disabilities and inclusive education through practical activities involving applied drama, group activities and reflection. This is a qualitative study that describes the nested relationship of three research methodologies that fit one inside the other and work together to inform research questions articulated as a shared research vision: teachers and people with disabilities working together in drama to foster enhanced understanding of teaching for diversity. The primary and overarching methodology is reflection on practice. The researcher as reflective practitioner spans the worlds of the theatre company in the role of workshop director, and the university in the role of teacher educator. The workshops have been repeated over five years and data was collected in three of these years allowing for a participatory action research approach. This second methodological approach opened a communicative space in which all those involved in the teaching and learning practice have a right to speak and act in transforming things for the better. The third approach is that of arts-based research, where drama strategies within the workshops serve both as pedagogy and a mode of inquiry. The drama workshop as an embodied, cognitive and affective pedagogical encounter is considered and explored using post-structural concepts as tools to disrupt habits of thinking about practice. Analysis of the data reveals how elements of discomfort and disorientation, as well as shared experiences of beauty, grace and laughter, are significant. The disruptive aesthetic space of the workshop is understood ultimately as a creative space of transformation in which participants are stirred into new understandings about disability and inclusive education. The thesis contributes to the body of research that considers the place of the arts-based encounter, affect and aesthetics in transformative learning. It has a particular contribution to make to the question of how we might disrupt negative or limiting attitudes that teachers sometimes hold towards teaching students with disabilities. It offers an example of a kind of transformative pedagogy that may inform other educators within higher education contexts, and in the professional development of adults, when pedagogies that can disrupt hegemonic attitudes are needed. This research contributes to understandings about people with disabilities: their desire to contribute to preparing pre-service teachers for inclusive education, and their capability of making an effective contribution. It concludes that people with disabilities should be central within both the pedagogical and research processes