Free To Be Me! Andean Dance Performance Demonstration for Decoloniality and Movement

• In Event: Moving Toward Liberation: Somatic, Decolonial, and Queer Pedagogies in Dance Education

Abstract

This paper presents a reflexive-ethnographic study on dance as a fundamental educational practice. Based on the author/artist’s Andean dance cosmovision, the accompanying performance demonstrates how all humans are danzantes, in constant movement, manifesting harmony or disharmony with Pachamama (Mother Earth). As McCutchen says “Educational Dance” (2006, p. 526) is foundational to the mind-body connection. This performance is narrated in part by another presenter emphasizing the importance of how storying themselves through dance inspires a holistic and culturally informed method to access their own “emotional truths” (Author, 2019, p.4). The results of the study posits that dance leads to critical problem solving, especially in young students as they create movement representing their stories, and helps decolonize their minds and bodies (Author/Artist 2024).

Authors

• Ambika Gopal Raj, California State University - Los Angeles

• Alicia Moseley, Cal State Los Angeles