Movement as a Site of Knowing Futurity

• In Event: Archiving Art as a Legacy to Preserve Pasts/Futures

Abstract

In the words of Snowber (2012), “Dance is the invitation to reclaim an embodied–the entrance to our knowing that is filled with a lifetime of mystery and magic” (p.58) Beginning with a solo movement improvisation exercise, the artist will ask the audience to recall words that reflect their interpretation of the past. The artist will express those words through their own movement. Then, the artist will invite the audience into a movement improvisation exercise that asks the audience to articulate their own movements that represent the present. Lastly, the artist will invite the audience to improvise collectively on how they interpret the present – bodies moving in the space in tandem and juxtaposition. After the brief exercise, the artist will ask the audience to reflect: How does the body (re)member (Dillard, 2016)? What stories are we telling? How is the body reimagining categories and boundaries? What new futures did our bodies dream together? Movement is a powerful site of inquiry, an embodied way of knowing, an incisive form of social critique, and a method for futurity.

Author

• Cierra Kaler-Jones, Rethinking Schools