Abstract
Memories Through Movement was a project documenting and sharing the stories of older Peabody, Kansas, residents to improve well-being and social connection through a collaboration between social research and movement. The project explored identity associated with place, based on older Peabody residents’ shared stories of their community heritage and brought together professional dance embodied researchers with older Peabodites to share and ensure their legacies. These dancers, along with choreographer Cheyla Clawson, volunteers from the local theatre, and local students worked together and Clawson conducted interviews and discovered themes of identity with participants. Interviewees were asked to share salient memories of the local theatre as well as memories of their home and land and their parent’s home and land. Memories Through Movement provided a necessary opportunity for older adults to find meaning through shared, deep reflection. Specific interview questions included (1) What do you remember about the Sunflower Theatre? and (2) What do you remember about the home and land you grew up on? After these interviews, Clawson reviewed the interviews and utilized qualitative software to discover themes that revealed patterns of similarity, disparity, and change among participants. Themes were utilized to create movement derived from these histories and a movement event/performance that captured, embodied, and shared these stories with the greater public with a performance by professional dancers was produced. Original music was composed by Dr. Susan Mayo, Peabody composer and musician, and performed by professional musicians joined by the Peabody/Burns High School choir and the Peabody/Burns Elementary Bucket Band.
Presenters
Cheyla ClawsonAssistant Professor of Dance; Associate Director of The School of Performing Arts, Dance, Wichita State University, Kansas, United States
Details
Presentation Type
Theme
The Arts in Social, Political, and Community Life
KEYWORDS
Community, Arts-based Research, Collaborative Research, Sociology and Dance, Aging Populations
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