Moving parts in imagined spaces: community arts zone’s movement project

ABSTRACT

Movement is relatively invisible in literacy theory and pedagogy. There has been more recent scholarship on the body and embodiment, but less on connections between movements, body and literacy. In this article, we present the Community Arts Zone movement project and ways that the study opened up spaces for creativity, experimentation, and palpable identity mediation. Embodied space locates human experience within material and spatial forms. Drawing on Deleuze and Guattari’s rhizomal ontology and Lefebvre’s spatial theories, we examine how movement can be utilized to enliven pedagogy and to motivate people. During the research, classrooms, gymnasiums, and studio spaces became spaces that “the imagination seeks to change” by asking students to construct stories with their bodies. In the article, we present vignettes from our research study as telling instances showing the inherent strengths of movement as a form of literacy.

KEYWORDS:

• Embodiment
• space
• multimodality
• movement
• literacy
• identity
• collaborative practice
• phenomenology

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Notes

1. The research study has received ethical clearance from the Brock University Research Ethics Board (File # 13–016 Rowsell), the District School Board of Niagara, and the Niagara Catholic District School Board.

2. Pseudonyms are used throughout to protect the identity of participants and contexts.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada [Grant number 430-2013-1025].

Notes on contributors

Jennifer Rowsell

Jennifer Rowsell is professor and Canada Research Chair at Brock University’s Faculty of Education. She is co-series editor with Cynthia Lewis of the Routledge Expanding Literacies in Education Series and the digital literacy editor for The Reading Teacher. Her latest books are The Routledge Handbook of Literacy Studies, co-edited with Kate Pahl and Generation Z: Zombies, Popular Culture, and Educating Youth, co-edited with Victoria Carrington, Esther Priyadharshini, and Rebecca Westrup.

Glenys McQueen-Fuentes

Glenys McQueen-Fuentes (B.A., McGill; Diploma, Jacques Lecoq International School of Physical Theatre, Paris, France; MEd, Brock) just-retired, taught Acting (Physical Theatre), Directing, and Drama in Education as an associate professor, Brock University Department of Dramatic Arts for 28 years. Her research includes developing strategies for teachers to integrate movement and music throughout the curriculum. She is co-founder of www.dramasound.com, using movement and theatre techniques to enhance leadership, creativity, and interpersonal effectiveness training. She is fluent in Spanish and French.