Slowing down: performance in care homes and the practice of attunement

ABSTRACT

This article considers the type of attention that is particular to creative partnerships between performance practitioners and care homes. Drawing on the author’s practice, and the work of Manchester-based company Small Things, it advocates for ‘slower collaborations’ which take account of the individual qualities of a care community. It considers slowness as a quality of participation and a partnership model for artists and care homes. It explores how time and pace are experienced differentially by residents living with dementia, and suggests some ways in which artists might attend creatively to the different temporalities of everyday life in a care home.

KEYWORDS:

• Performance
• dementia
• care homes
• attunement
• slowness

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes on contributors

Nicola Hatton is Lecturer in Drama at the University of Winchester and a performance practitioner who works in health, social care, and other participatory settings. Her research is concerned with how artists respond to care spaces, with a focus on atmosphere, sound, and the relationship between creativity and care.

ORCID

Nicola Hatton http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7896-0197