Dancing after homelessness

ABSTRACT

Dance as an artform touches the biopsychosocial dimensions of people and as such is increasingly used as a vehicle to improve the quality of life of diverse populations in the community. Yet little is known about how dance classes are experienced by marginalized populations. The purpose of this action research was to explore the potential of dance to contribute to the recovery of women having experienced homelessness. The objectives were to describe: 1) the artistic content (the ‘what’) and the pedagogical approach (the ‘how’) of the classes, and 2) the experiences of all the people involved in the action research (women, workers at the women’s home, dance facilitators and researcher). Over a three-year period, weekly classes were offered in a women’s home. Data was collected through individual interviews, focus groups and observations. A thematic analysis revealed eleven categories of dance activities which were subsequently associated with indicators of recovery. The pedagogical approach was driven by a set of values clearly embedded in the classes; the facilitators deployed numerous adaptations to answers the women’s needs. Sufficient evidence supports the claim that dance is a promising practice for individual women’s process of recovery. Implications for future research and practice are discussed.

KEYWORDS:

• Dance for health
• homeless
• dance pedagogy
• adapted dance

Acknowledgments

The authors would like to thank the women who participated in the classes, the director and the coordinator of the Women’s Home, Florence Portes et Nicole Graffe. Many thanks also to the facilitator Élise Hardy for her enormous contribution. Finally, thank you to Lucie Beaudry who commented on a draft of this paper.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Note that the dance program is still offered in 2019 and 2020 but this article only covers the period of data collection for the first four sessions.

2. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-e-obRqVod4X01uZmI0bWxRZkU/view

3. Mainly inspired by accessible indicators of recovery from https://aqrp-sm.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/05/partenaire-v16-n1.pdfhttp://www.cremis.ca/publications-et-outils/dossiers/savoirs-dintervention-en-itinerance

4. https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B-e-obRqVod4X01uZmI0bWxRZkU/view

5. https://recoveryinthebin.org/

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council under Grant 180951, and Fonds de recherche du Québec under Grant AUDC_ 263184 FRQnet.

Notes on contributors

Sylvie Fortin

Sylvie Fortin (PhD) is professor at the Dance Department at the University of Québec in Montreal, Canada. She has conducted numerous interdisciplinary research projects involving dancers and non-dancers with varying bodily issues. Using both dance and the Feldenkrais Method, she has worked consistently with professional dancers, children and adults with diverse issues such as fibromyalgia, depression, eating disorders, neuromuscular and degenerative diseases, as well as homelessness. She is known as a prolific author of articles and book chapters in numerous scientific and professional journals.  Her international recognition as a researcher and practitioner has led her to conduct workshops in Africa, the Americas, Asia, Australasia and Europe.