L’IMAGINAIRE MOUVEMENTÉ DES MOTS
Dance as a pedagogical tool
Danse Carpe Diem/Emmanuel Jouthe plans to meet with young people aged 8 to 11 for a mediation project that gives a pedagogical dimension to contemporary dance through practice and with its interactive aspect at the forefront.
It is in this vein that the concept for L’IMAGINAIRE MOUVEMENTÉ DES MOTS was developed. This project engages in a dialogue rarely explored with schoolchildren, involving a closer and more individually focused relationship with words, movement, and their originators.
The project at its heart is about bringing CORPS DE TEXTE, and the basis of its experience, to groups of young people. First produced by the company in 2016, CORPS DE TEXTE sets words, excerpts from novels, poems and other literary works to movement, in 3-4-minute solos. These solos are then danced for children as one-on-one encounters between a dancer and student, who experiences the solo being danced for him or her alone. The proximal rapport and contact established with the dancer bring to life a singular experience, as the students become engaged in exploring kinaesthetic bonds driven by dance and words. The children are not simply offered something that elicits their gaze and primal response, but solicits a broader sensory spectrum. Thus, they become an integral part of the piece, they participate with their bodies in its performance. This process allows for a democratic relationship with art and hence, its demystification.
CORPS DE TEXTE can act as a medium for children to interact with a dance piece in their own way. With L’IMAGINAIRE MOUVEMENTÉ DES MOTS mediation activity, Danse Carpe Diem/Emmanuel Jouthe pushes its mandate further by engaging children in a dialogue using dance and words, at a time when the very shape and nature of human communication is undergoing upheaval. L’IMAGINAIRE MOUVEMENTÉ DES MOTS is an activity for young people to set words to movement for themselves, and become acquainted with their own issues and concerns through their engagement with others. Themes in the texts used for the activity are to be chosen by school teachers and will address students’ concerns and preoccupations (intimidation, hyperactivity, relationships with others, play, friendship, feelings, etc.). Children will be given the exercise of writing a haiku that they will then put to movement.
This use of dance as a pedagogical tool is doubly beneficial, helping children to better understand contemporary dance and its creative process, while valuing dance as something that can feed one’s identity in a positive way and offer individual children a new expressive outlet.