Choreographic pedagogies: towards an embodied practice

Abstract

Purpose

The purpose of this paper is to explore the inter-relationship between choreography and pedagogy. It refers specifically to a Participatory Action Research (PAR) project that dealt with investigations into performance making and the design of a teaching and learning model. Shifts from making performance from a pre-determined starting point to a participatory and interactive process are traced to reveal a “choreographic pedagogy” informed and transformed by the experience of its actors.

Design/methodology/approach

The paper includes a brief explanation of the terms and shared features of choreography and pedagogy, and how PAR facilitated a cyclic generation of new findings that drove the research forward. The research question is tackled through concepts, practices and tasks within the four cycles of research, each year with new participants, questions and expanding contexts.

Findings

The experience of the research participants reveals unexpected and “unfolding phenomena” that open up spaces for imagining, creating and interpreting, as a “choreographic pedagogy” in action.

Research limitations/implications

The research might appear to be limited to the areas of performance and teaching and learning, although it could provide a model for other subjects, especially for those that engage with creative processes.

Practical implications

The research is a “practice as research” model and has implications for research in education as a practice of knowledge exploration and generation.

Originality/value

It is original and has the potential to inform the ways in which educators explore and expand their disciplines through teaching and learning investigations.

Citation

Harrington, C. (2014), "Choreographic pedagogies: towards an embodied practice", International Journal for Lesson and Learning Studies, Vol. 3 No. 1, pp. 100-124. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJLLS-09-2013-0047