A Somatic Ethnography of Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group
Lead Research Organisation:
University of Sunderland
Department Name: Media
Abstract
The research is a partnership between Sunderland University and Equal Arts. It aims to contribute to the debate about how we can better understand the impacts, for individuals and for society, of engaging in arts and cultural activity. It looks in particular at dance and ageing, and takes as a case study an Elders dance group, Grand Gestures. This group of men and women aged 57 to 87 meet for a weekly dance class, perform as a dance company, and also share their skills as volunteers in residential care homes, where they work with people with dementia. The researcher, an older dancer herself, will participate in, observe and interview the dance group over a five month period. The investigation focuses in particular on the significance of bodily awareness senses such as touch, sense of movement (kinaesthetic sensation), sense of where the body is located (proprioception), and physical empathy within the dance group's activity, their individual and personal development, and their interactions with others, including dance interactions and wider civic and social engagements. These sensory aspects of dance are an important and tangible aspect of the experience of dancing, but are not often talked about or evaluated, and the project aims to find some creative new ways of 'speaking' of them not just through words, but also through performance and other media such as film. It will also reflect on the potential usefulness of its particular approach for the evaluation of arts and cultural activity.
Planned Impact
Who will benefit from this research?
1. Equal Arts (project Partner), a third sector organisation.
2. Public and private sector organisations working in partnership with Equal Arts: primarily residential care homes, but also sheltered accommodation schemes, GPs and hospitals, community venues, arts and cultural venues, local authorities, and a range of older people's organisations.
3. Arts organisations and artists working in the fields of creative ageing, particularly dance and ageing.
4. Members of Grand Gestures Dance Group.
5. The wider ageing population.
How will they benefit?
The project partners, Equal Arts will benefit in the following ways:
By helping to fomulate a specific language through which to talk about elders dance and its value, the research will help to raise the profile and status of Equal Arts' field within academic, scientific and health communities and the population at large.
It will provide an academic focus and support to the work.
It will help to inform their training and support for artists.
It will offer new channels for the dissemination of information regarding the role of movement and its potential value for the ageing population.
It will offer new approaches to evaluation.
It will consolidate its partnership with the University of Sunderland to their mutual benefit in devising further collaborations for research with social and academic impact.
Public and private sector organisations will benefit as follows:
There will be a direct benefit to the residential care homes that work with Grand Gestures from the group's engagement in reflective practice, coming from their enhanced skills. This will benefit both residents and care staff in receipt of training from Equal Arts.
Arts organisations and artists will benefit as follows:
The project will contribute to ongoing debates about the nature
and value of dance for elders, and to raising the profile of this work.
This will have International and national impact through Equal Arts' networks (e.g. Creating a New Old (Dublin); The Dance Exchange (USA), MADE (Mature Artists Dance Experience); The Arts & Dementia Network. Through these networks there is the possibility for much wider social impact, nationally and internationally.
Members of Grand Gestures Dance Group will benefit as follows:
through the academic focus on and support of their work, the project will give these elder dancers opportunities to reflect on their creative practice and participate in the dissemination of results through workshops and performance, thus contributing to their wellbeing, quality of life and creative output.
The wider ageing public will benefit:
A direct contribution to the nation's health and culture comes with the dissemination of information about new approaches to ageing, alternative representations of what it means to be old, and the value of engaging in arts and cultural activity. This all has impact on the health and wellbeing of the ageing population, enhancing quality of life and creative output.
The researcher and research participants will benefit:
There is potential for skill sharing between researcher, artist and research participants. The researcher will deepen her ethnographic skill base and its sensory dimensions through engagement in this cutting-edge dance practice (informed, for example, by the artist's international links as a Winston Churchill Fellow).
Timescale
Many of the above impacts will be delivered within the timescale of the project, (January to May 2014), through the processes of the research and the initial publication of findings. Longer term impacts will be delivered through the development of the partnership between the University and Equal Arts, and through the Principal Investigator's continued development of this line of enquiry into future publications.
1. Equal Arts (project Partner), a third sector organisation.
2. Public and private sector organisations working in partnership with Equal Arts: primarily residential care homes, but also sheltered accommodation schemes, GPs and hospitals, community venues, arts and cultural venues, local authorities, and a range of older people's organisations.
3. Arts organisations and artists working in the fields of creative ageing, particularly dance and ageing.
4. Members of Grand Gestures Dance Group.
5. The wider ageing population.
How will they benefit?
The project partners, Equal Arts will benefit in the following ways:
By helping to fomulate a specific language through which to talk about elders dance and its value, the research will help to raise the profile and status of Equal Arts' field within academic, scientific and health communities and the population at large.
It will provide an academic focus and support to the work.
It will help to inform their training and support for artists.
It will offer new channels for the dissemination of information regarding the role of movement and its potential value for the ageing population.
It will offer new approaches to evaluation.
It will consolidate its partnership with the University of Sunderland to their mutual benefit in devising further collaborations for research with social and academic impact.
Public and private sector organisations will benefit as follows:
There will be a direct benefit to the residential care homes that work with Grand Gestures from the group's engagement in reflective practice, coming from their enhanced skills. This will benefit both residents and care staff in receipt of training from Equal Arts.
Arts organisations and artists will benefit as follows:
The project will contribute to ongoing debates about the nature
and value of dance for elders, and to raising the profile of this work.
This will have International and national impact through Equal Arts' networks (e.g. Creating a New Old (Dublin); The Dance Exchange (USA), MADE (Mature Artists Dance Experience); The Arts & Dementia Network. Through these networks there is the possibility for much wider social impact, nationally and internationally.
Members of Grand Gestures Dance Group will benefit as follows:
through the academic focus on and support of their work, the project will give these elder dancers opportunities to reflect on their creative practice and participate in the dissemination of results through workshops and performance, thus contributing to their wellbeing, quality of life and creative output.
The wider ageing public will benefit:
A direct contribution to the nation's health and culture comes with the dissemination of information about new approaches to ageing, alternative representations of what it means to be old, and the value of engaging in arts and cultural activity. This all has impact on the health and wellbeing of the ageing population, enhancing quality of life and creative output.
The researcher and research participants will benefit:
There is potential for skill sharing between researcher, artist and research participants. The researcher will deepen her ethnographic skill base and its sensory dimensions through engagement in this cutting-edge dance practice (informed, for example, by the artist's international links as a Winston Churchill Fellow).
Timescale
Many of the above impacts will be delivered within the timescale of the project, (January to May 2014), through the processes of the research and the initial publication of findings. Longer term impacts will be delivered through the development of the partnership between the University and Equal Arts, and through the Principal Investigator's continued development of this line of enquiry into future publications.
People |
ORCID iD |
| Patricia (Trish) Winter (Principal Investigator) |
Publications
Turner P
(2015)
Welcoming the Unknown Territory
in Animated Magazine
Winter, T.
(2015)
Grand Gestures: A Somatic Ethnography
Winter, T.
(2014)
A Somatic Ethnography of Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group
| Title | A Light Touch Impact Evaluation |
| Description | Grand Gestures Dance Collective, artist Paula Turner and Dr Matt Jenkins (Newcastle University) collaborated with Prof Trish Winter on an interactive performed 'light touch impact survey' as part of her inaugural Professorial lecture, 'Doing Culture' at the University of Sunderland, 28 September 2017. Woven together with the lecture, it offered a 'light touch' commentary on the idea of measuring culture and a reminder of our embodied, sensuous existence. This was a further development of the collaboration with Paula Turner, Grand Gestures, and Dr Matt Jenkins. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | 100 people attended the lecture/performance. Several attendees commented that it had made them think differently about cultural 'value' and measurement. |
| URL | http://www.grandgesturesdance.uk/blog/doing-culture-with-professor-trish-winter |
| Title | On My Count |
| Description | On My Count is a performance lecture by Grand Gestures Dance Collective with Prof Trish Winter (University of Sunderland) and Dr Matt Jenkins (Newcastle University), directed by Paula Turner. It was performed at the People Dancing International Conference at Tramway Glasgow on 4th October 2017. It is a further development of the working collaboration between Prof Winter, who both dances and lectures within the performance, and artist Paula Turner. It is a further exploration of the questions of Cultural Value interrogated in their AHRC project collaboration. It extends the collaboration to include another academic/performer, Dr Matt Jenkins, under the umbrella of Turner's Leverhulme Artists Residency at Newcastle University. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | An audience of 50 people were drawn from the conference attendees who included dance artists, teachers, dance organisations and managers from 15 countries. |
| URL | http://www.grandgesturesdance.uk/blog/on-my-count-dancing-with-data-questioning-culture |
| Title | On my Count |
| Description | On My Count is a performance presentation directed by artist Paula Turner (the lead artist on the research project) with Professor Trish Winter (PI) and Grand Gestures Dance Collective. It embodies and enacts findings of the research project as they have informed Turner's practice. It was performed at the Foundation for Community Dance 'People Dancing' International Conference, Tramway Glasgow, 2018 for an audience of practitioners and participants in the community dance sector. |
| Type Of Art | Performance (Music, Dance, Drama, etc) |
| Year Produced | 2017 |
| Impact | The performance was followed by questions and discussion about the themes of the research. |
| URL | https://www.communitydance.org.uk/DB/events-and-activities-archive/people-dancings-international-con... |
| Description | This research was undertaken with the Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group based in Gateshead in North East England, and in partnership with the charity Equal Arts. It has three aims: firstly, to contribute to a more nuanced understanding of cultural value by attending to the place of bodily ('somatic') sensation as an important part of the cultural experience of Grand Gestures; secondly, to identify ways of articulating somatic sensory experience - ways that will be both subtle and useful for the purposes of evaluation; and thirdly, to examine the usefulness of a 'somatic ethnographic' approach for the consideration of cultural value. Key Findings: 1. Grand Gestures has to be understood in relation to its political, cultural and artistic contexts; lottery funding; the 'elder arts' movement and the bodies of artistic work that converge in dance improvisation practices. 2. The cultural value of Grand Gestures is understood from multiple perspectives including those of the funders the Big Lottery, its parent organisation Equal Arts, the dancers and the artist. 3. Somatic sensation is a key element of Grand Gestures and the research identifies three key related aspects of the practice: the cultivation of heightened somatic awareness; connectedness; and 'being in the moment'. These feed directly into the individual and social values that are enshrined in the aims of the lottery funded Creativity Matters project that encompasses Grand Gestures. 4. The question of how to articulate the experience of somatic sensation for the purposes of evaluation was approached through the ethnographic investigation of how the members of Grand Gestures 'speak' of their somatic experience through writing, painting, drawing, pottery, photography and film. 5. The methodology of somatic ethnography brings some challenges but it also offers access to dimensions of cultural experience that can be missed by other methods of evaluation. |
| Exploitation Route | 1. in the cultural value debate, as a contribution to the AHRC cultural value project; 2. in the refinement of methods of arts and cultural evaluation (such as their impact on the AESOP framework, detailed elsewhere on Researchfish) 3. By the practice communities in elder arts/arts and health/ community dance: as a documentation and analysis of a distinctive model of practice. 4. By the project partner Equal Arts, to help them develop and evaluate their practice in elder arts. 5. By the project artist, Paula Turner, to help her reflect on, analyse and develop her model of practice. 6. By the project participants, Grand Gestures Elders Dance Group, to help them reflect on and better understand their practice. 7. In the provision of professional development training for artists working in participatory settings. |
| Sectors | Creative Economy,Education,Healthcare,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Description | Two reports have been written and submitted: the final project report that forms part of the AHRC Cultural Value Project; a 'Plain English' report speaking to the communities of practice around elders dance and participatory arts. Impacts arising from the reports, from dissemination and public engagement activities, and from the research process. 1. Use in the field of Arts Evaluation. As a result of reading the draft report, Tim Joss (AESOP) reports that he has modified some of the outcomes and categories of the AESOP framework for arts evaluation. 2. Use by the project partners, Equal Arts. The report is being used: • to disseminate information and methodologies in the elder arts regarding the particular role of movement and its impact on the bodymind and wellbeing of those involved. • to assist in formulating a specific language with which to talk about this work so allowing it to gain a greater acceptance within academic, scientific, and health communities and raising the profile of elder arts towards securing future funding to develop and extend the work. • It is feeding into the development of their training and support for artists, and approaches to evaluation. 3. Use by the project participants. • The participants have reported that the research has given them a reflective context within which to think, talk and express their opinions about their practice. This is an impact of the research process, rather than just the findings. 4.. Use by the project artist: The project artist has reported that the research process has given her a reflective framework within which to develop her work, and helped her to identify her model of practice. This is assisting her in developing her work, marketing it, communicating about it to clients in the care and education sectors, and developing funding bids. She has written about this in our joint authored article (Turner and Winter, 2015). In 2016 the project artist was awarded a Leverhulme Artist in Residence award, based in Newcastle University Geography Department. Her work there has allowed her to develop further her work as an artist researcher. 5. Use in the professional development and training of artists working in participatory settings. The research findings have been used in the development and delivery of short CPD courses by ArtWorks North East, and are informing the development of curriculum for a new University of Sunderland MA in Participatory Arts and Media. This will provide an opportunity for practitioners to engage in professional development at postgraduate level. The MA was validated in 2016. Teaching began in 2017 with a cohort of 9 students. The findings of the research project are used as a case study of practice-led research on the module 'Research and Praxis'. |
| First Year Of Impact | 2015 |
| Sector | Creative Economy,Education,Leisure Activities, including Sports, Recreation and Tourism,Culture, Heritage, Museums and Collections |
| Impact Types | Cultural,Societal |
| Description | ArtWorks |
| Geographic Reach | Local/Municipal/Regional |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The results of the research were used to inform the development of training courses for artists working in participatory settings. This was part of a University of Sunderland/ArtWorks North East project to develop continuing professional development courses for this sector. A set of pilot workshops with a regional scope were attended by six practitioners in the north east of England, and the PI contributed to these. As a result of the pilot, the University, funded by the Paul Hamlyn Foundation, is in the process of developing an MA programme, including a MOOC, which will be marketed internationally to practitioners, offering professional development in the fields of participatory arts and media. |
| URL | http://artworksalliance.org.uk/about-us/pathfinders/artworks-north-east/ |
| Description | Artist Development |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | There has been an impact on the development of the practice of the lead artist involved in the research. She has described this in a publication co-authored with the PI, in the magazine of her professional body, (Turner and Winter, 2015). The process of contributing to the research has improved her skill level: 'I have become clearer, bolder and braver about what I do' (2015: 26). It has contributed to her quality of professional life: 'I therefore get a sense of endorsement and of belonging to a wider realm, which is often lacking in the world of the freelance artist'' (ibid.). This artist works in participatory settings with, for example, care homes, hospices, people with dementia, active elders, and schools. She is also influential on international practice on elder arts, particularly through her status as a Churchill Fellow. The enhancement of her practice thus has repercussions for the practice, quality of life, and skill development of her project participants and for other practitioners in the field. These are international in scope, although impossible to quantify. In December 2016-December 2017 she has been Leverhulme Artist in Residence at Newcastle University Geography Department. In this role she has continued to develop her practice and engagement with academic research, and has worked with a wide range of people including university employees, academics, students, school children, and visitors. |
| URL | http://sure.sunderland.ac.uk/5785/ |
| Description | MA Participatory Arts and Media |
| Geographic Reach | Multiple continents/international |
| Policy Influence Type | Influenced training of practitioners or researchers |
| Impact | The MA was validated in 2016 and began to teach its first cohort of 9 students in October 2017. It is a little early to begin measuring impact, but the students are working and aspiring professionals in the field of Participatory Arts and Media and on graduation will be taking their practice out into communities. The MA is linked with a practitioner network, ArtWorks-U, and through these links practice is shared more widely. |
| URL | https://www.sunderland.ac.uk/study/creative-arts/participatory-arts-media/ |
| Description | Evaluation funding Jack Drum Arts |
| Amount | £8,100 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Youth Music |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2015 |
| End | 03/2017 |
| Description | Evaluation funding Phase II Jack Drum Arts |
| Amount | £13,650 (GBP) |
| Organisation | Youth Music |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 09/2017 |
| End | 08/2020 |
| Description | University QR |
| Amount | £34,494 (GBP) |
| Funding ID | CultureMap 2285 |
| Organisation | University of Sunderland |
| Sector | Academic/University |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Start | 05/2015 |
| End | 07/2017 |
| Description | Equal Arts |
| Organisation | Equal Arts |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Sector | Charity/Non Profit |
| PI Contribution | The project is disseminating information and methodologies regarding the particular role of movement and its effects on the bodymind and wellbeing of Equal Arts project participants. It is helping to formulate a specific language with which to talk about this work so helping it to gain a greater acceptance within academic, scientific, and health communities. This in turn will be beneficial in raising the profile of elder arts and in securing future funding to develop and extend the work. It is helping to inform Equal Arts' training and support for artists, and approaches to evaluation. It is assisting Grand Gestures to implement and adapt new practices and giving them a reflective context within which to think, talk and express their opinions. Giving the older artist and cultural participant agency in this way is key to Equal Arts' philosophy. The project gives Equal Arts voice and an academic focus as to how we talk about the changes that are implicit in the ageing process. To make change at all you first have to notice what is going on around you and inside you and this project has been instrumental in working with Grand Gestures as they change themselves and move to change society's attitudes and assumptions of what it means to age. |
| Collaborator Contribution | Access to Equal Arts offices and training rooms for participant interviews and discussions. Contributions to the expenses of elders to attend events/interviews connected to the project. Contributions to the expenses for elder dancers to attend relevant conferences and or to support Dr Winter in any presentations or related work. Participation in interviews directly related to the project by representatives of Equal Arts. Promotion of the project through Equal Arts' international and national networks. |
| Impact | Conference paper and performance: Winter, T. and Turner P. with Grand Gestures elders dance group: (2015) 'The Happening Generation: Elder dancers reinvent the Happening in neoliberal times', Media Communications and Cultural Studies Conference, University of Northumbria, 7-9 January. (multi-disciplinary: cultural studies and dance) Conference paper: Winter, T. (2014) Navigating the Experience of Ageing: The dance film 'Passing'. Society for Phenomenology and Media Annual Conference, University of Freiburg. (Interdisciplinary rather than multi-disciplinary) Conference paper: Winter, T. (2014) Dancing out of the Margins. Media Communications and Cultural Studies Conference, Media School, Bournemouth University. (Interdisciplinary rather than multi-disciplinary) Winter, T. and Turner P. (2014) Dancing, Researching and Ageing Invited presentation, Public Symposium, Women, Ageing, and Media Network, University of Gloucester. (Multi-disciplinary presentation. Disciplines: cultural studies and dance) |
| Start Year | 2014 |
| Description | Interface Symposium (National Glass Centre) |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | National |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The event was 'Interface Symposium -Arts Participation and Higher Education' 7th September 2016 at the National Glass Centre. Organised by University of Sunderland and Artworks Alliance (funded by Paul Hamlyn Foundation). The purpose of the symposium was to explore the relationship between art, participation and Higher Education, and the delegates were artist practitioners who work in participatory settings, and representatives from the Higher Education and Third sectors. Dr Trish Winter and artist Paula Turner gave a joint performed presentation to symposium delegates. The research project participants, Grand Gestures Dance Collective, also gave an accompanying performance. The talk offered reflections, from the point of view of the artist, on the process of working with an academic as part of a research project and aimed to demystify this process for other practitioners and inspire them to consider working in this way and exploring partnerships with HE. There was a lively discussion and many delegates suggested ideas for how they would like to work with academic researchers. 25% of delegates who returned feedback forms thought that this presentation was the 'most useful' thing about the conference. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2016 |
| Description | MeCSA 2014 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | The talk sparked questions and discussion afterwards. I was subsequently invited to speak at a public symposium (Women Ageing and Media Network, University of Gloucester). |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| Description | Performed presentation at 'People Dancing' conference |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | 50 people attended a performed presentation at the Tramway Glasgow, programmed as part of the International Conference 'People Dancing' (Foundation for Community Dance). Performers/presenters were Grand Gestures Dance Collective (the research participants) with Prof Trish Winter. The performance enacted some of the findings of the research as a stimulus and provocation for an international audience of practitioners in the community dance sector. It sparked questions and discussion afterwards. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2018 |
| URL | https://www.communitydance.org.uk/developing-practice/international-conference |
| Description | Public Wisdom 2015 |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | No |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Professional Practitioners |
| Results and Impact | The PI and project artist gave a talk at 'Public Wisdom 2015: Ageing Creativity and the Public Realm'. 100 people attended. The talk was followed by informal discussions with audience members. As a result, two cultural institutions, Tate Britain and BALTIC Gateshead expressed an interest in working with the project to engage their constituencies of arts practitioners and the wider public with the research results. They subsequently engaged as partners in a bid to AHRC for follow-on funding for impact and engagement. This was not funded, but we continue to work with them to find ways of taking the partnership forward. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2015 |
| URL | http://cubittartists.org.uk/2015/02/16/public-wisdom-2015-aging-creativity-and-the-public-realm/ |
| Description | SPM Conference Freiburg |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A talk or presentation |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | Talk sparked questions and discussion afterwards. Audience reported change in views. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://societyphenmedia.wix.com/socphenmedia#!---2012-program |
| Description | cultural value project blog |
| Form Of Engagement Activity | A magazine, newsletter or online publication |
| Part Of Official Scheme? | Yes |
| Geographic Reach | International |
| Primary Audience | Other academic audiences (collaborators, peers etc.) |
| Results and Impact | The article was published online. Not known yet. |
| Year(s) Of Engagement Activity | 2014 |
| URL | http://culturalvalueproject.wordpress.com/ |