Art in Action

Art Track: Movement – Dance – Theater

Movement-theater and dance provide a vital element to Art in Action trainings and productions. The experience of creating dance collectively generates personal empowerment and helps build a powerful sense of community between participants. Everyone becomes a choreographer! At Art in Action camps and workshops we teach a series of theater and trust-building games that we have developed over the years, which have evolved from many other sources and traditions, including Augusto Boal's Theater of the Oppressed work, yoga, modern dance techniques and Hip Hop. To create performances that include everyone, we have developed techniques we call: Solidarity Games, Dance Recipes and Democracy Dances.

Our performances invite the public to think and feel the underlying histories of personal and community stories. Dance is raw and direct. It has the power to touch peoples' hearts, deepening connections to passion and vitality for performers and audience alike. Socially-relevant shows have a ripple effect, where compassion for others multiplies, moving people to take action in their own lives. One of our exercises is called, "Not Gonna Let My Sister/Brother Fall." At Art in Action this is a theme that runs through our whole program -- "we got your back, we believe in you!" The Movement-theater/Dance Track teaches about the strength we create together through building community.