The body, the creative arts, and inclusion: A certified program experience “Find your own voice”

Abstract

The exploration and construction of creative spaces are essential for human beings, and allow for flexible individual and collective encounters in which the value of an individual‘s experience is not predetermined. The experiences and modes of expression of the participants are appraised in an environment in which the borders and paradigms of what one "should" do or how one "should" act are open. The creation of spaces where difference is valued and validated becomes a privileged pretext for the goal of inclusion, through which all of the participants can find, develop, and express themselves. This process has been conceived as a certificate program with the purpose of developing spaces of inclusion and encounter by placing the creative, sensitive exploration of the body at the centre. The creative arts allow us to be open to living experience and to the joy of the diversity. There have been two cohorts in the program, with a total of fifteen students, women, with ages between 20 and 35 years, from different backgrounds such as anthropology, preschool and special education, psychology, social and political studies, and the arts. We use methods such as DanceAbility, Biodanza, dance improvisation, music improvisation with the body, and voice and musical instruments, as well as storytelling and photography. The participants draw on their learning processes as a different way of understanding inclusion. They become better able to recognize their own creative nature and to apply their experience in their everyday work.