Managing the spatialities of arts-based practices with school children: an inter-disciplinary exploration of engagement, movement and well-being

Atkinson, S.; Rubidge, T.

Abstract

Background and aims: The article aims to provoke new pathways within arts and health research that engage with the spatialities of arts-based interventions for building social and emotional well-being. We adopt an understanding of social and emotional well-being as a situated and relational effect rather than an individually acquired attribute. Methods: A social scientist and a choreographer both accompanied a mask-making workshop for exploring identity and body language with children aged 5 and 6 at a primary school in the North of England. Results: The collaboration generated an alternative emphasis on movement, rather than behaviour, as the focus of managing spatialities. Conclusions: The arts practitioner has to facilitate a balance of movements that, within the intended practices of the session, can be categorised as controlled, uncontrolled and improvised. This attention to movement enables a versatile conceptualisation of social and emotional well-being that is still situated and relational but also expressive of habituation and improvisation.

Citation

Atkinson, S., & Rubidge, T. (2013). Managing the spatialities of arts-based practices with school children: an inter-disciplinary exploration of engagement, movement and well-being. Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice, 5(1), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2012.693938

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Online Publication Date: Jun 20, 2012
• Publication Date: Feb 1, 2013
• Deposit Date: Oct 24, 2011
• Publicly Available Date: Jul 4, 2012
• Journal: Arts and Health: An International Journal for Research, Policy and Practice
• Print ISSN: 1753-3015
• Electronic ISSN: 1753-3023
• Publisher: Taylor and Francis Group
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 5
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 39-50
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/17533015.2012.693938
• Keywords: Space, Well-being, Movement, Practice, School children.
• Public URL: https://durham-repository.worktribe.com/output/1526319