Photo credit: Dharmendra Patel from FRONTLINEdance’s The Explorers
I am delighted to share that I’ve received a micro-commission from IVE to research & develop how to embed mindfulness into my practice for children and young people.
Over the past few years I have noticed a trend within all my sessions, regardless of the age or ability, that mental health has a real impact on young people’s approach to the sessions. I always start my sessions asking for a word for how they feel – recurrent words I received being tired, stressed, bad, ‘ngh’ or just a shake of the head. Naturally others are more positive, but the negative/unhappy words outweigh the positive on most occasions across most age groups. More often than not they cite mental health as a reason for participating in the sessions alongside the expected reasons to have fun, make friends and learn new skills. As we become increasingly aware of the importance of mental health I want to explore ways to embed mental health and mindfulness within my physical teaching practice and support the learning of my participants.
During the commission I will be:
- investing in resources to support my sessions and create safe spaces for children and young people
- undertake further training/research into mindfulness and meditation practice over the commission period that I can use in my own sessions
- hold space with fellow artists on one afternoon (and pay for their time) to share practice, talk about their lived experience and develop a bank of resources (playlists, stories, meditations) that I can then take forward and be shared on my website.
- testbed new learnings from the above four points within my regular sessions, working with children aged 4 – 18 on a weekly basis, to trial what works and how I can embed mindfulness and mental health into dance sessions as an integral part of the session – preventative rather than reactive.
Call out
I would like to hold space with four Leeds based movement practitioners who embed mental health, meditation, mindfulness or any other relevant skills into their practice with children and young people.
Date: Thursday 12th January 2023 (time tbc, but likely an afternoon held in a comfy location in Leeds.)
Fee: £60 for the two hour session
There’s no need to prepare before the session, although I will be actively collating the discussions and creating a resource after the session that I will share on the website by the end of January.
For transparency, I will be approaching a few artists that I am already aware of who work within this sphere, but wanted to open up to new connections.
If you would like to participate in the artist shared space, please drop me a line to charlotte.e.arnold@gmail.com with information about your practice and how it relates to mental health/mindfulness and movement by the end of November 2022.
Charlotte Arnold 