Life-Changing Life Journeys through Artistic and Educational Inclusive Contemporary Dance Contexts

Abstract

This chapter presents a case study of two of the authors, Elen, a dancer, and Philip, a choreographer-teacher. It focuses on their experiences of change through long-term engagement in inclusive contemporary dance contexts, and how this participation has contributed to their quality of life. In this study, “inclusive contemporary dance context” refers to a dance community where differently bodied dancers, with and without disabilities, and little or much previous experience of dance, participate in and contribute to artistic and educational dance processes, often culminating in performances on stage. Individual meanings and shared themes are identified through holistic life story analysis of the two artists’ written stories completed for the study. Participants’ experiences are interpreted with the help of theory about aesthetic transformation and learning within a wider framework of dance art, dance education and quality of life.