Research Evaluation Report: The Confidence Project, Untold Dance Theatre, Bristol
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Fullagar, Simone
Griffith University Author(s)
Year published
2019
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I actually felt really quite powerful in my own right. I think that something that has changed within me. I feel bigger, I feel taller... And I think I articulate more confidently and with more authority. That’s how I feel. It contrasts from how I was feeling yesterday - that sense of extreme vulnerability - and how that can be transformed by movement. (Rachel, aged 67, post-workshop comment)
This report outlines the research evaluation process that was undertaken to explore the experiences of women participants who engaged in somatic movement workshops as part of ‘The Confidence Project’ - led by Victoria Hearne, Untold ...
View more >I actually felt really quite powerful in my own right. I think that something that has changed within me. I feel bigger, I feel taller... And I think I articulate more confidently and with more authority. That’s how I feel. It contrasts from how I was feeling yesterday - that sense of extreme vulnerability - and how that can be transformed by movement. (Rachel, aged 67, post-workshop comment) This report outlines the research evaluation process that was undertaken to explore the experiences of women participants who engaged in somatic movement workshops as part of ‘The Confidence Project’ - led by Victoria Hearne, Untold Dance Theatre, Bristol, and Karin Rugman, Bath Spa University (funded by the Arts Council England). Using arts-based qualitative methods (body mapping, interviews, reflective journals) the evaluation was developed collaboratively as part of the somatic workshop design (pre, post and follow up), while being conducted and analysed independently. The body mapping methodology was informed by a feminist approach to the creation of knowledge through embodied movement and shared insights about the gendered contours of ‘confidence’. The report documents how the experience of movement is gendered in ways that constrain and enable women’s confidence to move through the world. Second, how somatic practices enabled ‘shifts’ in women’s embodied knowledge and confidence to ‘take up space’ and move more ‘comfortably’ in the world (reduced pain, anxieties, tension and increased self-belief, expression and connection). Finally, how women experienced the care-full ethos of the workshop organization and facilitation both individually and collectively.
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View more >I actually felt really quite powerful in my own right. I think that something that has changed within me. I feel bigger, I feel taller... And I think I articulate more confidently and with more authority. That’s how I feel. It contrasts from how I was feeling yesterday - that sense of extreme vulnerability - and how that can be transformed by movement. (Rachel, aged 67, post-workshop comment) This report outlines the research evaluation process that was undertaken to explore the experiences of women participants who engaged in somatic movement workshops as part of ‘The Confidence Project’ - led by Victoria Hearne, Untold Dance Theatre, Bristol, and Karin Rugman, Bath Spa University (funded by the Arts Council England). Using arts-based qualitative methods (body mapping, interviews, reflective journals) the evaluation was developed collaboratively as part of the somatic workshop design (pre, post and follow up), while being conducted and analysed independently. The body mapping methodology was informed by a feminist approach to the creation of knowledge through embodied movement and shared insights about the gendered contours of ‘confidence’. The report documents how the experience of movement is gendered in ways that constrain and enable women’s confidence to move through the world. Second, how somatic practices enabled ‘shifts’ in women’s embodied knowledge and confidence to ‘take up space’ and move more ‘comfortably’ in the world (reduced pain, anxieties, tension and increased self-belief, expression and connection). Finally, how women experienced the care-full ethos of the workshop organization and facilitation both individually and collectively.
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© 2019 University of Bath. The attached file is reproduced here in accordance with the copyright policy of the publisher. Please refer to the publisher’s website for further information.
Subject
Sociology
Gender studies
Sport and leisure management
gender
dance
embodiment
body mapping method