Choreographing Sustainability: Using Student-Generated Interests to Amplify Engagement
NDEO’s Guest Blog Series features posts written by our members about their experiences in the fields of dance and dance education. We continue this series with a post by Dr. Christi Camper Moore, Associate Professor of Dance and Head of Arts Administration, & Olivia Lybarger, Student, Ohio University. Guest posts reflect the experiences, opinions, and viewpoints of the author and are printed here with their permission. NDEO does not endorse any business, product, or service mentioned in guest blog posts. If you are interested in learning more about the guest blogger program or submitting an article for consideration, please click here.
Over the past several years, students have increasingly communicated a desire to explore issues of advocacy, social justice, and identity through their dance choreography. Students want agency in their current dance classes to generate creative work that has deeply personal connections, tells their story, or examines important social issues.
Perhaps, this is because movement offers a modality for students to engage with topics that are potentially hard to discuss or viewed as controversial. In our experience, these topics have included racial justice, gender identity, bodily autonomy, and women’s rights. Movement invention can investigate these ideas through physicality and artistic expression. In doing so, perhaps choreography offers a voice in spaces where some students might feel pressured to remain silent.
One example of a student-generated interest is environmental justice; specifically, considering how dance is used to understand and interpret environmental concerns within a specific region. As a dynamic and expressive art form, dance can play a unique role in raising awareness about the environment, while also contributing to conversations around sustainable practices within artistic production, consumption, and performance.
This blog reviews a semester-long choreographic investigation, developed and guided by movement research that focused on ecological balance, the human relationship with consumption, and the earth and its ecosystems. Olivia is an Environmental Studies major and Dance minor, and Christi is an Associate Professor of Dance. The authors were curious about an interdisciplinary collaboration between dance and other academic fields (such as environmental science, urban studies, and sustainability studies) and if such a collaboration could use choreography to amplify environmental sustainability at a community level.
This investigation was conducted in an honors tutorial (a specialized course that students in the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University create as a one-on-one intensive study with a specific faculty mentor). Together, we researched climate change and sustainability efforts in Appalachia and explored environmental activism through choreography. We were interested in choreography as a tool to foster ongoing dialogue among artist(s), experts in other disciplines, and community members who are also engaged with advocacy work. We hope that by sharing our process, we might offer readers insight into how movement can be used to amplify students’ expression, advocacy, and voice.
Exploring Connections
As an undergraduate student, Olivia generated the environmental justice topic. First, we considered how ecological and environmental themes are explored through movement. Dance often utilizes the human body in motion as a symbol of nature and environmental processes. For example, many Indigenous dance traditions are rooted in a deep connection with the natural world, and these practices offer important insights into sustainable living. Indigenous dance forms often emphasize the sacredness of the land, intergenerational knowledge about ecological stewardship, and respect for natural resources. Dance projects that honor these traditions can contribute to a more profound understanding of contemporary environmental challenges and foster a sense of collective responsibility for the planet.
Next, we examined choreographers whose work explored themes of social justice or environmental advocacy. We viewed site-specific dance pieces. For example, we watched River, choreographed and performed by artists Eiko and Koma. This work has been performed in bodies of water across the world and explores the human connection with the natural environment. Our choreographic inquiry also considered performances that specifically focused on raising awareness about issues such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and environmental justice. In addition, we studied choreographers whose works have been interpreted through an ecological lens, where the human body represents the relationship between humans and nature or whose works have incorporated themes of environmental degradation, climate change, and humanity's role in nature. Third, we read about how dance is used to communicate environmental justice ideas by facilitating connections to natural spaces. These readings included articles on site-specific dance, placemaking and social equity, and ecojustice approaches in dance education.
By studying, viewing, and reading from a variety of sources, cultures, and traditions, we began to better understand how choreography can be a tool for communication and activism. Finally, we translated our learning into movement-based research. Olivia workshopped and choreographed a duet that was ultimately shared with our university and local community. As we continue to experience the uncertainty of climate change and related policies, the role of dance, perhaps, becomes increasingly vital to examine what makes a healthy and stable planet.
Our explorations and connections surfaced five strategies that guided our collective work. These strategies aim to support students and dance teachers in choreographic idea generation and movement-based processes. We offer these in support of readers’ considerations for how to use choreography to amplify student voice, creativity, and engagement.
Five strategies to explore interdisciplinary, collaborative choreography with students
Strategy 1: Ask what students are passionate or curious about.
The choreographic process poses a unique opportunity: students can explore topics and ideas that they find deeply personal, relevant, or want to learn more about. Our dance learning spaces, regardless of location, age group, or ability level, can offer a creative outlet to pose questions, voice experiences, and express strengths and vulnerabilities through movement generation. As an environmental studies major, many of Olivia’s classes discuss existential issues that are overwhelming and weigh heavily on students. The process of creating this piece not only allowed her to explore environmental justice advocacy through dance, but it also gave her an outlet to process the issues through the lens of healing and empowerment. Within the confines of our class structures, time limits, and competing priorities, it can feel like a luxury to engage more deeply with students: we seldom have the time or space to do so. However, what if we simply started by asking our students what they are curious about? Or what feels hard to talk about or grapple with? Perhaps this exploration is valuable and could offer insights about how to shape our pedagogy in support of student creativity.
Strategy 2: Learn by doing.
Learning by doing is not simply about dance learning. Moreover, this learning is not guided by simply teaching the tools of choreography or offering a structured composition task to complete. Instead, this process centers student engagement to actively explore depth of content in both practical and imaginative ways. We believe that dance education can amplify choreographic interests that support students’ education, extending what is deemed as viable/valuable choreographic projects in our curricula. We also believe that dance can accomplish this in ways that deeply engage students with their own learning about issues that impact our communities/world. By making the choreographic process an exploratory collaboration, and one that can be guided by students’ interests, we situate the body as the vehicle for deep learning. In turn, this process empowers students beyond the “make a dance” mentality, encouraging them to engage with topics that feel personal and relevant.
Strategy 3: Articulate research and process.
There are many approaches to engage in a collaborative, dialogic choreographic process with students. As described, we were working to bridge the fields of dance and environmental studies. This process required that we clearly dialogue and communicate our process in every tutorial meeting. For example, based on our tutorial discussions and research, Olivia selected action words like balance, flow, circular, unsteady, and reconciliation. She then began to improvise and create small phrases that were guided by these words. She danced to music and nature sounds, including running water and wind blowing through trees. She then had to define, describe, and articulate how (and why) she structured her research into the following three movement sections and how they align with themes in environmental studies:
- A living, breathing equilibrium: An embodiment of the balance within our ecosystem; how humans and the greater Earth system are meant to fit together.
- A transition into imbalance and unsteadiness: An interpretation of how dependent our society is on extractive practices and how this causes troubling imbalance within our greater Earth system. This also represents a transition into the Anthropocene period where some groups of people have been disproportionately affected.
- A reconciliation and rebalance: A recognition that as time progresses and the climate continues to warm, Earth will exhibit drastic changes. The movement poses the questions: What adaptions to these changes will we make? What shifts will be required in the ways humans live?
By clearly articulating the research steps and process throughout the semester, Olivia had to demonstrate her critical thinking and how she was “making sense of” the material. Rather than considering the work to be “just a dance” – the choreographic process evidenced her curiosity and learning in ways that will be sustained beyond this class or this project.
Strategy 4: Offer feedback as inquiry.
We suggest that students are more excited and engaged in their learning if they can readily discuss, share, and challenge their ideas. Throughout the semester-long process, Olivia would show Christi the movement material. In our weekly meetings in the studio, we would engage in conversations about movement quality, imagery, direction, and timing. The feedback, however, was presented as an extension of learning and critical inquiry: Olivia was encouraged to further explore and develop the central ideas of her research. Feedback was offered as questions to support continuous investigation: How could we look at this from another perspective? Does what we say (in movement) support our learning? Could you elaborate further on this idea? How do things make sense when put together? What complexities might we want to explore further? In collaboration with a peer, Olivia also began to experiment with weight-sharing and partner work, using the words “unsteady” and “balance” to generate movement material within their ecosystem. Feedback focused on an iterative process, not a product. The inquiry was the roadmap that continued to amplify and sustain student engagement.
Strategy 5: Share with your community: Dance wields the capacity for storytelling, creative expression, and community engagement.
Sharing our creative work beyond the concert stage or competition circuit can be a powerful tool to raise awareness about the amazing work of our students and our field. For our project, we amplified environmental issues and a culture of sustainability by disseminating the work in three distinct ways. First, the duet was shared at our university’s Sustainability Film Series. Each film is shown in a historic movie theater, attended by over one hundred community members, and focuses on topics of environmental challenges including climate change, natural resource management, and economic hardship. The audience viewed Olivia’s duet, “Rooted in Flow” and were invited to respond to imagery or themes of the environment/natural world that they saw in the movement. The audience then screened a film that grappled with the unintended consequences of a car-centric culture and reflected on if/how what they witnessed in movement was also present in the themes of the film.
Second, we partnered with a local alternative school whose curriculum is based in the natural world, and supports elementary aged students to become conscientious, creative problem solvers. “Rooted in Flow” was performed for students ages 4-5, followed by a series of movement explorations that focused on movement found in nature (i.e.: rivers, water, wind, animals). Third, we shot video footage of the duet from multiple locations at the Ridges, a 700-acre property, located alongside the Hocking River (Athens, OH) that is home to green spaces, extensive hiking trails, and diverse eco systems. The video was then shared with Creek Bed, a video project that is currently exploring movement in nature. We aimed to share our story with various demographics and locations in our community to amplify a sense of collective place and purpose for local environmental stewardship. “
Dance education has a crucial role to play in addressing important social justice issues and continues to be a powerful outlet for advocacy, activism, and social change. We recognize that many dance teachers are doing exceptional work with students across sectors to expand choreographic capabilities and opportunities. As one example, we investigated themes of environmental sustainability in dance making to engage with not only becoming more skilled in the craft, but to foster deeper awareness of the role we play in addressing global challenges and centering our collective humanity. Ultimately, we discovered that this approach to the choreographic process attuned us not only to environmental sustainability, but also how to meaningfully sustain student learning and dance making in myriad ways.
Dr. Christi Camper Moore is an Associate Professor of Dance and the founding Head and Graduate Chair of the Master of Arts Administration program at Ohio University. Christi has a diverse background as a dance educator, administrator, and choreographer. She has been teaching dance for over 25 years in various settings including public schools, community spaces, private studios, and higher education. She currently teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses at Ohio University including contemporary modern technique, dance composition, dance pedagogy, arts management, and an array of seminars, independent studies, and tutorials. Christi’s research focuses on pedagogy; she explores how dance training, curriculum, and community shape a student’s identity within the context of their studies.
Olivia Lybarger is a sophomore Environmental Studies major in the Honors Tutorial College at Ohio University earning two minors in Dance and Music performance. She is also a part of the Cutler Scholarship program. She has been involved in the arts since childhood, beginning her musical studies at age seven and dance at age eight. She is very interested in exploring the interdisciplinary connections between the arts and the environmental field, specifically how it is used for environmental justice advocacy. She has begun to explore this through her tutorial with Christi and plans to continue this exploration throughout the rest of her college education.
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Photo Credits: All photos courtesy of and taken by the authors of this blog post.