Resilience in an Embodied Perspective: The Impact of Integrated Arts Education on Experiences of South African Primary School Children post COVID-19 Lockdown
Resilience in an Embodied Perspective: The Impact of Integrated Arts Education on Experiences of South African Primary School Children post COVID-19 Lockdown

Summary/Abstract: This article seeks to deepen knowledge about how education that integrates dance and visual arts has had an impact on supporting resilience among children in a primary school in the time of the COVID-19 pandemic in South Africa. The authors have for four years run a project in which the value of integrating dance and visual arts in different ways has been explored. The last workshop week took place in 2020 once schools had reopened after a long period of lockdown. The week included a focus on illuminating the children’s experiences of schooling during and after the lockdown. Through a hermeneutic phenomenological analysis of data collected using methods involving multi modal means of expression, it comes forth that the impact that this work has had, is that the children have learned to not just accept what is, but to question and be critical based on what they feel. They learned techniques to assist them to let go of tension and to feel and be aware of embodied sensations. They also had experiences of relating to their peers in new ways and used their imagination to create and express ideas. Based on this study it is concluded that when an embodied perspective is included in a theoretical understanding of the notion of resilience, and this perspective is implemented to guide educational practice, schools may be able to better promote environments that support resilience.

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