You Are Enough: Reclaiming A Healthy Relationship With Your Body Through Dance class, lecture experiential learning

 

Problem Statement: Older pedagogical approaches lacked agency within students. In other words, the older model gave the instructor total authority and the students had none. Due to the students' lack of contribution to their own education and lack of representation, it leaves students to question their values and self-worth. As black female student, with a lack of body diversity and knowledge that I didn’t have the preferred body type I began to participate in self hate behaviors.

 

Purpose: In my experiential learning class, I hope the class walks away with a sense of empowerment, in the way they can help facilitate and support their marginalized students. I hope after class instructors reflect on their current practices and lead with empathy to gain a deeper understanding and insight into what their students might be experiencing in the education setting. I want them to experience acceptance of their bodies and knowing that it is beautiful and enough through the “Dancing Back to Self”, essentially a structured improvisation for students to release through dance and text. This research experience is important for the power of representation. I believe that if people feel seen and represented that it empowers them to stand up for themselves. 

 

Methods: I want to bring awareness to the lack of agency in the classroom setting and provide ways to promote it more often. Through new pedagogical approaches, I hope that impacts students to feel like they can express themselves in class or the stage and stand up for what they believe in a way that feels authentic to them regardless of how much they weigh or the color of their skin. Recognize dance isn’t just white woman sport and discuss inclusive ways to accommodate marginalized students. Utilizing a phenological research approach, I utilize positive affirmations catered to their bodies and the skin they are in, daily check-ins, and provide opportunities for students to disagree with me as long as they can back it up. I plan to use surveys to essentially ask if my class was effective in curating agency?