Kat Worth ... Dance

16 June - 12 July 2003

Kat Worth is Artistic Director for Restless Dance Company. Kat spent seven years in Northern regional NSW where she was founder artistic director of Company CHAOS, an integrated ensemble of dancers with and without a disability. She has been a dance lecturer, curator, performer, choreographer and manager in NSW and SA. Kat has worked with dance in Australia and overseas with communities and people of all ages, abilities and disabilities. In 2001 Kat studied at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam as the recipient of the 2000 NSW Arts Ministry Sir Robert Helpmann Dance Fellowship. She is currently a member of the Australia Council’s Regional Arts Panel and Arts SA Emerging Artists Committee.

The Mapping New Territory Dance Program worked with numerous communities and included workshops for people with high support needs, people with low support needs, people wanting to work in dance and disability, Acacia School students and residents from the Old Timers. A workshop with the Santa Teresa community was unfortunately cancelled due to poor road conditions. There were between one and three workshops each day and a site-specific workshop at Simpson’s Gap. Three different venues were accessed around Alice Springs. The Dance Program concluded with a public showing of some of the workshop material worked into a performance and shown at Witchetty’s on Friday July 11th. The performance invited all the participants from the dance program and included a smaller group piece performed by the more regular workshop participants. The final week of workshops doubled as a rehearsal of the performance material, providing participants and support staff an opportunity to become familiar with the performance material within a familiar workshop setting and without ‘performance’ pressures. Attendance at both Staff and Project Reference Group meetings contributed to understanding the breadth of the project and provided a forum to discuss the progress and challenging issues that had arisen in the dance program.

In summary, the elements covered over the four-week dance program included:

• Warm-ups and Cool downs (including ‘safe stretching’)

• Stamina building

• Physical awareness

• Spacial awareness

• Rhythm, timing and choice

• Flow, dynamic and style

• Partner work, small group work and whole group work

• Improvisation and composition

• Theme related work such as ‘preciousness’ childhood stories’ ‘personal space’

• Physical related tasks such as devising movement phrases to roll-reach-slide etc

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with CASA, CASART and the Alice Springs community. It has been rewarding to see people throw themselves into the project without hesitation.

Strengths

Participants:

The collaborative development of workshop and performance material demonstrated participants’ abilities to work as an ensemble, respecting each other’s skills and abilities. As individuals became familiar with the workshop structure, they demonstrated an increasing confidence, becoming vibrant members of the workshop group.

Individuals developed skills in areas of:

• Focus - maintaining involvement with each task and the duration of each workshop and the performance

• Memory - retaining movement phrases and task directives

• Participation by choice - owning their involvement in a workshop or task by choosing to participate

• Stamina – physically able to endure longer in cardiovascular work, muscular strength and flexibility

• Creative expression – the ability to communicate personal stories through movement

• Communication – comprehending tasks and responding clearly through movement

• Appropriate workshop behaviour – bare feet, little conversation, respect for the tutor and each other

• Group work – working as part of a team, being aware of your place within the group and not just doing your own thing. Supporting each other, sharing responsibility and balancing ‘turn take’ opportunities

• Dance – awareness was developed in the use of Space, Time and Flow within choreographed, improvised and performed settings

Mentorship:

Barrington Seetachitt, who began her mentorship with no previous experience of disability, was professional and inspiring in her ability to collect and put into practice an intensive tutor-training package. Barrington has demonstrated acute observation skills, exemplary people and communication skills and the necessary patience required to successfully work in the field of disability dance. Over the four weeks Barrington observed my practice, discussed issues, decisions and behaviour relevant to each session, led warm-ups, watched Restless Dance Company, Company Chaos and InHabit videos, read numerous books and articles on disability and integrated dance and planned and led a complete workshop.

Barrington was completely committed to her position at all times and I thoroughly enjoyed working with her enthusiastic and passionate approach.

On completion of the mentorship, Barrington will have the skills, confidence and background to successfully engage in disability and integrated dance practice. Barrington is also extremely capable to support a team of tutors in developing their skills in the field.

Management:

The Project coordinator, Veronica Calarco, supported the project, artist and mentoree to deliver a successful program. Regular meetings between the team benefited the cohesiveness of the program. CASA staff communicated regularly with the dance program and supported communication between the participants and myself.

The program:

The success of the program was due to a four-week residency. This allowed me access to a range of communities and groups on a practical level but also allowed time to impart, in depth, a philosophical background to the work, thus adding to the cultural development of people with a disability in the Alice Springs area. The workshops themselves became more challenging over the four weeks and ranged from fun, social recreation to highly structured choreography and a successful public performance.

Support staff:

Veronica, Barrington and I developed a set of guidelines to assist support workers in knowing what to expect in a workshop and what is expected of them. The opportunity to meet with support staff at their weekly meeting created a space for discussion. The predominant observation was that the role for support staff in a dance workshop is indeed quite different to their role in daily life. This proved challenging for some support staff yet rewarding for others.

Support staff were open to exploring new creative connections with their clients and the rest of the workshop participants and contributed greatly to the action in the workshop. Support staff were particularly engaged in working one-to-one in the high support workshops, where the smallest, most subtle developments were highly rewarding for both the participant and support worker.

Support Staff developed skills in areas of:

• Focus – Participating in the workshop, refraining from conversation and organisation

• Participation by choice – using their involvement in the workshop as encouragement for their clients (leading by example)

• Stamina – physically able to endure longer in cardiovascular work, muscular strength and flexibility

• Creative expression – comfortable in communicating personal stories through movement

• Dance – awareness was developed in the use of Space, Time and Flow within choreographed and improvised settings.

Weaknesses

Participants:

Workshops rarely started on time because participants were arriving up to 40 minutes late. This meant people who were on time had their workshop disrupted. It also meant the workshop plan had to be drastically modified and workshop plans were rarely being delivered all the way through. This problem seemed tied up in transport and shared accommodation issues, which although required outside assistance to modify, was also lacking participants’ personal drive to arrive on time. Punctuality had a devastating effect on the performance outcome. Performers were given a 4pm call, three of which arrived at 5.20pm. This meant the performance had to start without them and they missed out on being a part of the dance and their families missed out on seeing them perform. Waiting for them would have been unfair to the rest of the group who had been ready since 4pm and were just too nervous to wait any longer. It is advised that participants are supported in performance activities by given necessary time to rest and prepare themselves for the energy and focus required to perform. Adding as little to do, as possible, to a day that involves a performance is always a worthwhile approach.

Shared housing also meant that people were often in an inappropriate workshop or not wanting to be there in the first place. There were numerous workshops in which people were brought along for the ride but who were not willing to participate. This energy affected the rest of the workshop group and slowed down artistic progression.

Mentorship:

Barrington would benefit from developing her ability to multi-skill. This includes managing the inclusion of music and spreading herself between all the participants in a workshop group.

Management:

CASA Management did not attend forums on ‘support people’ or ‘tutor training’ that relate directly to their support staff and clients. Their lack of attendance at these events was noticed as their involvement supports the growth of disability dance and adds value to disability cultural development.

The program:

The program differentiated between ‘high’ and ‘low’ support workshops but did not define the difference in writing on the program. Although any workshop can be adjusted to suit the entire participatory group, it is definitely more worthwhile to target a workshop to suit specific skills. For example, if a participant with high support needs joins a workshop of people with low support needs they may miss out on the one-to-one attention and support they require to be actively involved. For some participants who have limited mobility and use a wheelchair in daily life, a dance class can be much more exciting when it is on the floor and specifically focussed on their individual needs and abilities. If that same person is expected to be in their wheelchair and join the group their involvement is usually more passive and they have less opportunity to initiate and collaborate within the workshop structure. At the reverse end of this scenario, a participant with low support needs in a class dedicated to high support needs found himself very bored with the workshop and did not want to join in the following workshop because he thought rolling around on the floor was embarrassing.

Support staff:

As shifts tend to be irregular, it is always a challenge to find time to work with support staff on the intricacies of supporting their client(s) within a workshop. Shift changes mid workshop were common which disrupted the workshop for everyone but most importantly the associated client. There were also occasions where support staff ended their clients participation in a workshop early to go home for a staff changeover. Unfortunately this was not discussed at the start of the workshop which meant the remaining participants were left in the lurch and the participants who left were not able to complete the dance they had been creating. Leaving a workshop unfinished meant participants were leaving dissatisfied and possibly with a negative response to the dance workshop.

Some support staff did not feel comfortable with leaving their authority at the door. It was difficult at times to lead a workshop in which some support staff would repeat my instructions to their client. Their role as a participant is much more supportive in a dance class than that of a second tutor, as their skills are not in teaching dance to their client. There were also occasions where support staff would give their client a new instruction directly opposed to that just given by the tutor. It is extremely important that the dance tutor is able to manage behaviour in the workshop as part of their overall creative approach. Support staff, who I believe are not aware of the effects of their behaviour, can actually benefit themselves by joining the workshop as an equal and having a good time.

Benefits

Participants:

It was wonderfully inspiring to witness workshop participants develop their artistry over the four weeks. Benefits included:

• An opportunity to attend up to 23 workshops

• The mentorship structure provided a cohesive continuity for the dance workshops

• Integration with community members with and without a disability outside of CASA

• Devising and performing their own performance material

• Discovering the history of integrated dance and other companies in Australia and Overseas

• Creating a movement language of their own

Mentorship:

• Opportunity to attend workshops and experience practices of the mentor

• Opportunity to work with mentor during planning of workshops and develop skills in planning workshops

• Exposure to terminology associated with creative and inclusive dance practice

• Opportunity to develop skills working with dancers with and without disabilities in a creative dance environment

• Working creatively as an ensemble

• Introduction to integrated dance practice and further opportunities in the Alice Springs community

• Developed awareness of Space, Time and Flow in the context of working with diverse groups

Management:

• Professional development opportunities for support workers

• An introduction to integrated dance practice and further opportunities

• Forming a relationship with Restless Dance Company in Adelaide for further networking and ongoing professional development

• An opportunity for clients to have access to expert dance training within disability cultural protocols

• An opportunity for clients to integrate with community members with and without a disability outside of CASA

The program:

• The mentorship provided a cohesive transition into a regular dance workshop and will support the sustainability of a long-term program.

• The opportunity to work with visual and performing arts provides clients the option to choose the artform they are most interested in.

Support staff:

Comments from support staff throughout the program echoed the joy and surprise they received in seeing their clients do things they had not seen before. Support staff were able to connect with their clients on a more equal basis and spend time together in a fun and creative way.

Recommendations

• Two Weekly Workshops – The Monday workshop is a very social event. The workshop needs to be longer to give people time to chat beforehand and still have a worthwhile workshop. The workshop is just under an hour, which is not suitable for adults to gain or develop from week to week. The workshop is also extremely large which means people like Jeannie, Lindsay, Clara, Sandra and even Daniel cannot receive enough support to participate actively. The individuals above would benefit much more from a designated high support workshop, that could in fact run for the one hour on the Monday night. For the people with lower support needs a longer workshop at a different time would be more beneficial. Another alternative would be to start a high support workshop 30-45 minutes immediately prior to the 1.5 low support workshop. This way people with high support needs would receive a thorough warm-up and feel more ready to join an upright class and would mean that all of the participants needs would be met in the one extended 2.25-hour session. This would keep costs lower as there would be one weekly booking for venue hire and once a week tutor commitment, planning and fees.

• Venue – The YMCA, although part of the wider community, is not a supportive environment. The fleuro lighting, mirrors and generally high-energy environment affects the energy of the session from the moment people come through the door. Carpet is not a preferable surface for a dance workshop. It is difficult for wheelchairs to move on and can deliver uncomfortable burns. It restricts people from sliding, turning and using the floor advantageously.

• Tutor Team – Barrington pointed out the transient nature of Alice Springs residents and has proposed a team of tutors to share responsibility for the dance workshop(s). It is always advisable to have more than one tutor in each workshop. Restless Dance Company always work with a team of three tutors. A workshop leader, a workshop tutor and a workshop co-tutor. The workshop co-tutor is a person with a disability who is an experienced role model for other people in the workshop and can be used to demonstrate exercises and have input in the planning, pre-briefing and de-briefing of each workshop.

• Professional Development – Support staff are a vital element in a successful workshop. Most support workers are not familiar with the elements that make up a dance workshop or how they can be creatively involved. A half or full day session twice a year would provide support workers with some insight into the aims of a dance program and how they may most productively support their clients within each workshop. This professional development training could involve tutors from the four art forms.

• Active Participation – I strongly encourage participants, staff or clients, to be involved in each workshop or not be in the room. It would be more positive for everyone if only people who wanted to participate attended. People who take longer to find their way into a group or who require frequent rests can still be engaged in the workshop and eventually become actively involved. People who sit and watch and chat do not need to be present. For the workshops to sustain themselves long-term, it would be ideal to support participation by choice so that the workshops can continue to develop and grow artistically. If a more serious performance group develops, I suggest the open community workshops continue as a backbone program and the performance group work additionally, as such a group requires extra resources.

• Shift Changes – Shift changes during a workshop should be avoided as they disrupt the client’s experience of the workshop and the rest of the group. On these occasions it would be preferable not to have the staff member present.

• Support Staff Attendance – In general, Support Staff attendance is encouraged as their contribution to the session makes it more effective and enjoyable, however support staff who are not physically prepared or willing to join in or who do not enjoy dance at all are best off not attending. Do support staff need to be present? If support staff just need to be accessible, they could wait outside during the workshop as their forced involvement can produce a negative effect on the whole workshop.

• CASART – Although CASA support is critical to the success of CASART projects, ‘Art’ is not the core business of CASA’s accommodation organisation. It would be advisable to assess the support CASA currently provide versus the pull on their infrastructure resources to ensure the long-term success of CASART. Ideally a solution where CASART can run independently of CASA but continue to receive client services support would allow CASART to grow and expand their projects into the broader disability community.

The Future

There are four key areas I have identified as future outcomes of my residency:

1. Continued practice – ongoing development of movement exploration within improvised and composed structures. Continued practice within a regular workshop program will continue to articulate the aesthetic belonging to your group and act as a backbone program for all other dance activities.

2. Tutor development – the proposed ‘working group’ will support tutors in developing their practice and provide a forum for them to de-brief and discuss issues relating to their workshops. The ‘working party’ will also assist further tutor-training opportunities and ongoing mentorship practices.

3. Support staff development – CASA and CASART to co-deliver professional development opportunities for support staff to assist them in understanding the value and principles behind arts programs for people with disabilities.

4. Performance practice – There is enormous potential for the development of an integrated performance group of people with and without a disability. Opportunities to present performance material publicly would provide the necessary practice required for a performance group to develop. Performance groups require extensive resources and commitment and are proven successful when supported by a backbone program as mentioned above. It is advisable that the group begins small and does not output beyond its means. Performance groups also require detailed planning and precise role clarification as to the direction, ownership, performance content and performance environment.

Definitions

Low Support:

• people who can initiate ideas and contribute to the session with little encouragement

• people who have the ability or willingness to learn how to be a part of a group

• people who can comprehend tasks and put them into practice

• people who can remain focussed throughout the workshop or are developing their skills to do so

High Support:

• People who require hands-on support to comprehend tasks and put them into practice

• People who require hands-on support to move their body in a structured way

• People who require support to remain on task and focussed in the workshop

• People who require encouragement to be an active part of a group

Disability Culture(s):

The history, identity, aesthetic and language of people with a disability.