Dance as democracy among people 65+

• This study sheds light on dance as democracy among people 65+. The article presents a study that is part of the project Age on Stage, in which elderly people were offered to express themselves through dance as an aesthetic form of expression. Hannah Arendt and Simone de Beauvoir are applied as philosophical lenses. Elderly people’s participation and involvement in dance activities are investigated and discussed. The specific aim is to describe and analyse contemporary dance as a form of democracy among people 65+. The following questions were formulated: What constitutes dance as communication within a group of elderly people? How do the participants internalise and use dance as an artistic form of expression in relation to the possibilities and limitations a workshop provides? A phenomenological analysis based on field notes and video recordings have generated the following themes: a functional body with impetus to move, to embody dance as a form of expression, to use Dance as a Form of Artistic Expression in Aesthetic Communication, and Reflections on life, body and dance. The results reveal existential and aesthetic dimensions of dance activities for elderly people that have not been emphasized to any greater extent in earlier studies.

Subject headings

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences (hsv//eng)

HUMANIORA  -- Konst -- Scenkonst (hsv//swe)

HUMANITIES  -- Arts -- Performing Arts (hsv//eng)

SAMHÄLLSVETENSKAP  -- Utbildningsvetenskap -- Pedagogik (hsv//swe)

SOCIAL SCIENCES  -- Educational Sciences -- Pedagogy (hsv//eng)

Keyword

Dance

elderly people

Arendt

democracy

Utbildningsvetenskapliga studier

Studies in the Educational Sciences

Arendt

Dance

democracy

elderly people

Publication and Content Type

ref (subject category)

art (subject category)