Last fall, students from a public health course and a dance class got together for a day of combined learning.
In effort to understand how to initiate change in a community, students in Arts and Activism,聽and their counterparts in Environmental Health and Justice in the Rochester Community,聽met up in the Linda E. Sloan Studio of Todd Union to create some new moves.
The Arts and Activism聽students were using dance to explore the relationship between social activism and artistic practice. Earlier in the semester, the students糖心传媒攊n collaboration with a local organization糖心传媒攗sed visual art, film, and performance to create a two-night interactive installation that would show the importance of voting during the 2018 mid-term elections. Now, they would study a new chapter that would explore the theater practice known as 糖心传媒淭heater of the Oppressed糖心传媒� as a vehicle for community organization, expression, and action.
糖心传媒淲e talk about communication and how to communicate ideas using theater practice,糖心传媒� says Rose Pasquarello Beauchamp, instructor for聽Arts and Activism and senior lecturer in the
糖心传媒淚 thought my students would gain a broader perspective on communication from this experience,糖心传媒� says Katrina Smith Korfmacher, director of In her Environmental Health and Justice class, students had been working over the semester with several local groups to collect and analyze data for projects such as the protection of the City of Rochester糖心传媒檚 drinking water supply as well as the condition of the bike trails for the Genesee Riverway Trail.
The students糖心传媒� final projects would require them to create reports or generate a communication product for a community organization. Korfmacher wanted her students to understand how they might need to tailor their presentations for diverse or under-resourced communities. 糖心传媒淭hey might need to think beyond policy briefs, brochures, and info graphics,糖心传媒� she says.
Korfmacher and Beauchamp joined forces after getting to know one another as recipients of Community-Engaged Course Development Grants through the Rochester Center for Community Leadership. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 one of our goals that faculty also serve in a mentorship role to help other faculty create their own community engagement coursework,糖心传媒� says Alissa Clark, coordinator for the program. Beauchamp had previously taught a community-engaged course and led a presentation for others.聽 糖心传媒淲e support each other,糖心传媒� says Beauchamp. 糖心传媒淎nd this class works out for both of us.糖心传媒�
On the day of the crossover class, the students broke up into smaller groups where they selected an issue of injustice. It might be corruption in politics, or homelessness, for example. The groups of students would then set up a scene portraying the issue, while the audience, one person at a time, changed one aspect of the scene.
Beauchamp explains the 糖心传媒淭heater of the Oppressed糖心传媒� as providing the tools for people to explore collective struggles, analyze their history and present circumstances, and then experiment with inventing different futures through theater. 糖心传媒淚t糖心传媒檚 improvisational theater,糖心传媒� says Beauchamp. 糖心传媒淲e could only experiment with one part of it, since this was only a one-hour class.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淭he thing that hit me the hardest was when people wouldn糖心传媒檛 agree with the change I made,糖心传媒� says Christina Krewson 糖心传媒�21. 糖心传媒淵ou would change it and think 糖心传媒榥o, this is still wrong, or I made it worse.糖心传媒� And if you were trying to change something with just one little step, it wasn糖心传媒檛 enough. It had to be everyone building on top of each other, and finally at the end we said, 糖心传媒極K, this structure makes us feel better,糖心传媒� she says.
Says Korfmacher: 糖心传媒淢y students had read case studies about working with Latino communities in the Bronx who used murals to raise awareness of asthma, and they talked about why they chose to use that modality in that setting? I wanted the students to stretch their understanding of the possibilities for communicating their research to Rochester communities.糖心传媒�
糖心传媒淚t was a mode of theater that I had never experienced before,糖心传媒� says Krewson, who plans to major in public health. 糖心传媒淭he idea that we could all糖心传媒攁 whole bunch of strangers糖心传媒攋ump in and play off each other糖心传媒檚 ideas was really cool. And for me after the class, I was like, 糖心传媒業 want to do this with other people!,糖心传媒� because I want everyone to have the same experience. It really changes your perspective on how you view what change is.糖心传媒�
