How can developing Kinaesthetic Empathy enable a sustainable collaborative approach for new groups working together in Theatre Making?
This small action research project is being developed with a group of newly enrolled MA students on a Performance course at Wimbledon College of Art (WCA).
I have been using Kinesthetic Empathy in my practice as a lecturer in subjects around “the physical in theatre”, as well as in my practice as a dance movement psychotherapist for more than 15 years. (More info on my background can be found here: https://cbuskpgcert.myblog.arts.ac.uk/2024/12/09/hello-world/)
Kinesthetic empathy is the experience of “placing… ..ourselves ‘inside’ another’s kinesthetic experience” (pg 1, Artpradid, V. 2023), and when related to Theatre Making and performance cultures it is the process where performers and audiences physically and emotionally resonate with movement, creating a shared embodied experience , and thus a non-verbal level from communication (Reynolds & Reason 2012).
Kinesthetic empathy is used in practices such as theatre making, movement direction, Intimacy and consent training, as well as creative arts therapies (Reynolds & Reason 2012) . It is core and inherent to our human experience as living beings who relate emotionally and cognitively to one another and our surroundings and is indeed what young babies and toddlers rely on to find their needs met, before the notion of a verbal language exists (Fischmann D.2009).
I am asking the question; How can developing Kinaesthetic Empathy create a sustainable collaborative approach to Theatre Making? Through a series of 3 workshops, with new MA students. I will collect data from the students relying on their embodied experience to reflect upon the concepts mentioned above after the 3rd and final workshop. However, the student participant and their autoethnographical reflections will inform how the workshops unfold (more on this can be found in Research Methods).
I will be researching this question by using practices such as Viewpoints Suzuki, as well as well know “classic” exercises used in physical theatre, dance, as well as skills from dance movement therapy, such as mirroring and movement improvisation.
All 3 of the workshops that will have a structure of:
- Check in
- Physical warm up
- Process
- Check out / reflection.
This research, as well as a semi structured interview with the Course leader, and bibliographical research is further mentioned in Research Methods.
Bibliography
Artpradid, V. (2023). Kinesthetic empathic witnessing in relation to embodied and extended cognition in inclusive dance audiences. Cogent Arts & Humanities, 10(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23311983.2023.2181486
Fischmann D (2009). Therapeutic Relationships and Kinesthetic Empathy in Chaiklin, S., & Wengrower, H. (Eds.). . The Art and Science of Dance/Movement Therapy: Life Is Dance (1st ed.). Routledge.
Leroy C (2025). Kinesthetic Empathy, Ethics and Care: A Phenomenology of Dance
Reynolds D & Reason M (2012). Kinaesthetic Empathy in Creative and Cultural Practices. Bristol, UK: Intellect Ltd.