Why Dance

Communities evolve and are defined by the water nearby

Dance is an embodied practice of community-building and also evolves with the shifts of a community. Both water and movement can be the place for communities to learn: foster new understandings and behaviors.

Thus Global Water Dances believes that the interpersonal connections, growth, questions and bonds we create through dance are the strongest way to unite both local and global communities around the very real issue – as simply stated by our Steering Committee member Karen Bradley, “some have too little, some have too much, for some it is diverted, toxic or stolen” – to safeguard clean water for all – a basic human right.

Water Resources
Water Resources

The initiators of Global Water Dances are an international network of dance and non-verbal communication experts. In working with local choreographers around the world, we draw on Rudolf Laban and Irmgard Bartenieff’s practices with human movement to mirror the universe’s dynamic patterns. Using Laban’s technique of Movement Choirs, the choreographers create dances which will not only move the participants, but also the observers. See About Us to know more about the organizers.

Our bodies are 50-75% water. We have the capability of moving in flowing patterns and rhythms. We can create ripples and together with our communities we can ‘do the wave’ and make waves.

The activities in Global Water Dances will be simple; creating bonds using time, space and rhythm. The dances are professionally choreographed and people of all ages and abilities from the local communities participate. Each dance event reflects in its own way the importance of water locally and in the eco-systems we share world-wide.

Choreographer Resources

 

Selected Bibliography: Ways dance activates community

  • Demos AP, Chaffin R, Begosh KT, Daniels JR, Marsh KL. 2012 Rocking to the beat: effects of music and partner’s movements on spontaneous interpersonal coordination. J. Exp. Psychol. Gen. 141, 49 – 53. (doi:10.1037/a0023843)
  • Ehrenreich B. 2008 Dancing in the streets: a history of collective joy. New York, NY: Metropolitan.
  • Hove MJ, Risen JL. 2009 It’s all in the timing: interpersonal synchrony increases affiliation. Soc. Cogn. 27, 949– 961. (doi:10.1521/soco.2009. 27.6.949)
  • Pratt, C. 2017 “Together We Move: Creating a Laban-style movement choir.” In The Oxford Book of Dance and Well-Being. Oxford University Press online 10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199949298.001.0001
  • Reddish P, Fischer R, Bulbulia J. 2013 Let’s dance together: synchrony, shared intentionality and cooperation. PLoS ONE 8, e71182. (doi:10.1371/ journal.pone.0071182)
  • Reddish P, Bulbulia J, Fischer R. 2014 Does synchrony promote generalized prosociality? Religion Brain Behav. 4, 3– 19. (doi:10.1080/ 2153599X.2013.764545)
  • Tarr B., Launay J., Cohen E., Dunbar R. 2015 Synchrony and exertion during dance independently raise pain threshold and encourage social bonding. 01 October 2015 https://doi.org/10.1098/rsbl.2015.0767
  • Tarr B, Launay J, Dunbar RIM. 2014 Music and social bonding: ‘self – other’ merging and neurohormonal mechanisms.Front. Psychol. Audit Cogn. Neurosci. 5, 1– 10. (doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2014.01096)
  • Valdesolo P, Desteno D. 2011 Synchrony and the social tuning of compassion. Emotion 11, 262– 266. (doi:10.1037/a0021302)
  • Williamson, A. (2014). Dance, somatics and spiritualities: Contemporary sacred narratives. Bristol: Intellect.
  • Williamson, A., & Sellers-Young, B. (2020). Spiritual herstories: Call of the soul in dance research. Chicago: Intellect Books.
  • Wiltermuth SS, Heath C. 2009 Synchrony and cooperation. Psychol. Sci. 20, 1– 5. (doi:10.1111/j. 1467-9280.2008.02253)

Videos of Movement Choirs and Site Specific Dance

Readings about Global Water Dances

Water Choreography

Traditional water uses and rituals

Thousands have lived without love, not one without water.
W. H. Auden, “First Things First”

If you have any other dance resource to share, feel free to email us to info@globalwaterdances.org