Making up our own moves: exploring movement, dance and experiences of the body at the Newfoundland and Labrador Correctional Centre for Women

Sheppard, Amy (2016) Making up our own moves: exploring movement, dance and experiences of the body at the Newfoundland and Labrador Correctional Centre for Women. Masters thesis, Memorial University of Newfoundland.

[English] PDF - Accepted Version Available under License - The author retains copyright ownership and moral rights in this thesis. Neither the thesis nor substantial extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's permission. Download (2MB)

Abstract

In this project report, I present my experience of offering a dance workshop to women living in prison. The purpose of the workshop was to provide women in prison with an opportunity to discuss body image, embodiment, and the impacts of prison on the body. Based on two workshops offered to two groups of 20 women and feedback from participants, I created a guide to assist others in offering similar workshops to women in prison. This paper explains the process of creating the workshop including theoretical and methodological influences that helped craft the idea for this research. Further, the paper details the learnings that came about as a result of discussing body image, embodiment, and participating in dance with women in prison. The results focus on relationships between myself and workshop participants, impacts of prison on the body, and sexuality within a women’s prison. I also explore the potential future work for working with women in prison around issues of the body and dance.

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