The Role of Empathetic Collaboration in a Developing Creative Practice: Cultivating Self and Group through the Exploration of Memory / Catriona Leckie (2019)

The Role of Empathetic Collaboration in a Developing Creative Practice: Cultivating Self and Group through the Exploration of Memory is the examination of the role of empathetic practices in the cultivation of self, the establishment of a collective landscape, and their transcendence to the choreographic. Artistic, cognitive scientific, and philosophical perspectives were considered to inform practical inquiry and explore the central question: how does working through empathetic practices encourage or allow others, especially within the choreographic group, to also be empathetic?

Using various reflective practices, including Authentic Movement, Active Imagination, Proprioceptive Writing, and discussion, dancers engaged empathetically with their memory of a shared event and their physical states at the time of each exploration. The research investigates: how does the memory of an event shift, adapt, and transform each time it is explored? How does this contribute to the construction of a shared landscape or space? By engaging in vigorous personal investigation, reflection, and discussion, dancers contributed to the construction of an ever-shifting, shared, and dynamic creative space. The research project’s culminating live event, Settling | or an emerging elsewhere (2019), presented a found space that was a delicate and transforming entity; its discovery relied on the attuned awareness of the dancers to themselves, to each other, and to the space.

The research considers topics such as: kinesthetic empathy; empathetic practices; the development of a sense of self; the cultivation of a collective; repetition; duration; and presence. The research brings light to the discussion of the role of witnessing and holding space in rehearsal and performance.