Phui Yi Kong
Bowdoin College
Project
Discovering Civic Awakening through Martial Arts and Physical Theater Practices
Japan, Sri Lanka, Brazil, Italy
Martial arts and physical theater practices nurture compelling members of society. I will look at how such movement philosophies might foster, and subsequently unlock, a person’s internal capacity for outward, perhaps civic action. As I participate, observe, and speak to martial arts and physical theater communities, I will explore the ways in which teachers set up spaces for a transformative, mind-body-awareness-building, atmosphere. The movement practices I have chosen approach learning through partner work. Practitioners repeatedly feed off each other's presence, tapping into their own kinesthetic and intuitive impulses to discover healthy ways of circumventing conflict. I will identify how movement can be facilitated to overcome personal internal conflict and how learning outcomes can intersect with culture to produce a kind of civic actor.