Dancing behind bars: Three community dance practitioners’ experiences of facilitating dance classes in a prison environment

Abstract

This study will investigate the question: How do three community dance practitioners negotiate the challenges of facilitating dance classes in a prison environment? Through interviewing three community dance practitioners I seek to gain an understanding of the challenges they may negotiate, and explore the strategies they may utilize when facilitating dance classes within a prison environment. This study is motivated by my interest to provide dance to prisoners, and the acknowledgement of a lack of research within this area of study. This study may generate insight, awareness and knowledge for various groups of people. The findings may hold significance for myself as a practitioner and researcher, for community dance practitioners working in this and other areas, prison staff and wider communities. This study employed an ethnographic research method, with interviews being the main form of data collection. A post-positive approach assisted in generating narratives that have been analyzed and informed with literature, and specifically Freirean and Foucauldian theories. Through a thematic analysis of the findings there were three key themes identified. These three themes are the prison environment, the attitudes and roles of the practitioners when working in this environment, and issues related to teaching in this context. From the findings it can be noted that facilitating dance classes in a prison environment can be challenging. The main cause for these challenges is the unfamiliarity of prison environment, and the unique social dynamics and prison cultures which exist within the prison. Many strategies were identified to assist in overcoming the challenges. These strategies include utilizing community dance pedagogy (underpinned by various values and principles), working in a team rather than individually, detaching from the environment, sufficient preparation, and tailoring the class content. The narratives shared throughout this thesis present diverse understandings and meanings of facilitating dance within New Zealand prisons. This study may be useful for community dance practitioners who work in prison environments and wider communities. The findings may also provide support those who are considering working within prisons.