Body as Classroom: Movement-based Performing Arts as an Approach to Embodied Transformative Learning in a Secondary School Classroom

The present article explores how movement-based performing arts lessons focusing on bodily imagination may expand secondary school pupils’ learning experiences. The study centers on the learning experiences and emotions of 28 participants described through art-based action research and the lens of interpretive inquiry. The results of an open thematic analysis illuminate a process where initial resistance towards physical and expressive activities gradually eased and led to changes in pupils’ views on how creative movement and learning might be connected. The authors interpret that movement-based performing arts focusing on bodily imagination may enhance embodied experiences and emotional engagement that support transformative learning in school contexts. The authors conclude that to develop school cultures that work towards sustainable futures, pedagogical approaches based on embodied transformative learning are needed, of which movement-based performing arts lessons are one potential approach.