{"id":170402,"date":"2024-07-11T11:39:43","date_gmt":"2024-07-11T09:39:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=170402"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:27:25","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:27:25","slug":"students-chase-away-climate-anxiety-with-dance-moves","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2024\/07\/11\/students-chase-away-climate-anxiety-with-dance-moves\/","title":{"rendered":"Students chase away climate anxiety with dance moves"},"content":{"rendered":"

In a dance workshop, Suzan Tunca from ICK Dance Academy<\/a>\u00a0gives students tools to deal with climate anxiety. “Sometimes it is good to be engaged with your body instead of your thoughts.”<\/p>\n

\"\"

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

The temperature in HefHouse is around 18 degrees when lecturer Ginie Servant-Miklos starts the workshop with a video clip about a heatwave in Asia. Twenty students sit in a semicircle around the screen. \u201cHow hot is too hot for humans?\u201d, it reads on the clip.<\/p>\n

The news item<\/a> covers the effects of the heatwave: in India, monkeys are cooling off in private pools; people bathe en masse in a water tank in Pakistan; the harvest of the famous Kampot pepper in Cambodia has failed; in Thailand, corals have turned white as algae disappears; and hundreds of thousands of fish float lifeless in Vietnamese waters.<\/p>\n\t

\n\t\t

Lecture:<\/strong> Dance workshop that is part of the Bildung Climate School, an educational programme on climate change.<\/p>\n

Subject:<\/strong> Dealing with climate anxiety while bouncing through the room like a ball.<\/p>\n

Lecturer:<\/strong> Ginie Servant-Miklos and Suzan Tunca<\/p>\n

Audience:<\/strong> Twenty students from Erasmus University, Albeda College and Rotterdam University of Applied Sciences. At first, these future climate experts move hesitantly, but after that they really start letting loose.<\/p>\n

Reason to attend:<\/strong> It\u2019s fun and experimental. All movements and feelings are welcome. You walk in stressed, dance until your body produces oxytocin and leave for home all happy.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

\u201cThis is the era of global boiling\u201d, the presenter says in the video clip. \u201cIt is now 50 degrees in western Rajasthan, India. How do we survive that?\u201d Her question is rhetorical. \u201cMost human bodies can tolerate heat up to 40 degrees for a short period of time, but after that, our bodies are literally cooking in their own heat.\u201d<\/p>\n

The occasional sigh can be heard after the video. \u201cNow I want you to take 30 seconds to take in this video\u201d, says lecturer Servant-Miklos. \u201cWhat does the information do to you? What do you feel about it? We will discuss it after the dance session.\u201d<\/p>\n

Breathing exercise<\/h2>
\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Dance lecturer Suzan Tunca takes over the session. For this workshop, she\u2019s using Double Skin\/Double Mind<\/a>\u00a0 method, she tells the\u00a0 students. \u201cWe are going to let our body process the information, because sometimes it is good to be engaged with your body instead of your thoughts\u201d, she says.<\/p>\n

The chirping of birds comes from the speaker of Tunca\u2019s laptop, and she turns up the volume. \u201cFind a comfortable place.\u201d Her voice is soft, almost whispering, but audible in the room. \u201cSpread your feet and feel the weight of your body. Wiggle forward and backward. Visualise the emptiness of your body, as if there is only a hollow space underneath your skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

The students follow Tunca\u2019s instructions. A couple looks at each other uncomfortably \u2013 the others close their eyes. They wobble back and forth. Birdsong fills the room. \u201cInterweave your thumbs, push your arms up and reach for the ceiling\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

Breathing exercises are followed by more active movements. Birdsong has been replaced by the sound of tambourines. \u201cJump, as if you were a ball. Explore the room\u201d, says the lecturer. \u201cDon\u2019t think, listen to your body, focus on the movements your body makes.\u201d The pace of the music quickens. \u201cConnect with each other.\u201d The rhythm of the tambourines gets even faster. \u201cHello\u201d, \u201cHi\u201d, \u201cHi, nice to see you.\u201d The students greet each other and look at each other as they bounce around the room like balls. The more dynamic the music, the faster they move.<\/p>\n

Tunca stops the music. Everyone stops moving. \u201cFeel your body\u201d, she tells the students. \u201cObserve how it reacts. Concentrate on your breathing, your heartbeat, the warmth on your skin.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\n\t\t\t<\/svg>\n\t\t<\/button>

\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPauline Wiersema<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

Dance steps<\/h2>

In the final session of the dance workshop, students showcase their own dance style. Everyone moves around the room, some doing ballet steps, while others perform more of a tap dance. Opera music plays in the background. \u201cUse your senses, feel the space, feel the sweat on your skin, feel the warmth of the people around you. Let yourself go in the music\u201d, Tunca whispers. Everyone in the room is dancing with enthusiasm. The discomfort and doubt from the start is disappearing.<\/p>\n\n\t

\n\t\t\n\t\t
\n\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t

Lees meer<\/h2>\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t