This presentation will explore the use of dance and choreographic methodology as embodied practices for guiding classroom explorations of ethical issues and active compassion. Movement is used as the primary medium for discovering mindful awareness expanding from the personal to the relational and then to social justice awareness and engagement. This presentation will use themes from Ethics for the New Millennium as a contextual framework for structuring ethical inquiry informed by the writings of John Makransky and others. The curriculum presented here is designed to begin with nonverbal embodied exercises to deepen participants’ experience of presence and loving compassion before layering on cognitive processes. Lesson plans that may be adapted for a variety of ages include a Warm-up, an Experiential Exploration in which to establish familiarity with the tools to be further utilized, an exercise Addressing Specific Content, and ideas for an Artistic Expression of the Concept.
