ABSTRACT
A number of the concepts investigated in this chapter are informed by ongoing research with second year undergraduates in the context of dance-making workshops in a women’s prison in West Yorkshire. In this project it was my intention to further the enquiry of dance art as a medium for intervention and celebration. Intervention in this context relates to the notions of empowerment and facilitation, where the focus is the relationship between the received experience and the response to it. The experiences afforded by this relationship are celebratory in nature. Celebration here is concerned with the recognition and valuing of oneself and others in relation to dance activity in the processes of making and performing; that is, the individual celebrates in and through the dance. Arguably, all performance should have elements of empowerment and celebration for both the dance maker and performer.
