ABSTRACT
In 2016 the author led three pilot projects, in three London locations, using dance, visual practice, baking and storytelling to investigate the theme of gratitude with community participants. The author could see that there were two main provocations to engagement going on in the project space. One provocation is offered by the artists, engaging the participants in particular artistic activity, and guiding and supporting them towards the creation of art objects or performances. The other provocation comes from the desire for interaction between participants, both within the art making and in the informal, undirected times. The small, dyadic moments of being thanked and being thankful, as well as the larger moments of thankfulness to the group, to the community, to the music or the dancing, can be a fundamental part of the delicate building blocks of human relations.
