ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses the theme of ‘the ethical imagination as moments of co-presence in brave spaces’ that emerged in the analytical stage of the Sorgente project (Piazzoli et al., 2023), demonstrated through instances from the creative arts practice, specifically the collective creation. It describes how collective creation, in its approach and ethos, is conducive to performative language teaching. This is demonstrated in microcosm by examining in detail how a drama activity, the ‘flocking dance’, engenders elements such as a sense of embodiment, groupness and being brave in taking linguistic, embodied and aesthetic risks. To do this, the author uses examples from the research process data captured in gesture drawings by a visual artist engaged on the project to conduct observational sketching, excerpts from the participant interviews and researcher reflections. The chapter makes the case that collective creation means being adaptable yet strong, supportive though being challenging, able to display togetherness and flow, as in a flock of birds – qualities that are to be encouraged in performative language teaching.
