weaving Voices 01.04.2025 issuu - Flipbook - Page 6
Introduction
Verbalising the Non–Verbal
Nikolett Pintér-Németh
We have Weaving Voices as Threads of Communities (2022–2024), an
Erasmus+ Partnership Project for cooperation and exchanges of practices
in the field of adult learning. The partnership was initiated and is
coordinated by Sinum Theatre Laboratory Association (Szalatnak, Hungary)
and consists of six other organisations: Centre Artistique International
Roy Hart (Malérargues, France); Colaborative Reichenow e.V. (Reichenow,
Germany); Leeds Beckett University (Leeds, UK); Soharóza Nonprofit
Association (Budapest, Hungary); Solsidans Kulturförening (Unnaryd,
Sweden) and TuYo Foundation (Amsterdam, Netherlands). Some of these
partners have been collaborating with each other over a longer time, 4 while
others, newly joined, added new directions to the shared practices.
The project is partly based on the archaic connection between handicraft
– especially weaving or spinning – and singing or storytelling, activities
that were essential to smaller communities and fostered intergenerational
relationships, learning by doing and playing while working. This form of
spontaneous, communal learning and knowledge transmission has now
been largely relegated to the background in Western culture. But the
longing for these forms of connection, as well as the joyful celebration and
shared creative expressions they engender are strongly present in many of
the participants who agreed to come with us on this journey. The practices
that the partners introduce and share, are located at the intersection
between artistic and therapeutic work. Examples include the vocal and
theatrical heritage of Alfred Wolfsohn and Roy Hart; weaving on collective
frames; botanical dyeing which raises awareness of the colours and shapes
in our surroundings; community composing and choir games; Georgian
polyphonic singing; the Scandinavian tradition of kulning and the somatic
movement practice of the Feldenkrais Method. All these long-standing
and carefully developed practices open possibilities for intelligent,
psychosomatic cooperation, and sensual, bodily engagements that happen
for instance, when a group of people joyfully sing or make handicrafts
together.
4 There were two other Erasmus+ projects which preceded the current partnership: ATIPIA – Applied Theatre
in Practising Integrated Approaches, and VoiceWell – Improving Competences of Listening for and Giving Voices in the Communities.
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When placed in contemporary contexts, intangible cultural heritage
offers a wealth of opportunities for experimentation, for finding or
developing new intercultural connections and for better understanding
our living and built environments. The setting up and holding of spaces
with the aim of safe co-creation in both suburban and rural environments
are indispensable conditions for all that to happen. If our project is
successful, when one joins these spaces of co-creation, the primary
experience would be to feel the support of the community through nondaily personal encounters (which come across more like a celebration), the
appreciation of one’s creative inputs, and the diminishing fear of making
mistakes. During these occasions of knowledge exchange, participants
can develop competences that are either directly or indirectly linked to
the actual activities: verbal and non-verbal communication, social skills
and cooperation, entrepreneurship, auditory and visual skills, bodily and
environmental awareness etc.
One of the purposes of the community events, organised in the frame
of this project, is to move individuals out of the loneliness and isolation
that can characterise contemporary society. After working on a collective
carpet together or sharing voices in a group improvisation, people start
to see each other differently. In the game of creation, as they forget
about their social roles and hierarchical positions, participants reveal
something of themselves that is closer to childlike sincerity. One of the
most important aims of Weaving Voices is to support groups of people in
coming to this state through the different channels of expression (audible,
tactile, visual). All in all, it can be said that the occasions for joint creativity
and extended sensual awareness – whether it happens amongst the
colleagues of partners or with the involvement of local communities – not
only help to build caring human relationships, but they also have a highly
beneficial effect on mental and physical health.
The idea of Weaving Voices came as a reaction to the need to build
stronger local communities, to raise awareness about environmental
issues, and to appreciate cultural differences, alongside the realisation
of universal human emotions and hopes, namely, our desire to express
ourselves and be heard. The possibility or lack thereof defines our
societies and the ways that people see their own communities and homes.
The project has a special focus on rural and isolated urban areas – e.g.
a suburb of Amsterdam, the small village of Szalatnak in Hungary, or the
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