Movement Workshops

Combating conflict with choreography

Exit12's workshops and programs are designed to bridge cultural gaps through shared movement, transform traumatic experiences into expressive choreographic themes, and inspire participants to push beyond their comfort zones.

Our veteran-civilian movement workshops engage groups in movement creation, self-esteem building, empathy enrichment, and teamwork.

Workshops may lead to a public performance or an informal showing with group participants..

Exit12’s workshops:

• Reintroduce a sense of self to the participant

• Introduce concept of repurposing movement

• Develop sense of community and well-being through art

• Develop dance-works that can impact audiences

Recent Workshops and Demonstrations

• Veterans Movement Workshop on Reconciliation, NYC 2018

• Veterans Movement Workshop, Soldier’s Arts Academy,

  London, UK 2018

• Veteran movement workshop Military Experience and the Arts Symposium, OK, 2015

• Workshop Demonstration, Palo Alto VA Healthcare, CA, 2015

• Student Dance Workshop, Stanford University, 2015

• Movement workshop demonstration, 92 St. Y, NYC, 2015

  
  

 Testimonials from participants:

"To have someone else in charge of my body reminded me of being a Marine," said Jeff Key, an Iraq war veteran, referring to an exercise in which the veterans closed their eyes while the dancers directed their movements. "When you're a Marine and you're being sent off to war, someone's in charge of your body, your life," he said. "You've given your body away."

"I'm not somebody who easily leaves my comfort zone," she said. "As Roman says, there's no wrong answer," said Kristen Rouse, US Army Veteran. "And if I do something weird, that's my thing that's weird. And it's mine."

"All these things help me to move into another world," said Everett Cox, US Army Veteran, "a world that's so different than I kept inside of me for so long."

Why is the Issue of Arts in Health, Healing and Wellness Important to the Military?

• More than two million U.S. troops have been deployed in Operation Enduring Freedom (OEF, War in Afghanistan), Operation Iraqi Freedom (OIF) and Operation New Dawn (OND) since 2001. There have been 6,644 US fatalities and more than 48,000 US wounded in recent conflicts.

• The nature of these conflicts is historically unprecedented—America’s all-volunteer force has endured extended and multiple deployments, exposure to nontraditional combat (e.g., use of improvised explosive devices) and shortened time at home between deployments.

• While the combat death rate has decreased overall, there has been an increase in the number of service members returning home who suffer from both physical and psychological traumas, including posttraumatic stress, loss of a limb, brain injuries and depression.

• There are over 22 million veterans in the U.S. today.

• The challenges facing military service-members, veterans and their families require more than medical treatment to resolve.

The Arts play a role in helping the military sustain and promote troop force and family readiness, resilience, retention, and for veterans, the successful reintegration into family and community life.
-Americans for the Arts, Arts, Health, and Well-Being Across the Military Continuum - White Paper