ABSTRACT
This Praxis Project is the result of my desire to disrupt the rituals of control and individualism that abound in schools, and my encounters with the challenges of realizing a better way of teaching and learning. In seeking theories and practices to aid me in working toward a more humanizing way of teaching and learning, I turned to the performing arts, specifically theater ensembles. In contrast to classrooms marked by “doing school” and asymmetrical power relationships, performing arts ensembles are spaces marked by trust amongst members, a deep dedication to the group’s work and to one another, and a sense that everyone’s role is essential to the functioning of the whole. In my Praxis Project, I theorize and enact what I term “ensemble culture,” through a performance-based pedagogy. My analysis focuses on moments that puzzled me, moments where I struggled, and moments that complexified my notion of what the process of building an ensemble culture consists of. My work digs into several puzzles that I now see as central to the work of building an ensemble culture: power and hierarchy, conflict, critique, chaos and inconsistency, and the individual and the collective.
Strachota-Praxis-Paper-April-25-2019