Workshop 3: Acrobalancing Academics: Moving Bodies in the Progymnasium

Leaders: Lauren Cagle (University of Kentucky), Sharon Yam (University of Kentucky) and Melissa Yang (Emory University)

Embodied rhetorics have drawn our attention to the role bodies play in rhetorical ecologies. However, we are rarely invited to center our actual, literal, physical bodies in our rhetorical work or professional lives. “Acrobalancing Academics: Moving Bodies in the Progymnasium” centers the physical body as the starting point for exploring and understanding central issues in rhetorical theory and practice, including pedagogy, balance, and power. We will gather to calibrate and draw connections among our research, teaching, and praxis and realms of literal and figurative embodiment. Through hands-on exercises and discussions of activities and readings, participants will proactively draw from movement arts to consider the possibilities of more full-bodied rhetorical inquiries. The expected outcomes of this workshop are twofold: epistemological and pedagogical. Through acrobalancing activities and discussion of related scholarly texts, participants will develop a more concrete and embodied understanding of how we cultivate relationships, communicate, and create knowledge through bodily acts. Second, in addition to sharing an archive of relevant readings and activities with participants, we will guide and encourage participants to brainstorm plans for adapting and reinventing their own classrooms as sites of embodied progymnasmata.

Note from the organizers:
As per previous workshops, there may be pre-reading and pre-work required before June. Your leaders will reach out to you some time after registration with additional details.

There will be no A/V equipment available in this workshop. The workshop leaders encourage participants to bring charged devices with their preferred hardware and software pre-loaded, especially for any participants who have accessibility needs. You should indicate any accessibility needs on your registration form.