By mixing dance and performance art, an organization in Italy is taking kids’ creativity to the next level.
Spread across a giant paper canvas with charcoal in hand, children begin to express themselves with carefully choreographed gestures. The drawings on the floor gradually turn into a permanent evidence of their movements.
Segni Mossi (Moving Signs), an experimental project born from the partnership between a dancer and a visual artist, will leave you amazed. Watch their video here.
EXPLORING THE BODY-MIND CONNECTION
“You can draw with your whole body while running, jumping, laughing. You can draw with your eyes shut, draw with someone else’s body, draw with your voice.”
With this experimental belief, Segni Mossi stimulates kids’ creativity by exploring the mind-body connection. The project helps the younger ones to gain self-confidence and learn how to work in groups.
From children in Brazil and Portugal, to people with disabilities in Ecuador, Segni Mossi inspires artists across the globe to break the limits of creative expressions by merging dancing with drawing.
MIXING MUSIC AND MOTION TO BOOST KIDS’ CREATIVITY
Founder Alessandro Lumare, author of illustrated books for children, told Clapway that he came up with the idea after carrying out a research on the ancestral pleasure that drawing generates in human beings. He joined hands with ballerina and choreographer Simona Lobefaro and together they discovered a new way of mixing music and motion.
“To dance means more than just moving your body. You start with a project, an intention or an emotion. Then you interact with the space creating different atmospheres,” Lobefaro told Clapway.
Pediatricians, child development specialists and early educators all agree that dancing can be beneficial. Not only can it keep even the youngest children active, but dancing also benefits kids’ creativity as well as the development of their social and cognitive skills.
FOCUSING ON THE “CREATIVE PROCESS”
“We focus on the creative process rather than on results,” Lumare explained.
The multidisciplinary approach proposed by Segni Mossi is a theatre piece, a dance performance, a drawing workshop as well as being an intense exchange between participants.
According to EduDance, dancing has been demonstrated to be clinically effective in improving self-esteem, attentiveness and communication skills in children. It reduces stress, fears and anxieties, and has been shown to benefit people with disabilities. Mix dancing with drawing and you have a winning formula boosting kids’ creativity and development.
