What is Community? – Abbie Manning
Kuppers defines it as “a complex concept: How can one understand the tension between people as individuals, and people as members of a group? what are the dynamics of inclusion and exclusion that emerge in community building? There are multiple definitions of community and analysis of how communities emerge, regulate themselves and act. (2007, p. 9). With us seeing different types of people who do different things for THEIR community, we should ask them for their own definition.
“I understand community performance to be work that facilitates creative expression of a diverse group of people, for aims of self expression and political change”(2007, pp. 3-4). I understand that we are have not looked at the political side of it, but perhaps creating expression with groups of people could mean getting different reactions.
A quote I believed to be quite fitting was, “Many find ways of sharing the excitement of performance bringing creative experiments into communities” (2007, p. 5). I thought that whole sit with me and the holding hands and walking through town would be fitting to this quote, maybe.
Community Spirit – Demi Morrison
In the Oxford Dictionary, the word Community Spirit is defined as “a feeling of involvement in and concern for one’s local community” (Oxford University Press, 2013). It was community spirit that we wanted to explore as group for performance ideas.
A community is always brought together by a number of things. One, being shock or outrage, but another being pride and happiness. If an actor came from a small town in the middle of no-where, the community spirit of that town would have supported them through their career. We wanted to look at what the good things are that bring communities all around the world together.
We then began to look into just the idea of togetherness, and doing things in a group.
The Importance of Community – Chelsey Glover
Being part of a community is important. Bhattacharrya states how ‘Human being is a social being. We live in a society and like to share our feelings, happiness and sorrows with our friends, relatives and others. This wish of togetherness and belonging leads to create a community as a whole. . . A sense of community is important to establish peace and harmony among the society. The division of work, feeling of association, togetherness, and cooperation – all these help in establishing a healthy atmosphere filled with unity, harmony and friendship’ (2013). I believe that being part of a community is important for an individual for it is a place in which you feel like you can belong. For our performance we want to look at ways in which we can bring members of the community together, hopefully creating a sense of togetherness for individuals that take part.
Bhattacharrya, Ajanta (2013) What is the importance of a community, Online: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/what-is-the-importance-of-a-community.html (Accessed 1st March 2013).
Oxford University Press (2013) Community Spirit, Online: http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/community%2Bspirit (Accessed 17th February 2013).
Kuppers, P (2007) Community Performance: An Introduction, New York: Routledge.