A Show For the Dogs

Though a decent amount of art has been created about dogs, quite little has been created for them–something Dominic Wilcox set out to change. Wilcox, a British designer, recently ran a canine-centric exhibition in London, designed entirely for the enjoyment of canine patrons. The show included artwork in a canine-friendly color scheme, a huge dog bowl filled with balls (which was of course an interactive piece), and an “open car window simulator” involving a fan “wafting around scents like meat and old shoes.” The exhibition was a huge success, Wilcox reported, as tails wagged and the ball bit drew a number of willing divers. You cannot help but laugh, looking at the photos of dogs enjoying these pieces, created just for them, but Wilcox reminds us of the careful attention to detail that went into the exhibition: “Even though the idea of the show is quite amusing on some level, I took the design of the artwork as seriously as any other work I do.” For example, Wilcox discovered in his research that dogs see mostly in yellows and blues, so those colors were relied upon heavily throughout the exhibit and even a commissioned art piece. Each work also incorporated corresponding scents–like a landscape with trees made of chicken drumsticks smelling like chicken. The exhibition was commissioned by UK-based insurance company More Than, as part of the company’s #PlayMore campaign to encourage people to spend more time playing with their pets. Stay tuned, says Wilcox: he hasn’t yet ruled out doing a similar exhibition for cats!

Improv Training May Help Doctors on the Job

The Atlantic’s Anu Atluru, a resident physician in a Boston-area hospital, makes the case that doctors could benefit from improv classes. As medical school leans increasingly on the use of “standardized patients” or “SPs,” actors trained to portray “classic” patient types with common complaints (e.g., the angry patient complaining of back pain), Atluru argues, the ability to react to the unexpected is not fostered. The practice of medicine, Atluru argues, is inherently spontaneous. Some schools of medicine around the country have implemented programs to reap the benefits of improv training: Northwestern University’s Feinberg School of Medicine includes a seminar that uses improvisational theater exercises to help build teamwork and foster communication and cognition. The founder of the Northwestern seminar, assistant professor of medical education Katie Watson, makes a point of focusing on medical students’ use of emotion. While medical school can deemphasize the importance of future doctors being able to “clearly articulate their own emotional point of view and accurately perceive that of others,” Watson explains, the job of the seminar is “to help retain and harness the power of the innate skills that people bring.” Improvisation, though so reliant on spontaneity, must be practiced–which is why those like Watson and Atluru advocate formal improv training for tomorrow’s doctors. The skills learned in such classes may help students with interpersonal relations both in and outside the ER. Perhaps the medical profession is not the only one that would benefit from dabbling in improv training!

Dancing in the Dark – Ballet for the Blind

In Mexico City, teacher Lorena Nieva employs a form of dance that merges ballet with psychotherapy in order to help blind girls gain confidence and combat depression. Every weekend, Nieva travels 80 miles to reach the Casa Rosa de la Torre home for blind children. There, she teaches girls between the ages of 9 and 22 the joys of dance. Nieva splits the lesson for the girls into two parts: the first half is spent learning choreography, and the second half encourages and fosters improvisation. Nieva argues: “Dance cannot be reduced to a single sense. It has to come from the whole body — from its limitations, too.” Nieva is also the international coordinator of Psicoballet, a national ballet organization built on a psychotherapeutic method to help people with behavioral disorders. Originally created in the 1970s by a Cuban psychologist, teachers today use it to help students with a wide range of impairments. According to some estimates, Psicoballet has benefitted over 20,000 people in the last 40 years and has spread to nearly 20 countries, including Mexico, where Nieva and her students practice. Another great example of arts therapy bringing joy and healing to students around the world!

Choreography and the Corporate Sector

The founders of The Change Agency, a management consulting firm, have some unusual credentials for their field–they both hold terminal degrees in choreography. Sydney Skybetter and Jennifer Edwards believe in a much broader definition of choreography that planned movements on a dance floor: “I think of the choreographic practice as the embodied movement of ideas through space and time, a definition that holds equally well if you’re making dances for stages…or if you’re facilitating a difficult meeting,” explains Skybetter. Their firm focuses on helping organizations with company culture, broaching difficult topics or future directions, and interpersonal dynamics. According to The Change Agency, the fundamentals of dance and choreography, seemingly incompatible with the corporate world, can actually tell us a lot about the micro- and macro-level functioning of the organizations we are a part of. As Skybetter puts it: “If you want to fire people and ratchet up efficiency, hire a suit. If you want your team to ideate and move seamlessly together, hire a choreographer.” As businesses face challenges from technological innovation and economic uncertainty, perhaps the philosophy behind choreography can help provide some answers and guidance to make workplaces and organizations function better financially and as communities.