Preparing for the Social Construction, Relational Theory, and Transformative Practices Workshop that I’m attending this weekend, I find myself reflecting on an article published by Sheila McNamee, the workshop leader, entitled Transformative Dialogue: Coordinating Conflicting Moralities.
McNamee contrasts dialogue with persuasive talk pointing out how the latter creates polarity and conflict. She explains that “. . . dialogue is a process of holding firmly to one’s position while maintaining a curiosity and respect for another’s very different position.” She goes on to reflect on how we can coordinate diversity, understand disparate viewpoints, and create the possibility for a conversational exchange that transforms our view of each other without requiring us to modify strongly held beliefs.
Reading her article, I was filled with images of dancers moving. I recalled the experience of coordinating my movements with others that led to the discovery of a common dance. I imagined choreography naturally evolved by a group of dancers who moved in each other’s presence.
Using the metaphor of dance, dialogue could be thought of as an unplanned dance based on the modalities of movement each dancer has learned, trained in, and practiced. As a group of dancers co-locate themselves and move as they see fit, without predefinition or constraint on their movement, styles, patterns, or technique dance is created.
The dancer’s dialogue is to simply move and observe the movement of others. To interpret themselves, in the moment, in movement, and simultaneously see the interpretation of the same moment by others. Revealed is a multiplicity of experience, expressed real time, through each dancer’s unplanned interpretations.
In this experience there can be great diversity but also an opportunity for coordination. Embedded in the dance of another would be expressions that could affect the sensibilities of an observing dancer. The unavoidable desire to mimic results in moments of coordination. Transformative dialogue has begun in movement.
The desire to coordinate is irresistible when we can observe another move without judging their dance. Our desire to understand produces a sense of resonance, tacit understanding, that can be first expressed in movement that mimics. We can dance it before we can explain it. The passionate self expression of another, done without requirement for conformity (you have to dance like me), eventually leads to a desire on the part of the watcher to mimic that which elicits. As I replicate your movement in my body, I feel what you feel. I understand. Coordination has occurred. Even as we dance our individual dances we find ourselves dancing together.