Crumbling Rocks – Mindfulness Techniques for Awareness, Understanding and Ownership of Toxic Masculinity within Improvisation-Based Movement Training

Abstract

Crumbling rocks is an analogy for my process of encountering my toxic masculinity within a movement improvisation setting. Whilst engaging in a flying low and passing through class facilitated at Plymouth Conservatoire, I began to observe how traits of my toxic masculinity were cultivating interruptions to the flow of a given improvisation. After several other encounters, I began to realize that the improvisation setting has become a useful device for discovering and unpicking traits of toxic masculinity. By utilising mindfulness practices to observe key traits associated with hegemonic masculinity, the improvisation setting holds the potential to become an effective tool for uncovering, addressing, critiquing and undoing elements of toxic masculinity.