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Arts & Communication

ARTICLE
Using multiple languages within an improvised

fairytale during online arts-based collaborations

Steve Harvey * , Si Wang , and Connor Kelly 3
2
1
1 Creative Arts Therapy, New Plymouth, New Zealand
2 Dance-Movement Therapy, Sichuan, China
3 Dance-Movement Therapy, New Plymouth, New Zealand

Abstract
This article presents an illustration from an online creative arts project in which
different languages were used by participants of a small group within fairytale-
movement-music improvisation. The participants, consisting of creative arts
therapists and students from different regions of the world, including Canada,
New Zealand, and China, represented various world cultures and spoke different
primary languages. A session was selected by the authors as it represented an
example of a natural experiment that emerged from the global arts-based response
to the COVID-19 pandemic, offering a unique case study of how art expression
can contribute to communities during crisis events. The purpose of the article is to
provide suggestions to guide future groups in the use of arts-based improvisation
that might improve communication among participants who do not share a common
primary language but have shared complex emotional experiences. In addition, the
*Corresponding author: article includes a review of related education, dance, and drama projects that involve
Steve Harvey different languages and cultures as well as a drama therapy project that addresses
(saharvey1@yahoo.com) the improvised dramatic communication of complex emotional experiences.
Citation: Harvey S, Wang S, Furthermore, the article offers a detailed review of one session from the project
Kelly C. Using multiple languages using an arts-based inquiry and suggests ways to apply multilingual imaginative
within an improvised fairytale during
online arts-based collaborations. storytelling within the communication of groups in community and educational
Arts & Communication. cross-cultural settings.
2024;2(2):2079.
doi: 10.36922/ac.2079
Received: October 21, 2023 Keywords: Creative arts therapy; Creatives arts; COVID-19; English; Chinese; Second
language
Accepted: December 28, 2023
Published Online: April 23, 2024
Copyright: © 2024 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article 1. Introduction
distributed under the terms of the
Creative Commons Attribution- In this article, the authors present how imaginative fairytale-making using different
Noncommercial License, permitting languages as part of collaborative arts-based improvisation might contribute to and
all non-commercial use, distribution, enhance communication among small groups in which participants do not share a
and reproduction in any medium,
provided the original work is common primary language and share experiences that are emotionally complex and
properly cited. difficult to express verbally. The purpose of this investigation is to describe some central
Publisher’s Note: AccScience elements of this creative activity to guide the development of future programming,
Publishing remains neutral with allowing participants to benefit from engagement in an expanded form of communication.
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional The authors used methods from arts-based research to provide a detailed description
affiliations. of a single session from an online meeting with participants from different countries

Volume 2 Issue 2 (2024) 1 doi: 10.36922/ac.2079