Building Resilience Through Creativity and Dance

In an often imperfect and unjust world, life can feel heavy now and then. How do we find the strength to soldier on and to recommit ourselves to the things that truly matter? When the chips are down, that’s when resilience comes in. Let’s explore the concept of resilience, how resilience and creativity are related, and how to improve resilience when times are tough.

What Is Resilience?

Resilience, also known as emotional resilience, is the ability to overcome adversity and bounce back from difficult situations. It’s a vital characteristic that allows individuals and communities to persevere through hardships, setbacks, and challenges. Resilience has been linked to improved problem-solving skills, increased productivity, and better physical and mental health.

Biological Optimism

Building resilience may feel like work, but it is important to recognize that we all have an inherent mechanism that drives us toward survival. "Biological optimism" can be understood as the inherent drive of living things to survive and persist. This drive is rooted in biological processes and can be seen as a form of optimism at the cellular level. Here's how it connects to your points:

Organisms and Systems: Every organism has biological systems working together to maintain homeostasis (a stable internal state) and ensure survival. This includes the immune system fighting off disease, the digestive system extracting nutrients, and the nervous system coordinating actions.

Want and Pursue Ongoingness: These systems can be seen as having a built-in desire to keep the organism functioning. They constantly strive to maintain a healthy state, repair damage, and reproduce, ensuring the continuation of the organism's lineage.

Survival and Resistance: Biological processes inherently resist threats to survival. The immune system fights pathogens, wound healing closes injuries, and behavioral instincts drive organisms to seek food and shelter.

Mutuality: This drive for survival can even extend to cooperation. Symbiotic relationships, where different species benefit from each other, showcase a kind of biological "optimism" that both organisms will benefit from the interaction.

This type of resilience fulfills the foundation to our survival, however, being human means more than surviving. How do we maintain our humanity in the midst of the struggle to endure?

How to build resilience

One of the best strategies for building resilience is to lean into your creativity. This includes not only creative problem-solving, but creative expression in forms like art, dance, and music. In fact, there’s even a term for this: creative resilience.

Creative resilience is the ability to use creativity as a means of powering through adversity. It’s especially important in art-related fields, as musicians, artists, and dancers must learn to face rejection and criticism. But creative resilience isn’t limited to the arts by any means. It’s a valuable skill in all areas of life, including business, education, and personal relationships. Channel your creativity and improve your resilience through activities like:

Dance: Dancing is a powerful and intimate way of expressing yourself, and comes with a host of other benefits for your physical and mental health.
Music: Playing or listening to music can help you improve your mood and cope with stressful situations.
Writing: Journaling your thoughts or expressing yourself in fiction, poetry, or other forms of writing can be a great way to work through difficult emotions.

In the face of mounting challenges, we can find inspiration in the past. Ancestral technologies, the knowledge and practices passed down through generations, offer a wealth of strategies for building resilience. Indigenous communities around the world have developed sophisticated methods for living in harmony with their environment for millennia. From sustainable food production techniques to weather forecasting based on natural signs, these technologies demonstrate a deep understanding of the delicate balance of ecosystems.

By revisiting these ancestral practices, we can glean valuable insights for building a more resilient future. Reclaiming traditional knowledge about resource management, disaster preparedness, and community cooperation can empower us to adapt to changing conditions. Ancestral technologies offer not just practical solutions, but also a philosophy of respect for the natural world, a cornerstone for long-term resilience.

Creativity and dance are immensely enjoyable and effective ways to build resilience—a skill that’s crucial in a society in need of so much change. By equipping yourself to be more mentally resilient, you can become better able to overcome challenges, thrive through hardship, and become an inspiration to others.

Here at CONTRA-TIEMPO, we create meaningful art and create radical futures through dance and our various ancestral technology practices. Our physically intense and politically astute performance work moves audiences to imagine what’s possible. As a Los-Angeles-based activist dance theater company, we awaken people to a sense of themselves as artists and social change agents who move through the world with compassion and confidence. We wield the power of art to influence social change, live out our values, and teach others to engage in art activism! Support our movement by donating today!

Bibliography:

American Psychological Association. (n.d.). Resilience. American Psychological Association. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.apa.org/topics/resilience
Henry, N., Kayser, D., & Egermann, H. (2021). Music in mood regulation and coping orientations in response to COVID-19 lockdown measures within the United Kingdom. Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.647879
Mayo Foundation for Medical Education and Research. (2022, July 14). How to build resiliency. Mayo Clinic. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://www.mayoclinic.org/tests-procedures/resilience-training/in-depth/resilience/art-20046311
McAra-McWilliam, I. (n.d.). Creative resilience. The Glasgow School of Art. Retrieved May 4, 2023, from https://futurehealthandwellbeing.org/creative-resilience
Hanska Luger, Cannupa. Future Ancestral Technologies: We Survive You. Retrieved June 10, 2024, from https://www.cannupahanska.com/fat/ethos