Dancing my way through life; Embodying cultural diversity across time and space: An autoethnography

Abstract

In this paper, I research how my background, in different times and within diverse spaces, has led me to exploring and working with specific Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) programs. I am forever motivated to engage students learning second languages by providing them with possibilities to find out who they are, to know other ways of being and meet diverse peoples, to maintain languages more effectively and maintain culture(s) more authentically. I employ autoethnography as a method to discover and uncover my personal and interpersonal experiences through the lens of my dance related journeys. The method of Interpretative Phenomenological Analysis is used to analyse and interpret my early formative years, my changing sense of self, the communities that I inhabit, and my overarching belief in dance. In this paper I describe my embodied emergence of cultural awareness and knowledge.