Holding Space: Hosting as Embodied Practice in Times of Crisis

Dance-based methodologies for navigating emotional labor and power dynamics in artist residencies

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In times of global crisis, the need for emotional and physical safety has become more urgent than ever. Cultural field has responded to this urgency by developing residency programs that serve as “safe havens” for artists facing political persecution, war, or other forms of threat.

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For artists arriving from such precarious conditions, residencies are not only spaces to continue their artistic practice in security but also places where emotional recovery, integration to the surrounding environment and a sense of safety are vital.

But what about the hosts? Institutions and individuals managing these programs face complex emotional and structural challenges. Hosts are often unprepared for the emotional intensity of supporting artists in crisis—while operating within a hierarchical host–guest dynamic that can exacerbate power asymmetries.

 

This doctoral research asks:
How can dance-based practices prepare cultural institutions and professionals to host artists-at-risk with greater empathy, sensitivity, and resilience?

 

Grounded in embodied dance phenomenology and arts-based action research (Leavy, 2009, 2017; Jokela & Huhmarniemi, 2018), this research sees the body as a moving, sensing, subjective organism—one through which empathy and interaffectivity can be cultivated (Blackman & Cromby, 2007; Sheets-Johnstone, 1999; Fuchs, 2013a).

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Three case studies explore dance-based methods in institutional contexts—asking how movement can:

• Help hosts understand displaced artists’ emotional realities

• Reconfigure and decolonize hierarchical relationships

• Develop institutional care practices using trauma-sensitive, embodied tools

 

Workshops were conducted with cultural institutions across Europe and the United States.

 

The prospected results:

Movement-based methods offer concrete tools for emotional resilience, intercultural communication, and relational repair.

This research contributes to dance studies, trauma-informed arts practices, and cultural policy—placing care, embodiment, and empathy at the heart of cultural work in times of crisis.

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Keywords: dance-based practices, empathy, movement tools, artists-at-risk, residency, trauma-informed, cultural hosting