Compassionate Communication Center of Ohio

8-week online series: NVC Dance Floors

1) Overview of NVC Dance Floor Series   

2) Self-Empathy Dance (Inner)

3) Anger Dance (Inner)  

4) Yes/No Dance (Inner)

5)13-Step Dance - Part 1 (Outer)  

6) 13-Step Dance - Part 2 (Outer)

7) Transforming the Pain of Unmet Needs…to the Beauty of Needs (Inner)

8) Personal Peacebuilder Action Plan – using NVC Dance Floors – going forward

* Please purchase/download the PDF "Facilitator's Handbook, 3rd edition" as this will give you a user license and training text: https://www.life-resources-shop.com/products_en.html

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WHAT ARE THE NVC DANCE FLOORS?

The Dance Floors are spatial maps made up of large, color-coded cards laid on the floor in various layouts called dances. People learning NVC stand up and ˜dance” through the steps of a given process, often with coaching from a trainer or support from another participant. Each dance is designed to help people develop awareness and skills in a particular area of NVC.

The Dance Floors and related support materials were co-created by Bridget Belgrave and Gina Lawrie from England, http://www.GnB.org.uk, both certified trainers with the Center for Nonviolent Communication. They have developed 7 dances; three are designed to practice dialogue, and are done in role play dialogue with another person, and four are inner dances, designed for transformative internal processes.

WHY USE THE DANCE FLOORS?

The purpose of the Dance Floors is to offer people a clear and practical method of learning and practicing NVC. In particular, they help:

Respect a variety of learning styles, integrating auditory, kinesthetic and visual ways of learning. Visual intelligence is nourished by seeing the text and color of the cards. Body/movement intelligence is nourished by standing and walking through the dance steps. Spatial intelligence is nourished through the layout of the cards. Auditory intelligence is nourished by hearing the dancers, the role players, and the trainers' words.

Address people's needs for active and reflective learning. The impulse for action and movement is satisfied by moving around the dance and experimenting with different options. The need for reflection is nourished by watching other participants doing the dance, as well as through group discussion following the dance.

Create a context in which people are likely to learn the key elements of NVC, including how much of the NVC process is inner work, how all the ingredients of the process fit together, and how our inner judging and blaming is an integral part of NVC, rather than something to be dismissed or suppressed.

Witness both inner and outer processes. Through hearing people's inner processes, we gain access to fun, sharing, learning, and empathy and are often touched by recognizing how other people's feelings, needs or judgmental thinking are similar to our own.

Create visual clarity when not using puppets. The Dance Floors offer another way to engage people's interest and be lively and conscious when showing the NVC process in role plays.

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Don Buckingham will be a supporting facilitator in this series.

Note: All dance Floors and materials are © 2024 Bridget Belgrave and Gina Lawrie.