Development Work
”Pedagogies of Hand-Balancing” by Thierry Maussier
Thierry Maussiers grant funded research project ”Pedagogies of Hand-Balancing” aims to enhance the understanding of hand-balancing as a physical art form, in order to develop new pedagogical methods for teaching balancing. Thierry is assistant professor in circus.
Thierry Maussier, and co-researcher Camilla Damkjaer, describe their grant funded research project:
The purpose of the project is to enhance the understanding of hand-balancing as a physical art form in order to develop new pedagogical methods for teaching balancing.
Through combining studies of the mechanical, physiological and neurobiological elements of learning handstands, and phenomenologically based studies of students’ experience of learning handstands, we wish to develop pedagogical methods that take both into account. Research on the circus arts and their pedagogies are indeed scarce, and the research on hand-balancing almost non-existent. The aim of the project is therefore to amend the lack of research, and provide research-based tools for teaching hand-balancing as an art form.
