Cultural Practices and Community Development through Movement
Summary
The dynamic interplay between cultural practices and community development through movement centres on the ways in which embodied activities—dance, circus arts, theatrical performance and ritual—serve as engines of social cohesion, identity formation and local regeneration. Across continents and contexts, communities harness collective movement to negotiate memory, assert cultural heritage and foster intergenerational exchange. Whether through traditional folk dances that transmit intangible heritage within diasporic networks, or through socially engaged circus programmes in urban or post-conflict settings, movement-based interventions can strengthen social capital, enhance individual well-being and catalyse participatory governance. This field intersects anthropology, sociology, cultural studies and arts practice, emphasising the capacity of movement to bridge divides, revitalise neglected neighbourhoods and engender new forms of collective agency. Practical applications range from community dance workshops that preserve endangered traditions to strategic use of circus pedagogy in youth outreach programmes, illustrating how local knowledge systems and choreographic protocols can inform policy, educational curricula and heritage preservation strategies on a global scale.
Research from Nature Portfolio
No recent Nature Portfolio content available.
Cultural Practices and Community Development through Movement publication trend
The graph below shows the total number of articles in cultural practices and community development through movement across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).
Technical terms
Intangible cultural heritage: practices, representations and expressions recognised by communities as part of their cultural legacy, transmitted through generations and continually recreated.
Social circus: a community-based practice using circus disciplines—such as acrobatics, juggling and performance—to foster social inclusion, personal development and collective empowerment.
Embodied memory: the process by which individuals and groups store and transmit recollections through bodily practices, movement and physical expression rather than solely through narrative forms.
Diaspora: the dispersion of a people from their original homeland, especially when this dispersal retains enduring cultural, linguistic and social ties across national boundaries.
References
- Museums, Diasporas and the Sustainability of Intangible Cultural Heritage. Sustainability (2013).
- Social Circus: The Cultural Politics of Embodying “Social Transformation”. TDR/The Drama Review (2016).
- Beyond reconciliation, towards regeneration: social circus in Northern Ireland. Cultural Trends (2023).
- Dancing through time: A methodological exploration of embodied memories. Memory Studies (2022).
- A magyar néptánc jövőképe a diaszpórában:. Tánc és Nevelés (2023).
- DANCE AS CULTURAL LEDGER: THE VALUE OF DOCUMENTING INDIGENOUS AFRICAN DANCES. E-Journal of Cultural Studies (2023).
About these summaries
This Nature Research Intelligence Topic summary is created with the cited references and a large language model. We take care to ground generated text with facts, and have systems in place to gain human feedback on the overall quality of the process in line with our AI principles. We strive to create accurate and useful summaries for people unfamiliar with the research topic and that supports this goal. These pages are a beta release and will be updated as we learn how best to help people gain value from a research topic summary.
Turn complex research questions into confident strategic decisions
When you're under pressure to set direction, justify investment, or understand your competitive position, you need more than raw data — you need trusted insights you can act on.
Benchmark your performance against global peers using robust, methodologically sound analysis.
Combine quantitative metrics with qualitative expert insight to uncover strengths, gaps and emerging opportunities.
Gain tailored, decision-ready recommendations aligned to your strategic priorities.
Talk to us to learn more about our data dashboards and bespoke strategy reports.
Grow research skills, confidence and careers with training built for every stage of the research lifecycle.
Developed with Nature Portfolio journal Editors and internationally renowned experts. Discover three ways to learn:
Self-paced, online courses in convenient bite-sized units, covering key skills across scientific writing, publishing, grant writing, data analysis, and more.
Expert trainer-led workshops with hands-on exercises and real-time feedback across core research skills, delivered via interactive group sessions.
Editor-led workshops combining core principles in writing and publishing, personalised 1:1 feedback from Nature Portfolio Editors and hands-on exercises.
Explore course catalogues and workshop agendas, enquire about the options or request institutional pricing.