ABSTRACT:

In this workshop we will go from a personal primal drawing to reconnect through collective creation in search of our tribe, a place to belong, a holding frame where we can be ourselves and be part of a community.

What can we learn from our ancient roots? What is there that we can take into our lives today? What is our personal responsibility versus our personal agency amongst the wider society? How can we steer ourselves to further the greater good and strengthen community?

We will be exploring the power of play to connect our personal communal histories that form groups and society in the hope that we can co-create a better world.

After this session participants will:

• Have a better understanding through their experience of combining the creative arts with sociometry and sociodrama.
• Explore how we can use personal agency for the greater collective
• Remember the importance of play

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ABSTRACT:

Bullying is a form of violent behavior that can take different forms including physical intimidation such as injury or the threat of it, spitting, pushing and kicking as well as non-physical intimidation such as verbal victimization including calling names, insults, spiteful taunts or mockery. Malicious gossip, spreading rumors and rejection from the group are also considered to be forms of bullying among school children. Due to the rapid development of technology, bullying has been extended and intimidation is being exercised through social media and electronic devices too.

The art therapy intervention is a helpful approach which can help build awareness about the harmful effects of bullying as well as identify the behaviors perceived by the students as bullying. This intervention influences directly the emotional sphere of children, develops their self-confidence thus creating a healthy psycho-social environment in our schools, forming positive conflict resolution skills and behavioural strategies in order to prevent bullying.

On the other hand sociodrama in education can enhance spontaneity and creativity, in both teachers and students, transform conflicts in useful learning situations, explore how we can live together in a better way and can also go much further than the well -known desk-pencil-and-paper learning tool, contributing to a more integrated development in all dimensions of school students’ personalities.

During this session the participants will be able to explore how the combination of these two methods in action works in order to successfully prevent bullying in schools. They will be able apply minimum 3 of the presented techniques in their work with school children.

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ABSTRACT:

Dream drawing (Disegno Onirico) with its roots in surrealism, archetypal theories, Goëte’s color theory, the amazing work of Bermolén and Dal Porto etc. is the ground on which the Holistic Psychodrama develops. We successfully apply this amazing and joyful tool to sociodrama and Socio-psychodrama. Individual works develop and expand, linking personal experience to issues concerning the whole group, the society, or the entire planet. The aim of our workshop is to link the group’s archetypal language to Sociodrama’s collective character and aims. We will identify, through spontaneous associations and drawings, our needs and aspirations as starting points and find new common “Visions for a Collective Future”. While using the symbolic language of colors and shapes which are common to every (human or not) being in the world, you do NOT have to be good at drawing!

Two learning objectives:

•  to know more about sociopsychodrama and its theoretical framework
• to show how Dream Drawing can contribute to personal, spontaneous expression as well as to the group’s cohesion and to the sociodramatic work

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ABSTRACT:

Trees have always played an important role in our societies, communities and lives. They serve as shelter,a source of oxygen, energy and beauty, a place to play, a place to meet. In many different faiths around the world, trees carry symbolism and allegory. The “Tree of Life ” metaphor is seen as a source of life with fruits providing life and often immortality!

In this workshop we will trace our personal connection to the tree as a symbol or a real object and will delve into challenging issues for humanity such as growing, belonging, creating, idealising, protecting, destroying, sacrificing, healing and surviving.

The workshop is based on sociodrama and art therapy practices.

Learning objectives are based on exploring ways of dealing with losing power and facing the unknown while protecting the team spirit and creativity, learning how to find meaning in a new unknown situation and trusting the collective energy to heal and create.

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ABSTRACT:

Being aware of the problems that we are living with in the world (wars, climatic urgence, the polarization of societies, concentration of richness and increasing of poverty). What makes sense to us in this Conference’s multicultural setting, is to share a social and political event that affected both our collective and individual lives. This was the pacific Carnation Revolution in Portugal in 1974. Portuguese people left behind 48 years of dictatorship and a colonial war. So in 2024, there will be the celebration of the 50th anniversary of Peace, Freedom and Democracy in Portugal. This revolution  is still a very inspirational moment for most of the Portuguese people, including also Social Justice and Human Rights.

We will “warm up” the participants by sharing our own memories of this historical period, besides illustrating it with some pieces of art.

Our sociodramatic questions are: From this inspirational and social event – the Portuguese Carnation Revolution – what do you take, to face problems that we are living with in our society?

We will invite participants to discuss and work in groups about what inspires them the most and how it can help them to contribute and transform some of the social issues they find in their communities or groups. 

Finally, we will propose that participants share, in action and using expressive arts, having in mind, as Moreno taught us, that we are all co-creators and can build together more inclusive and equitable societies now and in the future – surplus reality.

From a research methodology perspective, we will use a participatory action research methodology, as this will be an open, experiential and participative workshop, based on Sociodrama.

After this workshop, participants will be able:

• To co-create a collaborative artwork piece, like sculptures or drawings, that will express the sharing and feelings associated with what they shared and lived in the workshop;
• To become more familiar with the concept of “surplus reality” concept.

References:
Kristoffersen, B; Mollan, A. G. (2015). I Invite Each of Us to Speak our Truth-On Sociopsychodrama. Arts and Social Sciences Journal, 06(01). https://doi.org/10.4172/2151-6200.100090
Moreno, J. L. (1934). Who shall survive? (F. Books, Ed.). Forgotten Books

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ABSTRACT:

Using the power of sociodrama and the resources of the group, we will explore roles that hold limitless and limited hope. Sociodrama allows us to better understand the thoughts and feelings of others and learn new roles and ways of being.

As we move forward in a world of uncertainty and rapid changes, we need tools to help generate and foster hopefulness. Bring your curiosity and desire to decipher the hidden purpose of limiting hope and together we will work to find ways to bridge the divergence between the two roles.

Group sociometry will guide us as the sociodramatic roles negotiate and create ‘here and now’ solutions to help move toward hopefulness and away from despair. This two-hour workshop will start with empty chairs to identify general thoughts and feelings of HOPE and LIMITED HOPE and will evolve into a sociodramatic encounter created by the group. Using trauma-informed methods, we will negotiate through the role differences, overcome fears, and bridge the gap from despair and limited hope to hopefulness. Will hope prevail? You decide.

1. Identify and describe 2 new healthy messages/affirmations that cultivate and foster HOPE.
2. Identify two trauma-informed practices to maintain emotional and physical safety in a group setting.

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ABSTRACT:

When a community or organisation creates its future, this means active, coordinated, conscientious change. As sociodramatists, we can help communities to imagine and enact a shared vision. What happens next, when people want to act, to transform that shared vision into reality? There is energy, there is will. But how much systemic view is there? How much grace is there for the other members’ actions for change? Often, people can’t see the wood for the trees.

Using sociodrama, we can explore what happens when changes occur in parallel, in various areas of the community’s system and how they can happen synergetically, without competing. To help build a healthy community capacity, we may accompany those members to increase their systemic awareness of the other changes. Thus, the community does not rely only on its leaders, but also on mentally flexible members who are awake, willful and gracious, working together, more collaborative and less conflictual.

By the end of the workshop, the participants have experienced:

• mapping the system of the changes in a community: actors, actions, stakeholders
• eliciting and concretising the forces shaping those changes
• ways of intervening when there is much energy for changes

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ABSTRACT:

Have you ever experienced light, silent, non-verbal, movement-based Sociodrama? In this workshop, we will combine Sociodrama with Social Presencing Theater (SPT) to explore a group or community’s inner and outer relations. SPT is the Embodiment part of Theory U, which is an expanding method for awareness-based systems change. We will start with a SPT form called The Village and then give it a sociodramatic turn.

Participants will not only experience this combination of action methods but also receive a brief introduction to SPT as well as a presentation on three ways to combine two action methods as described in the article “Sociodrama meets Social Presencing Theater on a bricoleur ́s journey” (published in Zeitschrift für Psychodrama und Soziometrie in early 2024).

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ABSTRACT:

Appreciating another’s point of view, recognising the power of the group, loving and valuing someone for who they are – I call the art of being human. However this is easier said than done as we all live in systems that have patterns of functioning that can work against us achieving this.

This workshop will be conducted as a sociodrama working with Moreno’s vision of a “social” or “creative” revolution in which people are able to respond in new and novel ways, and to reverse roles with other people.

Together we will explore a particular system, uncover the social forces at play, identify interconnections and interdependencies and distinguish what works against or towards participants living in the system to practice the art of being human.

This session will enable participants to appreciate what is possible when all players in the system are engaged in a group process.

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ABSTRACT:

Mythology is considered a discipline that contains “universals,” namely topics that concern the collective dimension of humanity. All cultural products, arts, literature, products that repackage and revitalize the themes that have always accompanied human nature are permeated with mythology.

Greek theater, especially tragedy, emerged to allow a form of collective processing of these themes.
But tragedy is usually “seen” by spectators who subjectively rework its emotional component.

The proposal of this abstract concerns the narration of sociodramatic experiences that use tragedies “played” by the spectators. Individual and collective elements blend together: Medea, Antigone, or Oedipus, originally fixed characters from classical texts, are reinterpreted by the individuality of different people. The chorus of tragedy transforms into free movement that comments on the individual interpretations of Medea, Antigone, or Oedipus.

Live music follows the complex interplay that emerges and reshapes it with its acoustic feedback.
The audience, without a fourth wall, participates and loses its primary identity reference; it is no longer “just” the audience.
The director(s) become leader(s) of a jam session that disrupts the orderly structure of a “classic” sociodrama in favor of improvisation.

After this session participants will be able to explore and apply through videos, technical descriptions, and theoretical reflections, how old tools can generate new meanings in sociodramatic work.

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ABSTRACT:

A comprehensive perspective on social cultures can foster innovative approaches to exploring and reorganizing collective roles. The enchantment of surplus reality resides in the utilization of imagination and play in this pursuit; it enables us to explore and manifest our needs, and goals on how to live and coexist in the collective realm of the future. From the philosophy of Dr. Moreno, we know that through our creative genius, we cultivate new ways of being, co-creating, and connecting. Surplus reality in sociodrama addresses our goal to explore collective creative potential by bringing the future into the present and expressing hopes, readiness, and willingness for change, creating a better world for all.

This workshop will explore pathways on how to turn our visions for the future into present actions and pursuits. Dr. Moreno left us a message that if we can imagine something, we can pursue and accomplish it, reaching out to new “invisible dimensions’ for connection, inclusion, and a collective future in a healed global society.

“Surplus Reality is … an enrichment of reality by the investment and extensive use of imagination” (Moreno, J.L. (1965). Therapeutic vehicles and the concept of surplus reality. Group Psychotherapy, 18, p. 211

The following learning objectives aim to provide participants with a rich and transformative experience in envisioning and realizing a healed and united global community through the applications of surplus reality in sociodrama. After attending this session, the participants will be able to:

• Recognize the concept of surplus reality and its utilization in sociodrama in exploring and manifesting needs, goals, and aspirations for collective living in the future.
• Describe the session’s goal of exploring collective creative potential by bringing future visions into the present, fostering hopes, readiness, and willingness for positive change.
• Define pathways and strategies to turn envisioned futures into tangible present actions and pursuits, in alignment with Dr. Moreno’s belief that imagination can be pursued and accomplished.

ABOUT THE PRESENTERS:

ABSTRACT:

When democratic civil society is threatened by internal and external forces and interests, group therapists and group members in general play a significant and central role, as Moreno believed.

Sociodramatic work is a therapeutic and educational tool that facilitates observation, emotional and mental processing, and promotes an opportunity for paradigm shifts through empathy and thoughtful transformation.

At the end of the meeting, the participants may discover new ways of thinking or hidden feelings that will contribute to a future change in civil life.

ABOUT THE PRESENTER: