GEN Solution Library/Musical mud stomp

About the challenge

Dance and festivity has been separated from building / construction due to over-emphasis of specialisation and modern building techniques. Dance has been relegated to dance halls and building has been relegated to builders, however both are innate instincts that we all need to honour in each of us, from toddlers through to elders. The world's best building material is directly under our feet and all we need to do to recognise its potential, is to dance on it.

Description

Community members take on roles of a team and deploy community organising strategies to organise and host festive musical mud stomps during the warm weather in locations accessible to many people of all ages. These events blend entertainment and community service and are made up of audience, dancers, acoustic music and drum orchestras, food preparers/servers. Theatrics are woven into the performance piece. The goal is to give people experiences of witnessing strength in numbers on their own terms, either as audience members or participating performers.

The mud mixed and homogenised by the barefoot mud stompers is used to build with - either as rammed earth, cob, mud brick or other earth masonry method. The dance connects many memories to the mud/building material and therefore the structure that is built. It provides another avenue for dance and music, beyond pure entertainment.

Areas of impact

• Culture
  • Art & Celebration
  • Nature Connection
  • Vision & Purpose
• Integral Design
  • Contextualised Design
• Social
  • Diversity & Cohesion
  • Health & Healing
  • Leadership & Governance
  • Lifelong Education
  • Trust & Communication
• Ecology
  • Green Building
  • Seeds, Food & Soil
  • Water Cycles
• Economy
  • Social Entrepreneurship

See also

• https://www.mudfunaustralia.com