Damir Demonja, PhD, scientific advisor with tenure in the Department for Sustainable Development at the Institute for Development and International Relations (IRMO), Zagreb, together with Svjetlana Kopčinović, mag. rehab. educ., educational rehabilitator; Mario Kovač, PhD, academic theatre director; and Branko Banković, independent artist, contemporary dancer, choreographer and dance pedagogue, is the co-author of the scientific book “Creativity and Inclusion in Drama and Dance Practice”, published by Jesenski & Turk, Zagreb.
This is a multi-author scientific book that brings together theoretical reflections, practice-based experience and clearly structured working methods in the field of drama, acting and dance practice intended for persons with disabilities and intellectual disabilities.
The central part of the book consists of fifty drama, acting and dance exercises adapted for work with persons with a broad spectrum of disabilities, ranging from intellectual disabilities to physical and multiple impairments. The exercises have been tested repeatedly in practice, described in detail as catalogue units and supplemented with variations and illustrative examples. Particular emphasis is placed on experiences of working with adults with intellectual disabilities, users of social services provided by the Zagreb City Red Cross Society, as well as on experiences of working with persons with blindness and visual impairments, paraplegia and tetraplegia, multiple sclerosis and other forms of disability.
The scientific and social importance of the book stems from the fact that the art of persons with disabilities, or disability art, is still a rarely represented topic in Croatian scientific and professional literature. The book contributes to a more systematic scientific reflection on this topic, while at the same time offering a concrete and applicable tool for the dramatic, performing and dance self-realisation of persons with disabilities and intellectual disabilities.
The book is intended for a wide circle of readers and practitioners: drama educators and leaders of drama groups, theatre scholars and theatre practitioners, health therapists and rehabilitation professionals, medical staff interested in therapeutic psychodrama, persons with disabilities and intellectual disabilities, their parents, friends and other people involved in the development of inclusive artistic and educational practices.
The publication of this book further opens up space for understanding persons with disabilities not only through a social or medical lens, but also through their creative, social and artistic potential. In the Croatian context, the book represents an important step forward in shaping professional methodology and paradigms of action in the field of inclusive drama and dance practice.
The book is available for purchase at: https://www.superknjizara.hr/hr/kreativnost-i-inkluzija-u-dramskoj-i-plesnoj-praksi.
