Who has the power? A reflection on teaching drama improvisation with young children

Abstract

The following study reflects and explores the dynamics of aesthetic experiences within drama improvisations. This arts-based research was carried out in Hong Kong with six Cantonese children who were aged 3–5 years. Data were collected from the video transcripts of five workshops and the researcher’s own research journal. Two significant milieus were observed: switching in-between roles and intuitive creativity is not talkback. I argue that because each of these two milieus provide the foreground for the complex – and at times contradictory – nature of children’s aesthetic experiences where Deleuzian power is at play, opportunities arise for both, challenging the traditional adult–child power relations, and in so doing, educators can be able to reconfigure and reconceptualise teaching goals and practices, both generally and specifically, within the context of early childhood education.