Young Children Moving through Ecological Anxiety and Grief: Dancing with Demolition

Abstract

As the extent of planetary unraveling becomes increasingly apparent, scholars are beginning to document responses to the loss of ecological systems, mass extinctions, and climate change. However, there are few studies documenting children’s eco-anxiety responses. In this study, children’s eco-anxiety and grief became apparent when they expressed dismay at the imminent demolition of a derelict building. Children were concerned for the fate of the building, the land on which it stood, and the myriad others it sheltered. Using participatory and creative methodologies including dance, this project worked with children to tell a more-than-human story of becoming-with children-building-weeds-graffiti-dust-researchers-unhoused-bacteria-rats-and unloved others, which culminated in a video work. In this article Butler’s concept of “grievability” is extended to include those not typically thought to be “grievable.” The article concludes with a discussion about how dance improvisation allowed children to express feelings of loss and move through their eco-anxiety and grief.

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