Being invited into another: Transforming bodily awareness through co-­creative movement after cancer illness

TY - JOUR

T1 - Being invited into another

T2 - Transforming bodily awareness through co-­creative movement after cancer illness

AU - Høybye, Martin

AU - Pini, Sarah

AU - Andersen, Marie Hallager

AU - Høybye, Mette Terp

N1 - © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2025. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ Group.

PY - 2025/5/27

Y1 - 2025/5/27

N2 - In this article, we share participants' reflections on five workshops offering a co-creative movement practice with peers in cancer rehabilitation. Due to illness and treatment, many young adult cancer survivors experience mental and physical challenges for years post-treatment. Adolescents and Young Adult (AYA) patients with cancer are a group of patients aged 15-39. Using the term here, we refer solely to Young Adults, as participants in our study were 29-39 years old. In the workshops, co-creative movement scores were chosen to enhance bodily awareness and to gradually introduce bodily proximity with others as trust increased in the shared space. Themes were collectively identified at the beginning of the intervention. Shared group reflections, individual reflective work and ethnographic interviews bring participant voices to the front, sharing both narratives of the unique survivorship challenges faced by the participants and how the co-creative movement practice helped the group reconnect holistically with themselves after severe illness. Recurring in many reflections was the sentiment that the illness journey had made participants experience life beyond their years, prompting negotiations of a new self, a '2.0' version, impacted by severe illness. Many reflections touched on reclaiming bodily autonomy after having had to relinquish control of oneself during treatment. Participants described a reconnection being forged between mind and body during the intervention. Shifts in ontology and agency were reported throughout the course of the five workshops, suggesting that the bodywork was helpful in relation to working towards healing and sensing oneself as a whole human being post-treatment.

AB - In this article, we share participants' reflections on five workshops offering a co-creative movement practice with peers in cancer rehabilitation. Due to illness and treatment, many young adult cancer survivors experience mental and physical challenges for years post-treatment. Adolescents and Young Adult (AYA) patients with cancer are a group of patients aged 15-39. Using the term here, we refer solely to Young Adults, as participants in our study were 29-39 years old. In the workshops, co-creative movement scores were chosen to enhance bodily awareness and to gradually introduce bodily proximity with others as trust increased in the shared space. Themes were collectively identified at the beginning of the intervention. Shared group reflections, individual reflective work and ethnographic interviews bring participant voices to the front, sharing both narratives of the unique survivorship challenges faced by the participants and how the co-creative movement practice helped the group reconnect holistically with themselves after severe illness. Recurring in many reflections was the sentiment that the illness journey had made participants experience life beyond their years, prompting negotiations of a new self, a '2.0' version, impacted by severe illness. Many reflections touched on reclaiming bodily autonomy after having had to relinquish control of oneself during treatment. Participants described a reconnection being forged between mind and body during the intervention. Shifts in ontology and agency were reported throughout the course of the five workshops, suggesting that the bodywork was helpful in relation to working towards healing and sensing oneself as a whole human being post-treatment.

KW - Anthropology

KW - Cancer care

KW - Rehabilitation medicine including disability

KW - arts in health/arts and health

KW - dance

UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105006707628

U2 - 10.1136/medhum-2025-013257

DO - 10.1136/medhum-2025-013257

M3 - Journal article

C2 - 40425280

SN - 1473-4265

SP - 1

EP - 10

JO - Medical Humanities

JF - Medical Humanities

M1 - medhum-2025-013257

ER -