SAIL Summer Camp at UofM an Exercise of the Mind, Body

Students Learn How the Art of Movement Improves Business Performance

June 24, 2024 — A small classroom in the R. Brad Martin Student Wellness Center may not seem like much of a stage, but for the 12 students wrapping up their penultimate day of SAIL summer camp at the University of Memphis, it was exactly that as they side-stepped around one another at the Art of Movement in Business Performance session.

SAIL stands for Summer Arts Integration and Leadership. This two-week residential summer camp for high school students offered an opportunity for them to explore, expand and experience as part of an extended learning series offered by University Schools.

The campers spent the past two weeks learning how exercises in observation and movement can improve emotional intelligence, which can help with interpersonal communication and professional speaking. And here, on their final day of immersive programming in this classroom with the movable desks and chairs, they were being shown how to use intentional movement and collaborative performance to build confidence.

Fake it till you make it, if you will. All while challenging themselves to embrace new experiences, as awkward as they may seem at first.

This academic module was developed by Savanna Allmon, student and dance artist, and Dr. Gregory Boller, Director of the Center for Arts Integration in Business Performance, a new center at the University of Memphis that offers a unique learning environment for students as well as business professionals who can add performance and leadership skills to their business toolkit.

Arts Integration (A-I) is an educational/training practice in which complex knowledge and skills are taught via arts overlays. This could mean learning history and leadership through dramatic enactments of Shakespearean plays or gaining an understanding of mathematics fundamentals through music.

Like improv for innovation and fine arts for data visualization, the art of movement is a way to incorporate creative skills into the business world, one sashay at a time.

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