Our decolonial conversations with performance voice training in higher education in the South African pluriverse

Abstract

This article shares conversational thinking around the complexities present in the vocal development of the actor-in-training in a multilingual, multicultural training context, specifically referring to South African higher education. It is framed from the authors’ lived experience and discusses the pedagogical constructs present in the pluriverse where voice is central in the performance of identity. Organic congruencies, humans as multimodal bodyminded beings and embodiment are discussed as points of departure. The interlinked relationship between voice and language is considered. Searching for a humanizing pedagogy, translingualism, and embodied learning, among others, are offered as possible means to engage human congruencies in the multilingual, multicultural setting. Certain principles of Lessac Kinesensics are engaged with in this on-going project contributing to a decolonial approach to performance voice training in higher education.