Gravida Project is the very first project in Wales that looks at creativity through pregnancy and maternal mental health.
In 2011 – through the first research project, ‘Women in Pregnancy’ Gravida was born. Funded by the Arts Council of Wales and supported by Chapter Art Centre we worked with midwives, pregnant community members and pregnant professional dancers to develop a proof of concept for the CODA (Context Oriented Dance Approach) methodology.
In 2018 – Gravida Project was showcased as a multimedia dance theatre exploration of pregnancy and maternal issues, through body memory and emotional heritage. This was staged at Chapter Arts Centre, Cardiff and funded by Arts Council Wales.
Using CODA methodologies, developed by Aleksandra Nikolajev Jones, Gravida enables artists, mothers, mother – artists and all women who have experienced or are experiencing transformations into motherhood.
CODA re-situates their experiences through embodiment and flow. This process allows for the body to reconnect with the mind and vice-versa; where the mother-dancer – the artist can reclaim her grounded physical, emotional and mental health and wellbeing.
Gravida Project works with professional dancers, community dancers and women who may have experienced postnatal depression, trauma through pregnancy and birth and other life difficulties transitioning from pre-motherhood into the multi-complexities of pregnancy and birth and the demands on the emotional body and mind.