Rehearsing Possible Futures: Art, Drama Education, and Ecology of the Soul

This keynote is a personal and professional reflection on a question that has accompanied my work for many years: What becomes possible when art and drama education are understood not merely as methods of teaching, but as ways of being, knowing, and relating in the world?

Drawing on experiences as an international artist, drama and dance educator, researcher, theatre practitioner, and producer, I will trace a journey through diverse educational and cultural contexts I have encountered, searching for my authentic expression and work methodology. Theatre and drama education has always served as a space for encounter, dialogue, and transformation. From my own experiences as artist, first in contemporary dance, then in laboratory theatre, touring the world festivals and universities teaching, also from the work we have developed in Serbia in Theatre in Education productions addressing bullying, cyberbullying, and social exclusion, to participatory arts projects with children, young people, and educators across Europe and Asia , this work has been guided by a persistent belief in the capacity of artistic practice to nurture empathy, agency, and hope.

At a time marked by uncertainty, conflict, ecological crisis, and growing social fragmentation, theatre and drama education offers more than creative expression. It creates opportunities to listen across differences, to inhabit perspectives other than our own, and to imagine futures that have not yet been realized. Through embodied, collaborative, and participatory processes, learners become active meaning-makers, engaging critically with questions of identity, belonging, justice, and responsibility.

Central to this exploration is an emerging commitment to decolonial and ethical approaches to education that challenge dominant assumptions about learning, expertise, and whose stories matter. Rather than preparing young people simply to adapt to existing realities, drama education can invite them to question inherited narratives, embrace complexity, and participate in the creation of more just, compassionate, and sustainable futures. The value of immersive and interactive theatre also expressed in the theatrical form I am developing, the “essays in movement”.

Ultimately, this lecture argues that art and drama education are acts of hope as “ecology of the soul”, as concept I have been developing since 2014. They remind us that imagination is not an escape from reality but a means of transforming it; that empathy is not merely an individual disposition but a collective practice; and that through shared acts of creation, reflection, and performance, we rehearse not only stories, but possibilities for living together differently.