Participating in the World Gymnaestrada: an expression and experience of community
This paper aims at providing a context-based interpretation of the conceptual notion of community based on, and grounded in, the World Gymnaestrada, the official worldwide event of Gymnastics for All. In the light of ongoing scholarly discussions about the analytical value of community, the paper seeks to identify the extent to which, and how, participating in the event shapes the development, expression and experience of a sense of belonging to a community. An ethnographic research approach was used to explore these questions, using participant observation and semi-structured interviews as key methods. Informed by Cohen’s approach to community and Turner’s notion of communitas, the findings suggest participating in the World Gymnaestrada provides a platform to experience and conceptualise a sense of belonging to a group in both a physical and social way. The particular nature of the World Gymnaestrada community entails its being simultaneously social and physical, place-bound and spread beyond boundaries. The paper concludes with a context-based interpretation of the concept. Drawing on the metaphor of hibernation, this interpretation suggests a unique form of community that is constituted and confirmed through intense social and physical encounters that keep the community’s meaning alive in the participants’ minds until they meet again in preparation for the next event. The paper not only contributes to understand the notion of community in the twenty-first century; it also provides insight into the sociocultural impacts of a largely under-researched international event, the Gymnaestrada.