what does it mean to embody?
Embodiment is a felt sense of how your body and mind are interconnected. It also means recognizing that your bodymind is part of a larger community and world. Change, healing, and transformation are things that you can not just feel or do but also embody. Dance is one embodied way of interacting with the world.
improving the body-mind relationship
Prentis Hemphill, a somatics practitioner, argues that deep transformation of ourself requires change in the body. They say we need our mind and body to be in conversation so that we can fully engage in the ways we want to (The Loveland Foundation, 2021).​ Often, when our bodies don't act the way we want them to in our minds, we get frustrated. This might lead us to not want to listen to what our bodies are trying to tell us. Disabled activist Alice Wong notes that because of the medical-industrial complex, ableism, and capitalism, "so many of us [disabled people] are completely kind of alienated from our bodies or... we’re taught to be, you know, to kind of have a very difficult relationship with our bodies” (Wong, 2020). Somatics is one way to try and restore that relationship. Hemphill says that when you do somatics work, you begin to notice how your body is trying to care for you, what it’s tensing from, what it wants, etc. (The Loveland Foundation, 2021). Somatics is about really listening to your body and developing a better relationship with it.
Dance is one way to engage in somatics. Dancing can help you understand how your body enjoys (and doesn't enjoy) to move and what it can feel, sense, and create. Dance teacher and somatics practitioner India Harville says that dance "help[s] people understand that everything their body does is OK. And every way they show up enriches the space and is acceptable" (Wong, 2020). Dance gives you the chance to embody these ideas--to experience them in not just your mind but also your in body and with other people.
somatic creative movement: artist spotlight on petra kuppers
Petra Kuppers created a form of community dance called Starship Somatics. It was developed early on in the COVID-19 pandemic. Kuppers wanted to create an online space for creative somatic movement that focused on disability culture values. For her, this meant creating classes where all forms of being and sensing are recognized and honored. Participants improvise movement, dream, and draw from their bedrooms or in person. They honor their pasts and imagine transformed futures.
A number of dancers are standing, sitting, and lying on the floor. Some are moving and interacting. Some are meditating. In the background, a captioned dancevideo is playing.
eco somatics
Petra Kuppers (2022) defines eco soma as "a method for working with somatics in performance" (p. 1). Eco soma involves not just sensing and connecting with the physical things your body interacts with. It also involves understanding yourself as "part of both a human ecology and a non-human ecology" (Kuppers, 2022, p. 1). We are all part of the natural environment, along with plants and animals. We are also all part of a social world. In our social world, we have many different cultural and historical connections. We also all have unique social locations, which are called positionalities. We all have unique ways of understanding things based on our identities, such as our gender, race, and ability. Our different identities come with different privileges and power depending on the situation. Eco soma says that when we dance on a stage, we are not just moving. We are interacting with the natural environment and the social world. We are in relationship with the earth and each other. We are calling upon our lineages, and we are creating new ones.
Performance has social power. We can use performance to share stories. We can call for change. We can raise awareness. We can reimagine the world. And much, much more.
storytelling & intersectional exploration:
artist spotlight on antoine hunter & urban jazz dance company
Mr. Antoine Hunter is an African-American Deaf producer, choreographer, film/theater actor, dancer, dance instructor, model, poet, speaker, mentor and Deaf advocate. He is also the founder of Urban Jazz Dance Company.
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One of Mr. Hunter and Urban Jazz Dance Company's recent projects is the film Deaf's IMPRISONED. In the film performers use dance, spoken language, sign language, video, music, and silence "to look at the lives of Deaf people: What does it mean to be a Deaf person in prison? A Deaf woman of color? In these interdisciplinary works, [they] explore the tension between Deaf utopia and Deaf diaspora" ("Deaf's IMPRISONED," 2018). Deaf's IMPRISONED is intersectional, which means that it look at how people's Deaf identity interacts with their other identities, such as their race and whether they are in prison. Deaf's IMPRISONED is an example of embodied storytelling. Often, we think about stories as being told with language, such as spoken or signed language. However, stories can also be told through dance.
Urban Jazz Company dancers performing "Deaf's IMPRISONED." Dancers are standing in a semicircle, facing and surrounding a dancer whose back is facing the camera. All of the dancers are wearing navy blue t-shirts and pants. Each dancer's arms are raised, one forearm above their head and one forearm across their chest. Their palms are facing out and their fingers are spread. The background is dark grey.