Practicing Dance: A Somatic Orientation

Within the framework of the research project InnoLernenTanz at the Palucca University of Dance Dresden, in this book Jenny Coogan – professor of contemporary dance at the same institution – offers a forum in which she and guest authors consider questions such as: - How are the parameters crucial to the understanding of contemporary dance, such as personal agency, actually embodied? - How does the German system of dance education foster such parameters? - How can somatic approaches contribute to encouraging dancers to experience their education from a first-person perspective of authority with enhanced self-reliance, self-reflection, and social consciousness? Practicing Dance: A Somatic Orientation includes accounts of field research, essays and interviews, as well as suggestions for studio practice that demonstrate the synergy between contemporary dance and the Feldenkrais Method. The range of perspectives offered invites critical reflection on methods to support young dance artists in embracing the twenty-first century challenges of professional performing careers.