I introduced you in my first Idoc untitled « Introducing Somapoétique® as an innovative approach of movement by dance and literature », few general aspects. What we can mainly retain is that Somapoétique® is an « art of thinking in movement ».

Today, I would like to be more accurate and take time to explain you, how is built a Somapoétique® workshop : from the preparation of dance instructions to the workshop process in itself. To start, let’s just recall that Somapoétique® is an approach of movement by dance and literature, in which we are intending to explore the act of interpretating texts, in its sensorial and sensitive dimensions toward a Self-knowledge.

Moreover, we propose to welcome the movement as it comes and let us being moved by the dance, in order to receive what is « speaking » from our subconscious body. After dance work and by the dynamic of free association, we take the time to talk about our experience and to make link between : our imaginary (images, representations…), our movement and our feelings. We are going now, to describe the process of reading and interprating texts to the creation of dance instructions as a kinesthesic protocol.

> FROM LITERARY TEXT TO DANCE

The first step is preparing a workshop in Somapoétique®, in which the crucial moment is text selection. Most of time, the selected writings are depending on the main topic for the season and the progression I am purposing all along. For example, this season, I am leading two workshops : 

-       one is based on the best-seller of the Jungian psychoanalyst Clarissa Pinkolà Estès « Women running with the wolves »

-       another is a « comparative studies » upon common topics between The Metamorphosis of Ovide and the Hebraïc Bible (Ancient Testament).

Why these choices ? The first book is mainly composed of tales dealing with feminity and the advent of the « Wild woman », not as a woman against the society rules but the woman respecting and loving herself, by the knowledge of her inner rythms and the confidence in her intuition.

The second choice with Ovide and the Ancient Testament is because, I found interesting and challenging to reveal common thematics about two texts coming from different cultural and historical backgrounds. I wanted to show that human kind, despite of the differences of its manifestations and expressions all over the world, have always had common symbolical resources to cope with existential questions, right from their body experience of the world they are living in. I wanted to explore how as human being, we developed through our imaginary and the fiction, a way to transform ourselves in creating « a reality » which give meaning in front of the « uncertainty » and a kind of « anguish of creation » of our lives.

Furthermore, I could notice that we try to give meaning to what happen in our life not as a succession or a matter of chance, but as significant events that lead us to access to a greater consciousness about « what we have to do on earth ». And consequently, we are creating the values we have to turn our actions in, as serving not only ourselves or our own interest, but for a greater dimension until the level of of humanity. As «  a part of the Being », each of us are creating (notably here, dancing) to make this Being becoming « what he is », through a ongoing consciousness of crossing steps, toward its own growth.

To approach this founder texts, we developed a key intuitive concept of reading and interpretation of Somapoétique®, called ontosymbolism.

> ONTOSYMBOLISM : AN « EXISTENTIAL » READING THROUGH DANCE EXPERIENCE

 Ontosymbolism is the reading approach of Somapoétiqueâ, coming from the ancient greek onto meaning « Be/being » and symbolism meaning « to unite, to meet ». Ontosymbolism is an approach of reading texts, as an existential experience through body in movement. At the same time, it is a way of unification between our body-heart-mind and our thoughts, our feelings and our acts.

 How is it working ? An ontosymbolic reading consists of tackling the symbolic process of literary texts and approach the symbolic elements as parts and as means, to explore our « psychic and emotional mecanisms » in movement. Generally speaking, we could notice that the text is structured in differents parts  exploring the evolution of Self toward its advent.In other words, there is an « initiatic dimension » within each text. And the symbolic dimension gives us an access to the « Other » part of our Self who is looking for being revealed and being considered. Each text is an invitation to transform ourselves by discovering new meanings that we can give birth from movement to the words, we translate our dance experience.

Furthermore, the dance instructions are built, according to important elements we pointed out of the text. Important in the sense that these elements are significant as a metaphor to reveal our « subconscious psychic mecanism » way to answer to life situation, through our body experience.

> FROM DANCE TO THE BIRTH OF WORD

We understand then, that dance becomes a place where our inner history is telling itself through movements, emotions, imaginary we have about this text as a frame of exploration of our Self.

After investigating a text through the dance instructions (exercises of improvisation or exploration), the other important part is the restitution of the experience, by our own words. Inspired but not mainly by the psychoanalytic process, we are trying to listen and to understand what our words are telling us, about what we don’t know yet of ourselves. Because we are putting words right from the body and dance experience we had, these words are directly coming from our subconscious. Indeed, our body memory is mainly based upon a subconscious langage that we have to learn to listen, to talk with and to decipher by our intuition and free association.

It’s such a powerful experience to be aware that our body is a temple, a place of meditation we can trust because it gives us informations about our « real nature ». By « real nature », we mean our tremendous capacity of transformation and creation of our blocked memory into new energies and potentialities. Our words coming directly from our body experience is challenging what society learned us about how things has to be, to give the place about how things are here and now.

The Somapoétique® dance gives us the opportunity to find a way of reconciliation between what we are living in the depth of our body and the reality of our words rich of the density of our body experience. In consequence, our embodied word  open us new possibilities to be in movement in the consciousness and the respect of our real needs, authenticity and truth…