Public Lecture

Ecosomatic Seeds of Reciprocity: The Perceptual Roots of Ecological Crises

Presented at the Italian Cultural Institute of Bucharest

Tuesday 26th March, h19  

Part of the ROOTS Dance Residency Project of AREAL Space for Choreographic Development (https://arealcolectiv.ro/en) in partnership with "I.L. Caragiale" National University of Theatrical and Cinematographic Arts. Funded by the Romanian National Cultural Fund Administration (https://www.afcn.ro).

Listen to the lecture

Abstract

Behind the ecological ruins of the Anthropocene hides a crisis of perception. We have been blinded by the colonial ideologies of separation and by technological utopias to see plants, other animals, the seas, the land, the sky, and everything beneath, above, and around us as sentienceless, extractable resources. This collective myopia is manifested also in the increasing separation of individuals from their ecosystems. Yet the ground for a broad cultural shift is forming across the arts, the humanities, and the social and natural sciences. We are witnessing the emergence of a web of perspectives for reconfiguring our understanding of human life as deeply entangled within the biosphere and as an extension of the ever-changing Earth. This lecture explores how, in these times of pressure and uncertainty, the eco-somatic arts are growing as a field in which the practice of dance, choreography, somatic therapy and education, theatre and performance interpenetrates ecological and socio-political thinking to express and articulate the connective potential of embodied experience. The focus is on eco-somatic approaches to perception through movement. I describe how perception unfolds as a synesthetic experience of reciprocity through which we can rediscover the ancient resemblance and commonality with matter and the nonhuman. I draw attention to how seeding reciprocity starts from confronting the tragedy of our destructive cultural heritage and regaining the ability to grieve for ecological losses. I conclude by asking what seeds of reciprocity might take root if we engage artistic processes as collaborative acts of repair. The lecture includes documentary video material and field reflections from the ‘La Selva’ International Ecological Arts and Eco-Somatic Residency that took place in Rome in October 2023 with the participation of forty leading eco-embodied artists and educators from around the world.

Short bio Raffaele Rufo

Raffaele Rufo (PhD) is a somatic dance practitioner, a mediator and facilitator of artistic and cultural processes, and an independent scholar working with eco-somatic arts as a vehicle for individual and social transformation. He is co-editor of the special issue of the Journal of Embodied Research on ‘Ecologies of Embodiment’ and the co-founder of the International Forum for Eco-Embodied Arts (IFEEA). His research has been published internationally. During twenty years of professional experience, Raffaele was involved as teacher and researcher in schools and universities and as choreographer and facilitator in a wide range of participatory artistic, pedagogical and community development projects in Europe and Australia. Currently based in Rome, he coordinates the International Ecological Arts and Eco-Somatic Residency ‘La Selva’ in partnership with Teatro del Lido di Ostia and Intercultural Roots (UK). His current research explores eco-somatic practices as ways to co-vision equitable and regenerative futures by instigating civic participation in defence of the commons. www.raffaelerufo.com / www.ifeea.earth