"Becoming animal"

Contemporary dance and somatic movement
By Katrine Bregnum

 

This practice invites a meeting point between contemporary dance and somatic practice—where movement emerges from sensation, attention, and relational awareness. Drawing from contemporary dance, authentic movement and imaginary meditative practices, we explore how the body can move with, rather than against, gravity, momentum, and how we can deepen our awareness through listening with our body and senses.

Through guided improvisations, we tune into the intelligence of the body - how joints articulate in relation to the spine, how weight travels, and how movement pathways unfold organically. The floor becomes a partner, offering feedback, support, and resistance, while contact with others opens a dialogue of listening, timing, and responsiveness.
I aim to create a space to peel back the layers of conventional expression and move toward a raw, honest articulation of self. We question what makes our dancing feel authentic, and what it means to truly listen to the body.
Through guided imagery and self exploration we will aim to enter a collective meditative state where deep listening is possible.

We work with principles such as spiraling, sliding, yielding, and falling - allowing momentum to arise through connection rather than force. By softening into reflexes and sensing rather than controlling, we explore how to receive and give weight with clarity and trust, creating a space where risk can be met with awareness.

The practice moves between inner perception and outer composition. Through somatic listening and embodied attention, from the skin to the wider spatial field we expand both technical, emotional and compositional sensitivity.

This is not only about refining movement skills, but about deepening presence, responsiveness, and the body’s capacity to navigate between structure and improvisation.