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Arts & Communication

ARTICLE
Digital somatic arts: Choreographing autonomy

1
Isabelle Choinière * and Christine Germain 2
1 Planetary Collegium, School of Art, Design and Architecture, Faculty of Arts, Humanities and
Business, University of Plymouth, Plymouth, England, United Kingdom
2 Department of Dance, Faculty of Arts, Université du Québec à Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Abstract

Within a transdisciplinary perspective encompassing a critical approach to
technology and the performing arts, this article examines the positive evolution
of the principles of autonomy and adaptation through the Feldenkrais method
of somatic education in the context of the transition from traditional hands-on
teaching to video-conferencing as experienced during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Inspired by the Awareness Through Movement lessons, significant sensorimotor
and functional improvements were observed in numerous dancers and performers
after 3 months of online teaching. The video conferencing technology introduced
a sense of distance from the student, modified the experiential environment, and
transformed the perceptual relationship between the teacher and student. This
amplified participants’ self-reliance, shifting attention from a passive to an active
mode. Such sensorimotor learning leads to a reprogramming of the nervous system.
The development of greater autonomy in students may be reasonably associated
*Corresponding author: with the somatic principle of “sensory authority.” To conclude, the proposed
Isabelle Choinière hypothesis states that these changes represent a positive complexification of the
(isabellechoiniere@gmail.com)
self, our relationship with others, and our environments. The hypothesis also calls
Citation: Choinière I, for heightened awareness and consideration of the reorganization of our internal
Germain C. Digital somatic arts: body cartographies. This reorganization can potentially facilitate the transition from
Choreographing autonomy. Arts &
Communication. 2025;3(3):4477. a state of frustration, as defined by neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, to an act of
doi: 10.36922/ac.4477 creation. Finally, it is suggested that the ontological shifts observed in the body and
Received: August 8, 2024 the sensate may be associated with an additional multimodal knowledge structure
that enriches an anthropological reflection of our becoming.
1st revised: April 4, 2025
2nd revised: May 20, 2025
Keywords: Art; E-learning; Technology; Somatics; Feldenkrais; Perception; Health;
Accepted: May 20, 2025 Neuroscience; Phenomenology
Published online: July 7, 2025
Copyright: © 2025 Author(s).
This is an Open-Access article
distributed under the terms 1. Introduction
of the Creative Commons
AttributionNoncommercial License, This article is based on a case study from the teaching practice of Christine Germain,
permitting all non-commercial use, Master of Fine Arts, teacher, and certified practitioner of the Feldenkrais Guild of
distribution, and reproduction in any North America.
medium, provided the original work
is properly cited. During online teaching experiments that began during the COVID-19 pandemic in
Publisher’s Note: AccScience the spring of 2020 in North America, Germain was able to observe the positive effects of
Publishing remains neutral with online teaching, made possible by the Zoom video conferencing software. Although there
regard to jurisdictional claims in
published maps and institutional have been several reports of failure of online teaching by the scientific community during
1-3
affiliations. this same period, Germain, on the other hand, observed significant sensorimotor
Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 1 doi: 10.36922/ac.4477