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Arts & Communication Digital somatic arts: Choreographing autonomy

and functional improvements in her students after only “designed to allow the nervous system to take the time
3 months of teaching. These improvements were attributed necessary to process and integrate information.” 12 (p5) This
to the acceleration and intensification of the development physical recovery strategy facilitates motor programming
of the Feldenkraisian principle of autonomy, adaptation, (or reprogramming), supports the integration of the “new
and maturity. As a part of the neuro-phenomenological sensation” that is particularly at stake in the student’s
4-6
approach, and as one of the anchors of this collaborative process of gaining autonomy and maturity, and explores
work, Germain proposed that Isabelle Choinière first the notion of “sensory authority.” 13
experience a lesson in Feldenkrais somatic practice in Sensory authority is a particularly important notion in
the hands-on mode (functional integration) in a face-to- our experimental context, as it states that sensation will be
face setting—a mode with which Choinière was already our reference for learning, and not just logic or language, as
familiar from her training. She then experimented with
the same practice online. This was intended to provide her is often the case in the Western context. Here, sensations are
with a foundation of sensory and perceptual information considered important, primordial information, and they
and references in both contexts. are deliberately prioritized. This is an essential component
in understanding the multimodal approach adopted in this
To examine these positive findings, this article takes the work. We will develop these notions in greater detail in the
form of a report based on lived experiences. This approach following sections.
must be understood and perceived in the singularity of the
experience. To reflect this approach—inspired by Merleau– Germain and Choinière are both international artists
Pontian phenomenological methodology—Choinière and professional contemporary dancers with over 20 years
suggested that Germain include her testimony as a of training in dance, various somatic approaches, and other
practitioner through a subjective, first-person (“I”) account hybrid techniques. They have also developed a reflexive
of the lived experience. An objective, third-person account “research-creation” practice through postgraduate studies.
will also be included to reflect the theoretical dimension Choinière is one of the pioneers in the new contemporary
that resonates with the various findings observed. performance scene that integrates technology. Her
doctoral and postdoctoral research focused on the
To develop this transdisciplinary approach, we drew on impact of media on the body—more specifically, on
the theories of Howard Gardner, the American behavioral the re-evaluation of the relationship between the body
psychologist, presented in his book Frames of Mind: The in movement and technology—by examining recent
7
Theory of Multiple Intelligences, and on a multimodal perspectives in performance art that reveal new dynamics
process developed by Choinière et al. and Choinière of inter-pollination between somatics, technology, and
8
et al., which considers different ways of learning. The health. Germain’s graduate research focuses on integrating
9
cases presented here stem from experiments that Germain the principles of the Feldenkrais method into a “practice-
designed and conducted as part of an evolutionary process as-research (PaR)” process in dance.
that she created and modified throughout the sessions.
This process was linked to new teaching conditions, where As the main subject of this article is not methodologies
the environment was notably technological (Zoom video (those linked to practice are still in the process of being
conferencing software), resulting in significant sensory defined), we offer these definitions to give readers some
and perceptual modifications for herself and her students. reference points for what follows. First, Leonore Easton’s
definition of PaR, “this term expresses the notion of a
Building on these experiments, we propose the following direct link between research and practice. Practice is an
research question: How does live remote somatic education integral part of the research process and of the results
foster self-awareness and support the development of obtained.” 14(p3) Secondly, that of the funding agency Fonds
students’ autonomy? To explore these sensory-perceptual de recherche du Québec-Société et culture (FRQSC) for its
8,9
destabilizations, three key elements of interrelated “research-creation” program:
somatic education were freely integrated: (i) the creation
of a novel learning context, (ii) sensory attunement, and ... all research approaches that (1) promote creation
(iii) augmented rest. 10,11 The experiments and analyses and aim to produce new aesthetic, theoretical,
proposed here involve the performative integration of (i) methodological, epistemological or technical
a general technological context as a new environment—a knowledge, creative or artistic activities (design,
new learning context, (ii) a shift in sensory attunement, experimentation, technology, prototyping, etc.) and
influenced by the sensory self-organization principle (2) the problematization of these same activities
intrinsic to the body, and (iii) potentiated rest, which acts (critical and theoretical grasp of the process,
interactively as an alternation of rest and activity phases, conceptualization, etc.). 15

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 2 doi: 10.36922/ac.4477