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Arts & Communication Digital somatic arts: Choreographing autonomy

a perceptive entity both subjective and objective. In this These other conceptions of the body are those inspired
context of experimentation and analysis, 63,64 aesthetics mainly by the ancient philosophical contributions of Asia,
can once again become an event concerning the body and the Far East, Africa, Brazil, and Haiti. These conceptions,
perception—etymologically speaking, knowledge—which which introduce the value of the invisible, the transitional,
is activated and renewed by the simultaneous interaction the unstable, the microscopic, and the phenomenon of
of all the senses with one another and the development of profound mind–body transformations, stand in opposition
our ability to perceive. to Western thinking, characterized mainly by finality,

The relevance of Gardner’s theory lies in that it fixity, the visible, the anthropomorphic limit of the body,
60,69-71
differentiates intelligence into specific modalities rather and materiality.
than approaching it as dominated by a single capacity. These experiments, conducted in a controlled
The resulting implication, particularly in research and environment during Awareness Through Movement
research-creation, is that a learning modality might involve lessons, lead to transformations in the lived body—the
sensoriality and movement, rather than just language and sõma—resulting in the development of new sensorimotor
logic. Indeed, the first reference or knowledge is acquired perceptual abilities. This ontological shift of the body
72
through sensation (e.g., in the case of dancers), which then constitutes a form of decolonization, which enables the
interferes with theory, resulting in a different organization development of self-confidence and fosters the emergence
of knowledge. By modifying the body’s internal reference of autonomy.
points and their structures, we change our way of feeling
and perceiving the world, that is, our way of thinking and Acknowledgments
organizing creation, the work, or, in the context of this Thanks to Geoffreyjen Edwards for his great review work
article, our learning experiments. and advice.
This reappraisal of bodily intelligence in the experiential
and analytical process also has an impact on writing and Funding
thinking. In this sense, it is suggested that the faculty of None.
understanding through sensation and perception, and
its role in establishing relationships, can contribute to Conflict of interest
enriching, even renewing, the existing aesthetic and The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
cognitive paradigm. While aesthetics is often approached
as a “contemplation of an image outside oneself,” 65(p15) Author contributions
in this study, it is suggested that we experiment with its Conceptualization: Isabelle Choinière
immersive character and approach aesthetic experience Writing-original draft: All authors
through the dynamic intervention that follows, namely the Writing-review & editing: All authors
body affected in its sensoriperceptivity, sensorimotricity,
and the modification of its body schema (reorganization Ethics approval and consent to participate
of the senses, sensory mapping, and contemporary
subjectivity). 66-68 The author Christine Germain obtained verbal consent
from her students.
A precise posture was chosen to develop this line of
research: not to reject the knowledge that preceded it, but Consent for publication
rather to recognize its values and the founding role that
this knowledge plays, while drawing on ontologies that The participants in this case study have given their consent
come to us from cultures other than the West to open for publication.
up other possibilities in terms of research and emerging Availability of data
realities. In the experiments reported in this article, a
radical principle of embodiment was tested. It comes from Data used in this work is available from the authors,
a non-Western cultural perspective and also resonates Isabelle Choinière (isabellechoiniere@gmail.com) and
with certain imperatives of research-creation, which is Christine Germain (movementexplorer@gmail.com) upon
to understand and integrate approaches that consider reasonable request.
transformation with and through the body. It is in the
integration and interconnection with other influences— Further disclosure
ontological conceptions of the body and embodiment The author’s Isabelle Choinière biography can be
from other cultures—that we carry out this reflection. accessed through: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isabelle_

Volume 3 Issue 3 (2025) 11 doi: 10.36922/ac.4477