When?
16th July 2021 12-2pm BST
What?
This webinar included a panel discussion on how dance and somatic practices can be shared through digital technologies for people living with pain.
Several new videos developed by network members were also launched, which share dance and somatic practices for people living with pain.
Webinar attendees came from all over the UK such as Lancashire, Kent, West Midlands, Cheshire and Hampshire; as well as from countries such as Ireland, Finland, Hong Kong, and Brazil.
Recording
The webinar is available below on YouTube (video) and Soundcloud (audio)
0.00-0.10: Introduction
0.15-1.10 discussion on theme of webinar with panel (Ashley, Kim and Kapsali in that order)
1.10-1.45 discussion of videos with panel and video makers (including David Leung, Micia de Wet and Eline Kieft)
Hosted by: Bernie Carter, Sarah Charles, Emma Meehan and Micia de Wet
https://soundcloud.com/user-235484908/moving-pain-online-webinar
Chat and evaluation
Here we share some of the webinar chat and comments in the post-webinar evaluation. The topic of equality came up with one attendee commenting that there are ‘Barriers to access from patients living in deprivation. My hope that patients can access these practices who are often left feeling they have nowhere to turn.’ Panel member Maria Kapsali also noted ‘There is something about the invisibility of pain and the social and economic arrangements that keep this so.’
At the same time, empowerment was also mention in relation to the emphasis on movement: ‘How empowering it feels just to hear that: we are always in motion. And the acknowledgment of subtle movements…’ The power of movement was echoed with another attendee also saying ‘I enjoyed the slow rhythmical dance in the video David and Eugenia’s shared. Very lovely.’
David Leung, who created this practice video for the network, focused on pain as moving and changing: ‘The creative understanding of pain as an organic and constantly evolving conversation within ourselves often allows me and my students to view pain in a different light and allow for creative ways of management to come in.’ He also suggested practitioners create empathy with those in pain : ‘Acknowledging pain as a universal process that we all go through has allowed me to walk in the same shoes as a fellow human being, side by side and hand in hand with us all.’
In closing, many had comments on the potential of technology. Eline Kieft, who also created a practice video, noted the ‘Sense of integration of different practices, and a sense of connection between all of us all over the globe will remain with me from this lovely webinar!’ Meanwhile, panel member Eugenia Kim recognised how ‘Despite sitting through the whole session with constant throbbing pain, I found moments where I momentarily stopped feeling pain. So this was a new experience for me where somatic practices and technology came together in a supportive way.’ However, participants wondered about the role of technology in pain management, with one stating ‘Where does the balance lie between technology that supports wellbeing and that which hinders?’
Final comments in the webinar chat and post-webinar evaluation include:
- A very enlightening session!
- A wonderful exchange and insight into working somatically with technology and people living with pain.
- I am currently in pain, for physical ill health and stress-related reasons. The webinar and the practices provided a very much needed invitation back to the body, in a gentle & subtle way.
- The utmost thought and care for participants went into the suggested short videos.
- Theory, practice & lived experiences are all entangled. The way the webinar covered all these three areas was great. It was a moment of self-knowledge generation and knowledge-sharing at the same time.
- I very much enjoyed how clear and specific each practitioner presented and spoke about their film or research but it felt also felt beautifully inclusive and accessible.
- There is an unexplainable “intimacy” that authentically present bodies generate, even via a technology that seems to mask some somatic data. Today I felt caressed, cared about, touched ‘despite’ the technology.
With thanks to panel members, video-makers and attendees at the webinar
Links
The video practices and other links mentioned in the webinar include:
- Self Care for Parents and Carers by Lisa Dowler
- Breathe in Energy, Breathe out Pain by Eline Kieft
- Body Awareness, Movement and Writing/Drawing by Tamara Ashely, Micia de Wet and Rachel Cherry
- When Things are Flowing chair-based practice by David Leung, Eugenia Kim and Chester Siu
- Movement Sonification with Maria Kapsali
- Dance & Parkinsons’ Online in Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil with Aline Haas
Panel
Tamara Ashley is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at the University of Bedfordshire, UK.
Maria Kapsali is a Lecturer in Physical Performance in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds, UK.
Eugenia S. Kim is an interdisciplinary creator and researcher, Hong Kong.
Aline Haas is Postdoctoral Research Assistant at University of Wolverhampton, UK and Associate Professor in Dance at Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. * Aline Haas was unable to join the webinar but her presentation is here.
(The full biographies of panel members can be found later on the page)
We were also joined by video makers Micia de Wet, David Leung and Eline Kieft.
Panellist Biographies
Tamara Ashley
Tamara Ashley is a Senior Lecturer in Dance at the University of Bedfordshire. She is a dancer, performance artist, yoga and somatic practitioner, teacher and researcher interested in exploring the moving body-mind for the development of creativity, freedom, self-expression and healing. Her continued studies in yoga, mindfulness practices and energy work have supported her own recovery from long-term pain that was unresolved after a back injury. She has also applied a somatic approach in the design of a choreographic app for the iPad, for both disabled and non-disabled users. She is interested in how digital design can generate more accessible and inclusive spaces for somatics and body work, and how we can share some of this subtle healing work through virtual environments so it can benefit those who might otherwise not be able to access it. She has created a video with Micia de Wet and Rachel Cherry for people with pain as part of the network.
Maria Kapsali
Maria Kapsali is a Lecturer in Physical Performance in the School of Performance and Cultural Industries at the University of Leeds. Her academic work and creative practice explore how skills of performance and performance training can be mobilised as ways of knowing in diverse educational, social and cultural contexts. She has been working with movement sonification since 2014, exploring the creative and pedagogical opportunities that the synchronous co-production of sound and movement can have for performer training and audience engagement. She is currently developing a new movement sonification product for people with additional learning needs and is interested to explore movement sonification as a way to work through and/or in pain. Her monograph Performer Training and Technology: Preparing Our Selves was published by Routledge in 2021 and her work on movement sonification has been covered in two articles (Kapsali 2017; Kapsali 2020).
Eugenia S. Kim
Eugenia S. Kim is an interdisciplinary creator and researcher. Her background is primarily in dance, digital archives/humanities, and multimedia with formal education in other visual and performing arts as well as information technology. Previously Eugenia conducted her doctoral research on the bodily experience of having bipolar disorder and expressing this through motion capture and VR. As a patient with fibromyalgia, bipolar disorder, and autism spectrum disorder, she experiences pain on a daily basis in various ways. She is currently interested in how pain affects one’s movement choices and how technology can help bypass the limitations that pain can impose on the human body. She has created a video with dance artist David Leung on moving with pain as part of the network.
Aline Haas
Aline Haas is a Postdoctoral Research Assistant at the University of Wolverhampton, Walsall Campus, UK and an Associate Professor in Dance at the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul (UFRGS), Brazil. She has a BSc(Hons) in Physical Education and a PhD in Sports Science. She leads the ‘Research Group in Arts, Body and Education’ at UFRGS. Her research focuses on dance science and dance in health, including working with people with Parkinson’s, stroke patients and older people – who often experience pain. She has been delivering dance workshops online with people living with Parkinson’s during the pandemic.
Hosts and Special Thanks
This webinar will be hosted by Bernie Carter, Sarah Charles, Micia de Wet and Emma Meehan, with thanks to Olga Baker, Kauser Husain, Lily Hayward Smith and Anjum Ismail
