ABOUT THIS BOOKElucidates the field of movement and dance somatics.
Somatics in Dance, Ecology, and Ethics explores the relationships between self, world, and earth to understand the experience of being alive and corporeal. In doing so, Sondra Fraleigh develops a philosophy of an ethical world gaze that promises to enliven the senses. Chapters borrow from wide-ranging intellectual influences—phenomenology, Buddhism, butoh, dialogics, aesthetics, poetry, feminism, ecology, and more—Fraleigh describes the ways somatics can help people to feel well, practice empathetic communication, and recognize the psychic, unpredictable edges of experience as they move. An interview with Amanda Williamson complements the chapters. “The body is the fascinating home for all our dispositions,” Fraleigh tells hers. “Spiritual qualities are embodied. We dance and sing them into being.”
AUTHOR BIOGRAPHYSondra Fraleigh is professor emeritus of dance at the State University of New York (SUNY Brockport). Her books include Back to the Dance Itself: Phenomenologies of the Body in Performance; Moving Consciously: Somatic Transformations through Dance, Yoga, and Touch; and BUTOH: Metamorphic Dance and Global Alchemy.