“Dance for the Renewal of the World”: An Eco-Somatic, Participatory Arts, Practice-Based Research Project / Sophie Schilling (2025)

“Dance for the Renewal of the World” is an eco-somatic and participatory arts practicebased research project. Sophie Schilling, community dance facilitator and student on the MA Dance Leadership and Community Practice course at the Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance arrived at this research topic through a curiosity about the parallels between site dance and community dance, and how each could be used to facilitate empathy with the environment in the face of the climate crisis. Inspiration from community dance, site dance, eco-somatics, and socially and ecologically engaged arts, as well as the themes of levels of change, empathy, and hierarchy built the basis for the research practice. The research practice was delivered using practice-based research methods, achieved through weekly sessions where participants were invited to journal, draw, paint, and dance in Greenwich Park through the spring of 2025. Data on how the practice changed the participants’ relationships to the environment was collected through artist’s journals, interviews, and photos and videos, which were analyzed and compiled into a reflective film. The film and other research materials were displayed at the Trinity Laban Graduate School Showcase in July 2025. This research practice did indeed improve the participants’ relationships to the environment, evidenced on both the personal and community level. The research findings have implications for people of all ages who want to improve their relationship to the environment, including children, who can be engaged using a proposed methodology titled ECOmmunity dance education. This research project, a “dance for the renewal of the world,” had effects at the immediate level of the research participants, with ripple effects of change radiating beyond the research to the reader, audience, and dancers of all ages.