Being-part-of nature, somehow. A somatic inquiry into attending to that which is unfolding / Mira Hirtz (2019)

My research in the frame of the MFA Creative Practice at Trinity Laban Conservatoire and Independent Dance 2017-2019 focused on how to attend to being-part-of nature. I applied somatic based dance both outdoors and indoors, the inquiry into various artistic media such as sculpting, drawing, photography and writing and improvisation as well as score development. This investigation looked into the transformational force of attention, following the sensory experiences of life as an entangled, co-created reality. It is embedded in references to New Materialism and geopolitics, and it is mainly inspired by the somatic practice of Skinner Releasing Technique and by the work of choreographer Deborah Hay. My practice shifted from the attempt to conceptualise complex meanings of ecologies to the intention to attend to my own, already given, being-part-of ecologies. Being-part-of somehow, as said in the title, marks the openness of this inquiry. I developed a score of attending to that which is unfolding in order to follow this intention and shared my research in workshops and a performative installation.