Living in rhythm and resonances: an investigation of kinesthetic awareness in the spaces between / Stephanie Woodland Ojo (2021)

This research project examined kinesthetic awareness through the dual lenses of rhythm and resonance. It explores two movement forms: the African aesthetic movement and the Continuum somatic movement practice. Maurice Merleau-Ponty’s theory of perception serves as a theoretical context and an undercurrent to exploring the lived-bodily experience in relation to an African based somatic creative process. Autoethnographic writing and film were utilised as practical research methods throughout this open-ended project. Drumming with the Djembe played an essential role in highlighting insights into the body’s kinesthetic response to rhythm and resonance. These strands of research interweave by informing one another or sitting beside one another in practice. This investigation led to curiosity about the spaces between these strands and embodied experiences. I understand the space in-between to be a space not yet known but open to discovery and where the senses, tensions and self, deconstruct and synthesise through listening practises. Inquiry into this space informed the final practical outcome, In the Space Of, a multi-modal choreographic work that explored personal memories and present sensations through text, film, drumming, and an African aesthetic movement form through a somatic experience.

Key words: African aesthetic movement, Continuum somatic movement, kinesthetic awareness, rhythm, resonance