Unfolding embodied peaces through dance and movement. Open Floor conscious dance and movement practice as a transrational resource for peace.

Abstract

This research engages the conscious dance and movement practice Open Floor to explore how new and different possibilities for embodied being, becoming, knowing, and relating can (re)manifest. It starts from a ‘disembodied’, Cartesian-inspired ‘mind-body’ separation, investigating how this ‘mind-body’ separation influences and restricts ways of being, becoming, knowing, and relating. From here, it taps into Open Floor through in-depth, qualitative, and narrative interviews conducted with seven long-term Open Floor practitioners (teachers). It thus focuses on lived dance and movement experiences, narrative processes of meaning-making, as well as transformative encounters with embodied peaces on and off the dance floor. Ultimately, it arrives at a core understanding of Open Floor as a practice that can help unfold embodied peace potentials due to how it can help individuals and collectives affirm, engage, and (re)unfold the ever-emerging dance wholeness that they and others are - as well as constantly also are becoming differently anew.