Somatic Poetry

Dancer and producer, Rumiko Otsuka, had the brilliant idea of embodying poetic expression in this three-part workshop. We created a format that would support different languages and approaches, and decided to see what happened in the new territory. We were surprised by how many people joined us to find out, and how they welcomed the possibilities – embraced them even.

We began with a short acrostic writing exercise, then moved into movement fairly quickly. Garaget is like a library in a living room and soon enough there were people dancing and saying lines of poetry in every corner. We incorporated book titles and feelings. We let words take us to movement and movement take us to words. We heard poetry in French, English, Swedish, Portuguese, Finnish, Russian and Japanese. I have lots of lovely memories, not least of all seeing trust develop and encouragement in this experimental area.

Thanks to Rumiko and the participants. Also to Jerry Pedersen for the great photos.