Intwining dance, somatics and sustainability

This article offers a dialogue intwining dance, somatic practice and sustainability. This interweaving offers possibilities for relational ways of understanding how our embodied actions can impact our resiliency and increase our capacity for relational empathy. By enlivening, cultivating and valuing our somatic intelligence, our sensorial experiences and actions are brought to consciousness, which can enhance self-awareness and foster more congruent, compassionate and perceptual relationships with self, others and the natural world. An intersectional perspective is explored using somatic practices to strengthen our sense of sustainability from the inside out. Focus is on increasing the awareness of overlooked resources from a felt sense, attunement and embodied processes. Using classroom examples, the article describes the philosophical context and development of a new undergraduate curriculum in somatic sustainability. Over time, systemic connections are strengthened as focused, body-centred practices develop our human potential, aiding personal growth and nurturing a sense of community stewardship.