Edited by Stefania Tansini

The Studi per M workshop aims to encourage dialogue with one’s own body and the bodies around us, through movement practices. What does it mean to move through a place, to inhabit the same space, to practise a form of shared presence? The course begins with an initial phase of physical preparation: starting from the experience of ‘being’, we explore the infinite possibilities for transformation that open up within the body in relation to its surroundings, seeking to make it malleable and sensitive, ready to change its rhythm and dynamics in response to itself, to other bodies and to the shared space.

We will begin with principles of movement or choreographic guidelines, and then adapt the direction of the exercises based on the participants’ responses, their feelings and their specific characteristics. The process will alternate between individual freedom and group exercises, starting with perceptual and exploratory elements that foster a practice of co-existence and co-creation. The work thus focuses on a sensitive openness: listening to oneself, to others and to the environment as an ecosystem of presences in dialogue. The practice invites us to recognise the body as a space for relationship, capable of embracing differences, closeness and distance, generating ways of co-habitation based on attention, respect and a willingness to engage. At every moment and in every place, the body does not hide within movement, but rather disarms itself, placing itself in a state of openness towards the present and towards what it does not know in advance, including its relationship with the other. The aim is to achieve an attentive bodily state, capable of being surprised and of discovering how much it can do, be and become, including through the breath and the voice, which serve as tools for connection and exchange.

The practical session will be followed by opportunities for discussion, which will help participants to reflect on their experiences and share their perceptions and thoughts, thereby strengthening the collective aspect of the programme.

The workshop is open to people of all origins, social backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. Diversity and differences are welcomed as a resource and an asset for all participants’ journey. Dance experience is welcome, but what is essential is the desire to get involved through active participation and an openness to listening to one’s own body and to others.