Somatic practices and cultural embodiment: hosting dialogue

In this article, I summarise recent research in the field of dance and somatic prac-tices in relation to culture, addressing how socio-political contexts are embodied and also resisted. Questions I ask include: What communities have been excluded from somatic practices/research and how can this be repaired? What can somatic practices offer in exploring cultural embodiment? How can somatic principles support cross-cultural dialogue in ethical ways? I discuss the practice of ‘hosting’ which I have been developing from somatic principles as a means of ethically and sensorially generating dialogue across cultures. These questions are examined within the context of an international political moment where immigration policies are a highly emotive topic and ideas of ‘hosting’ other cultures could be supported through dance and movement practices.