The inter-subjective body

The inter-subjective body or emergent body can be positioned as a further expression of the Ecological Body in that it resonates with notions of the body as in flux and co–created in relationship with the environment. Specific to the inter-subjective body is an interest in the inter-relationship between bodies and specifically between dancers, and dancers and audience. This focus thus brings a particular interest in corporeal exchange and the related ethical and political significances of subjectivity as co-created. In particular notions of a Somatic mode of attention or ‘being with’ will be explored as will touch as communication, movement as a perceptual field and kinaesthetic empathy. Theoretically this lens is informed by Deleuze and Corporeal Feminism, In doing so an affinity is proposed between Deleuzian inflected corporeal Feminism principally through the work of Rosi Braidotti,and Elizabeth Grosz, and somatic informed movement practice. Both, it is suggested offer a critique of the “mind/body” dualism implicit within humanist understandings of subjectivity. Accordingly each can be argued to re-cast subjectivity as an always-embodied activity, an inter-corporeal exchange between “self”, recast as shifting and multiple, and “otherness”. Case studies drawn from creative dance practice informed by a range of Somatic practices including the Alexander Technique, FeldenKrais and Body-Mind Centering will be drawn upon to illuminate this lens.