In this outdoor class, we will explore movement as a way of listening and responding to the more-than-human world. How do we approach the earth, plants, and non-human beings with curiosity and reciprocity, without reproducing assumptions and biases that place humans at the centre of life?
You will investigate your own body and perception, deepening awareness of it as an imperfect and selective frame through which you can sense and make sense of the world. Asking – how can we recalibrate this frame to meet other beings in dialogue rather than human-biased monologue? How can we respond from the perspective of the other, with attentive, open eyes? And how can we let ourselves be entangled and become more than just ourselves?
Through movement, you will practise dialogue with different elements of the landscape, attuning to the wider ecological web they inhabit, and cultivating kinship with this living network as a whole.
We will meet at Siobhan Davies Studios before the class and walk over to the Imperial War Museum gardens together. Please wear clothes suitable for dancing outside. If the weather isn’t suitable, the class will take place in the Roof Studio.
Claire Loussouarn (she/her) is a movement artist, facilitator, filmmaker, herbalist, anthropologist, and writer. Her book How to be feral: movement practices to re-wild your body (Triarchy Press, 2024) invites readers to unsettle human-centric perception, reclaim bodies shaped by cultural conditioning, and relearn movement as if we were creatures once more.
With filmmaker Dominique Rivoal, she co-created We are plants, we are grass, we are Hackney Marshes—a four-screen immersive film installation with 3D sound, realised over six years of shared attention and conversation with Hackney Marshes, a common land in the heart of London. The work invites audiences to become the landscape itself.
Rooted in long-term place-based practice, shaped by nine years of engagement with the Marshes, her work disrupts entrenched divisions between nature and culture, subject and object, and reframes seeing as a relational, attentive, ecological act. She is currently developing new work that reimagines spectatorship as a living ecology, reawakening embodied, relational perception in gallery spaces.
Independent Dance is resident at Siobhan Davies Studios. To find out more about accessibility and the amenities available within the building please see here.
If you have any questions about the accessibility of our programme and would like to discuss any specific access requirements, please feel free to reach out to us via email info@independentdance.co.uk or by phone on 0207 091 9650, to speak to a member of the Independent Dance team.
During class, all participants are welcome to take breaks, observe, exit and enter the space as they wish. Lounge areas are available on the first and ground floors of the building. Yoga mats, blocks, cushions and ear defenders are available for use. We also welcome you being in contact if you would like to discuss the option of bringing your access support worker. Please speak to a member of the ID team if you require any assistance.
Prices for classes are kept very low and are subsidised by ID in order to support artists to attend. To keep admin manageable for our small team, we don’t offer refunds if you cancel or can’t attend a class, and we can’t transfer your booking to a different class/event. We hope this is understandable.
If a class is cancelled or changed by ID however, we do offer refunds/transfers to everyone who has booked.