What if movement wasn’t something you did, but something the world lured out of you?
This class invites a radical reimagining of movement not as self-expression but as a way of co-composing with the world; movement as inherently ecological. This session will invite you to experience movement emerging in dialogue with gravity, air, objects, histories and atmospheres, with no outside to this entanglement. Drawing on ideas from Claire’s book How to be feral, you will explore the notion that agency is not an individual force to wield but a shared capacity that continually arises through encounter wherever we are. Participants will practise what Claire calls ‘agentive listening’ with everyday objects, attending to the subtle ways materials shape us as we shape them. For example, a crumpled fabric becomes a vessel, or a chair leg extends the spine. Each gesture is not yours alone, but the world thinking through you.
In this class, becoming aware of your entanglement will invite you to loosen the grip of human-centred perception to begin to see with the more-than-human world, not just at it.
Claire Loussouarn (she/her) is an eco-movement artist and guide, a filmmaker, a herbalist, an anthropologist and the author of How to be feral: movement practices to re-wild your body (Triarchy Press). Her work composts the cultural scripts that told us we were separate from nature. It asks what it takes to move like a creature again and to enter in dialogue with the more-than-human world as our kins. Through movement, she invites us to question and unlearn the deep conditioning of human supremacy.
Rooted in the unstylised movement of Amerta, Claire’s practice unfolds most often under the open and expansive sky of Hackney Marshes, where she teaches and moves in conversation with the wind, the weeds, and whatever weather arrives.
Together with filmmaker Dominique Rivoal, she co-created We are grass, we are plants, we are Hackney Marshes — a four-screen immersive film installation with 3D sound, slowly foraged and fermented over six years of filming, moving, and shared attention.
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 9665, to speak directly to a member of the Independent Dance team. Alternatively, you may phone the main reception at Siobhan Davies Studios on 0207 091 9650.
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.