Esme’s movement practice explores the dynamic relationship between pleasure and disorder, investigating how joy, disruption and spontaneity can become powerful tools for creativity, connection and embodied knowledge. Drawing on dance improvisation, somatics and clowning, her class cultivates curiosity, playfulness and expression.
Through play, movement, rhythm and repetition, you are invited to tune into the sensations, impulses, and experiences that bring pleasure. By following what feels energising, nourishing, or unexpected, we explore how pleasure can expand our capacity to move, imagine and relate to ourselves and others. Moments of disruption and unpredictability are embraced as opportunities for discovery, opening new pathways for expression and transformation.
The class offers a supportive and inclusive space to experiment, take creative risks and reconnect with the body’s innate intelligence. Together, we approach pleasure not as a destination, but as an ongoing practice of attention, freedom and possibility.
Esme Rocha-Benjamin (she/they) is a dance artist, somatic practitioner, and researcher whose work explores embodied culture, queerness, and mixed-heritage identity. She began her training at Dixon-Woods School of Dance before studying at London Studio Centre and later completing an MA at the University of Central Lancashire (UCLan).
Esme is currently a Practice Research PhD candidate at the Centre for Dance Research (C-DaRE), Coventry University, supported by a fully funded Midlands4Cities Arts and Humanities Research Council (AHRC) studentship. Alongside her academic work, she has a strong interest in clowning and recently trained at École Philippe Gaulier, completing the summer programme Le Jeu (2026).
Over the past 15 years, Esme has taught, performed, and collaborated with artists and companies including KWAM Collective, Uchenna Dance, Kloé Dean, Babel Theatre, Farrell Cox, and Movement Angol, where she is an Associate Artist. She also co-created the internationally award-winning experimental dance film SOMA with KWAM Collective. In 2026, she became an Associate Artist at Hoxton Hall.
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.