A PhD that redefines performance through the somatic politics of touch and attention. In an era grappling with profound disconnection and global crises, this PhD Thesis offers a hopeful counter-narrative, proposing that our very modes of perception are powerful political agents. Through a unique somatic, touch-based artistic research, it redefines choreography as the art of attending, moving beyond traditional visual dominance to cultivate a deeper, multi-sensorial engagement. Structured in three parts, this thesis traces a journey from Context & Definitions to The Somatic Costume Dressing Room, and finally to the performance of Give Them Wings & We Shall See Their Faces. Born out of the COVID-19 pandemic, The Somatic Costume Dressing Room serves as a core methodology—a haptic-focused process where costumes are co-designed in the moment based on the wearer's arising psychophysical needs. The final performance, Give Them Wings & We Shall See Their Faces, introduces Travellers (guided by touch with eyes closed) and Witnesses (engaging visually). Their experiences reveal how the primacy of touch reshapes our sense of time, place, and meaning-making through Poetic Material-ity. This approach challenges ocularcentrism, offering a modern eye remedy by integrating vision anew through tactile and auditory foundations. Woven throughout the entire thesis are Somatic Acts, poetic, embodied invitations for the reader. These acts are more than just exercises; they are integral to the research, bridging theory and practice with sensory experience to make the thesis a participatory, felt journey. Ultimately, this research advocates for a quiet yet profound political act: using somatic practice and costume to cultivate a more holistic way of being in the world. Costume, in this context, transcends mere adornment; it becomes a core choreographic practice, a `Somatic Costume Landscape´ that fosters intimacy, agency, and embodied connection. It offers a vital path to resilience and resistance, redefining what performance can be by returning to the body's felt experience and a non-striving form of attention.

PHD Thesis

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Project Summary

Title: The Somatic Costume Dressing Room – Choreographing Attention through Touch & the Poetic

This research is situated between costume design and costume-based choreography, where material agency and sensorial relationships are under-researched artistically and theoretically.

Referencing the ´anthropology of the senses´, our ocularcentrism western era still prioritises visual, external experiences over the internal, tacit and tactile. This research advocates and interrogates the material and sensorial agency between costumes and bodies and the primacy of the sense of touch in the design-choreographic encounter.

My key research question is: How do we choreograph attention through the touch of Somatic Costumes?

Somatics and my training in Somatic Movement Practices are the bridge to experiencing, designing and choreographing between costume and body. Choreographing attention begins with attending to the internal, tacit, tactile experiences of the wearer - a somatic approach. Three key somatic practices from my training are applied and integrated: Skinner Releasing Technique with American Joan Skinner, Amerta Movement with Javanese Suprapto Suryodarmo and Environmental Movement with British Helen Poynor.

The methodology of ‘Wearing Research’ activates material and sensorial agency through exploring the effects of materials on bodies through different dressing rituals. What is the artistic and performative potential of dressing/undressing? How can the costume become the choreographer?

This research builds upon my ongoing collaborative Somatic Movement, Costume and Performance Project (SMCPP) since 2011, where Somatic Costumes were designed to elicit psychophysical awareness in the wearer starting through the sense of touch or ´haptic´. The SMCPP Project began opening the important need in costume and choreography discourse to further understand the role of the live body and touch in artistic practice and research.

How can the role of the live body and touch in choreography and design practices further develop as method, practice and artistic results through the Somatic Costume? What if Somatic Costumes could be co-designed in the moment, from the wearer´s psycho-physical needs – such as rest, grief, or reconnection to the heart? Performatively, how can the Somatic Costume extend into the environment as sensorial scenography and activate the poetic imagination?

Documentation of participant experiences and collaborative processes include video, photography, voice recording, drawing and writing.

The final artistic outcomes aim to contribute to both costume and choreography discourse and contexts. They include three key formats. First, guided one-to-one sessions (The Somatic Costume Dressing Room). Second video documentation of the immersive sensorial costume-based performance (Give Them Wings & We Shall See Their Faces). And third, an interactive PDF written reflection with somatic and immersive experiences embedded inside. Additional outcomes include at least two peer-reviewed publications.

Prosjektsammendrag

Tittel: The Somatic Costume Dressing Room – Å koreografere oppmerksomhet gjennom berøring & det poetiske

Denne forskningen befinner seg mellom feltene kostymedesign og kostymebasert koreografi, hvor materialets muligheter og sansemessige relasjoner undersøkes kunstnerisk og teoretisk.

Med referanse til 'sansenes antropologi', prioriterer vår okularsentriske vestlige æra fortsatt visuelle, ytre opplevelser fremfor indre, non-verbale og taktile. Denne forskningen tar til orde for, og utforsker den materielle og sanselige muligheten mellom kostymer og kropper, og forrangen til berøringssansen i det design-koreografiske møtet.

Mitt sentrale forskningsspørsmål er: Hvordan koreograferer vi oppmerksomhet gjennom berøring av somatiske kostymer?

Somatikk og min trening i Somatic Movement Practices vil være broen til å oppleve, designe og koreografere mellom kostyme og kropp. Koreografisk oppmerksomhet begynner med å ta vare på de indre, non-verbale, taktile opplevelsene til den som bærer kostymet - en somatisk tilnærming. Tre sentrale somatiske praksiser fra treningen min vil bli brukt og integrert: Skinner Releasing Technique med amerikanske Joan Skinner, Amerta Movement med Javanese Suprapto Suryodarmo, Environmental Movement med britiske Helen Poynor.

Metodikken til 'Wearing Research' vil bli brukt for å aktivere materielle og sensorisk aktører gjennom å utforske effekten av materialene på kroppen gjennom forskjellige påkledningsritualer. Hva er det kunstneriske og performative potensialet ved å kle av/på seg? Hvordan kan kostymet bli koreografen?

Siden 2011 bygger denne forskningen på mitt pågående samarbeidsprosjekt Somatic Movement, Costume and Performance (SMCPP), der somatiske kostymer (Somatic Costumes) ble designet for å fremkalle psykofysisk bevissthet hos brukeren med utgangspunkt i berøringssansen eller det 'haptiske'. SMCPP-prosjektet åpnet behovet i kostyme- og koreografidiskurs for videre å forstå rollen til den levende kroppen og berøring i kunstnerisk praksis og forskning.

Hvordan kan den levende kroppens og berøringens rolle i koreografi og designpraksis utvikle seg videre som metode, praksis og som kunstnerisk resultat gjennom Somatic Costume? Hva om somatiske kostymer kunne co-designes i øyeblikket, fra brukerens psyko-fysiske behov – som hvile, sorg eller en ny tilknytning til hjertet?
I et performativt perspektiv, hvordan kan det somatiske kostymet forlenges inn i omgivelsene som sensorisk scenografi og aktivere den poetiske fantasien?

Dokumentasjon av deltakererfaringer og samarbeidsprosesser vil omfatte video, fotografi, lydopptak, tegninger og tekstmateriale.

De endelige kunstneriske resultatene har som mål å bidra til både kostyme- og koreografidiskursen og -konteksten. De omfatter tre hovedformater. For det første veiledede en-til-en-økter (The Somatic Costume Dressing Room). For det andre en videodokumentasjon av den immersive, sensoriske kostymebaserte forestillingen (Give Them Wings & We Shall See Their Faces). Og for det tredje en interaktiv eksplisitt refleksjon i PDF-format med somatiske og immersive opplevelser innebygd. Ytterligere resultater inkluderer minst to fagfellevurderte publikasjoner.

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