Drawings from the Body: somatic drawing
I’ve begun a practice of somatic drawing inspired by a class with the gifted artist Rebecca Haseltine.

For these drawings, I worked with ideas ranging from embryology to the body’s fluid systems and the senses. I’ve been working in a mode that explores what arises from sustained motion and intention. Often working with both hands simultaneously—following an impulse through to its culmination. I’m enjoying how full-bodied the process of drawing can be and what is emerging within exploring scale, process, and materials.

ISMETA Engaging Embodiment Conference
I’m excited to present "Seeing & Being Seen" at this year’s "Engaging Embodiment" conference (online). Organized by ISMETA, this conference converges more than 80 of the world’s leading somatic movement professionals to share how work in somatic movement impacts health, education, and social justice.  For full details or to register visit my site (link in bio) or @ismeta_association 

Seeing & Being Seen: Body-Mind Centering®, Race and Identity through Bones, Blood & Skin
3/3/21, 11:00a-12:00p (PST)
Conference: $100-$150 (scholarships available)

Class description: Utilizing the experiential anatomy intrinsic to BMC℠, this session offers resources for cultivating the deep self-awareness, resilience, and empathy required to engage with the work and issues involved in social justice. Through understanding the blood, bone, and skin, we will work to generate the capacity to see each other as individuals with unique histories. How do we show up? How do we show up when we are uncomfortable? How are we seeing? How are we being seen? 

The International Somatic Movement Education & Therapy Association (ISMETA)/Engaging Embodiment: Somatic Applications for Health, Education & Social Justice.

Duet #1: Standing Together with Damaris Webb
Duet #2: Seeing and Being Seen with Jorge Samuel Faria.
Duet #3: In development

Two duets with three diverse performers who Stand Up, Show Up, and Own Up. Part dance, part theater, part oral history, Standing Together brings together a Black Brazilian Nativo Urbano dancer, a descendant of the American slave trade & Scandinavian immigrants, and a woman who traces her lineage through Southern plantation owners to Peter The Immigrant. They show up in relationship to one another and hold space for the hard conversations through their personal interactions and love.

Jorge Samuel Faria is a movement artist from Brazil. The grandson of the founder of one of the first schools of Samba in Teresòpolis, Brazil (Rio de Janeiro), Jorge grew up surrounded by drums and dancing. Currently, he is a candidate at UNESPAR, in Curitiba, Brazil where he studies dance research and composition. Jorge’s current project Nativo Urbano scientifically examines dance composition and movement analysis.

Damaris Webb is a theater maker as social justice advocate. She has created new works for the stage with diverse communities around the U.S. and internationally; her work lives in the intersection of contemplative dance, improvisational performance art, and contemporary theater. She is the co-director of The Vanport Mosaic: a multidisciplinary non-profit dedicated to presenting, celebrating, and preserving the silenced histories of the Pacific Northwest in order to better understand the present. damariswebb.com

On-going Research: My current body of work explores the role of somatics as a tool for dismantling, disarming, resisting, and recovery from the deep bodily harm of systemic racism and oppression.

This work stems from research into my family history, slavery, and racism through a somatic lens. I’ve been working to address and unpack these difficult topics through the generous time and talent of family members, mentors, friends, colleagues, my work as a somatics professional, and dance maker.