Embodying Loss
The one-day symposium was curated by Beatrice Allegranti and held at the Siobhan Davies Dance Studios, London in June 2013. Emerging from Allegranti’s collaboration with Jonathan Wyatt, the aim of the day was to engage the 80-strong audience of multi disciplinary practitioners and scholars into conversations about how we experience profound loss and how we attend to it.
The day unfolded with conversations across the boundaries of medical and therapeutic approaches; embodied, creative conversations that engaged us in thinking about our own losses as well as how we work with others’. Loss was seen broadly, to include, for example, the loss of a loved one, or the loss of aspect of self through illness, or the loss of body/brain capacity.
The symposium was a rich day that brought together scholars, therapists and arts practitioners for talks, dance performances and discussions. This participative forum for inquiry assisted in the process of learning about our common, shared human experience of loss.
Invited artists, therapists and speakers:
Dr Viv Martin: Imagery and identity construction in illness narratives: negotiating loss and transformation – a research talk
Layla Smith: Part of You, Part of Me – Dance solo film short
Dr Beatrice Allegranti & Dr Jonathan Wyatt: Your Story Calls Me – dance film and autoethnographic performance
Gerry Harrison: Embodied Psychopathology an experiential presentation with dance movement psychotherapy trainees
Dr Caroline Hoffman: Embodying Loss and Mindfulness
Marina Rova: Silent Story – dance solo performed by Tasha Colbert
Dr Bonnie Meekums: Lost Bodies – an autoethnographic talk
Mitzi Blennerhasset: Never Mind – an autobiographical experience of cancer
Geoffery Unkovich: Lost Words – dance solo
Doe Warnes: The Anatomy of Loss – an experiential talk
Neil Max Emmanuel: Uncle Charlie Carries His Future – Art Installation
Jackie King: Photography Exhibition for Your Story Calls Me