CALL FOR PAPERS Collaborative Research Abstract Exploring the nature of emergence within the framework of a somatic ensemble’s collaborative process, this article considers the systemic differences between an actor speaking their words chiefly because they know the time has arrived, the simple event of hearing their cue line, in comparison to the emergence of words as a result of the complex synergy between brain, body and the environment, an intricate collaborative event. Learning to listen to the details of the present moment, interoceptively, cultivates a greater understanding and experience of self, which in turn creates the fertile ground for imagination, authentic relationship and the possibility of allowing the living experience of the moment to emerge unfiltered, and be felt with an audience. An aliveness, that can be too often lacking in today’s overprepared presentation of a performance, lays dormant beneath the surface of stiffened bodies. How do we unravel sincerity within our bodies, voices and minds when we’re faced with scenarios of the imagination that are unlike our day to day lives? The collaborative authors assert that for lived experience to occur in a deep bodily sense, beyond the shallows, there must be a process which facilitates performers to fully let go within the complex ‘dancing landscape’ of somatic collaboration, allowing circumstances to move their bodies, minds and spirits. Considering the nature of emergence, as a ‘wild natural phenomenon’, and using the processes of Somatic Movement practice we propose ways of rewilding the collaborative process to unearth our inner voices and support the actor to surrender to their bodily and imaginal experience, relocating themselves away from the centre of the universe as a performer and into a deeply rooted relationship with the present gathering.
