Siobhan Davies Percolate Programme 2021

Siobhan Davies Studios’ Percolate Programme offers flexible support to artists working with dance and choreography across disciplines, formats and contexts.

A central enquiry in my work is how does one renegotiate when things have shifted so much. This question relates to physical changes brought about by osteoarthritis, multiple surgeries and cancer treatment at a young age, particularly in relationship to balance - how does one literally rebalance the body when muscles, tendons, ligaments have been pulled out of sync and damaged, when flesh has been cut and removed? How does one rebalance psychologically and emotionally? When the body’s response to controlled trauma is a constant loop of injury, pain, gradual strengthening, back to injury and starting again. In this context, how does one renegotiate their relationship to their own physicality and to the wider world? 

During this residency, I will explore these questions through embodied practice in the studio to examine the relationship between somatic dance practices and large-scale mark-making as strategies to help physical and mental recovery and make visible processes of healing.