Satya Dunning
I am a Mixed Black collaborative relational somatic based movement and dance artist, choreographer, performer and writer.
I am the Artistic Director of Rehearsing for Freedom, which intersects somatic practice and research, decolonial practice in the face of oppression, and eco-socially engaged choreography. Rehearsing for Freedom's vision is to help people free themselves from oppression and to find freedom into the choreographic realm of dance and movement with the imaginal, nature and fellow humans and non humans.
It offers two proposals: "AWE some" which explores awe into its multitudes and as a container for holding both hope and despair, and "Rest, Pleasure and Take Up Space", specifically developed for and with the Black female body.
"Rest, Pleasure and Take Up Space" (RPaTUS) was developed from my lived experience of a chronic health condition. It pioneers a movement language that is site specific, accommodates a chronic health condition, and a Black body layered with wounds, grief and trauma. This research and exploration has helped me to dance and move in the private architecture of trauma recovery to make sense of how to live well in this world, carve a place for myself, find sanity and joy through the media of body, movement, enquiry, nature and writing - because I have felt so lost in life. I have been able to share my discoveries at Independent Dance, through my own online workshops, and specifically with Black movers at the James McCune Smith 2024 Conference and for Mixed people as part of Being Mixed programme of activities in 2025. I have created containers to explore my work more deeply through mentoring and the RRR programme created and facilitated by Amy Voris and Natalie Garrett Brown from 2023 to 2024 and 2024 to 2025. RRR brings together somatic movement and coaching practice to create space for artists, therapists, coaches and educators who are at a crossroads of their professional practice to reflect upon, re-align and reframe their work and/or career pathway from an embodied and creative perspective. Participants are invited to move and reflect on their current work, drawing on somatic stimuli to do with orientation and transitions to generate reflections and insights. Sessions involve some movement guided activities, as well as time for individual processing and sharing in small groups. For more info, got to: https://www.amyvoris.com/facilitation/
In the past, I have created work which spans performance installation, participatory contexts in the community, site specific work, performance readings and writing on stage, work in progress, facilitation of embodied anatomy and embryology and research in ritual.
I have had fallow periods to take care of my health (2014 to 2019), and have explored a movement language that works for me within the confines of my living room, bedroom, bed, trees and nature (site specific) (since 2023).
I am grateful for my training at Trinity Laban where I learnt the choreographic skill to manipulate space, time, dynamics and movement; the European dance theatricality, which gave me an understanding of a body aesthetic grounded in organic corporeality, of choreography as a socio-political tool, and the lived experience of embodied intention in choreography, the web of interconnectedness between performer, performance and audience, what performativity and what performance are.
My current interests include developing Entelechy Arts’ Ambient Jam in Glasgow, Iyengar Yoga of which I am a Trainee and Mentee, ritual, food, choreography of course, audience - performer relationship; the art of collaborating, performing, reading the work of Black pioneers.
My wish list includes: making a trip to Benin and Senegal to study dance and visit agro ecology community gardens, attend Let's Dance International Dance Festival; Create a Choreographers' Circle; Make dance works; Have a connection with Body Remedy; participate in a residency abroad....