The Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledge Research Group draws on research from (but is not limited to) the fields of dance, performing arts, music, theatre, creative writing and interdisciplinary artmaking.
Through the enmeshed, intermingling of ideas across and through domains it is concerned with the diverse forms of knowledge which reside in our practising, moving, creative bodies and aims to find ways in which this can be explored and shared across different disciplines and contexts.
The participants embrace collaborative dialogue and shared exchange working in post disciplinary spaces; unknowing and uncertainty are central components of speculative research enquiry.
We are interested in pushing at the edges and borders, traversing boundaries, sharing processes and practices, creative play and inventive modes of research enquiry both inside and outside the academy that place creative and embodied knowledge in motion.
The group’s research activities and modes of working explore and respond to pressing socio-political, environmental and economic concerns that inform and shape the conditions in which our research endeavours, creative work and institutional responsibilities are located.
Its working practices and ethos are underpinned by a concern for collegiality, listening with care, decolonisation and shared responsibility as we collectively work to reframe notions of achievement, competition and comparison through practices of speculation, relating otherwise, slowness, and deep listening.
The group's activities are open to artists, academics and the public, from aligned and unaligned disciplines, who are interested in how different approaches to knowledge production and exchange can inform practices and reflection on creativity, composition, cohabitation, collaboration, porosity and being in the world.
We hope to open discourses around creative practices, what constitutes a body, different and multiple ways of and approaches to embodiment to ‘undiscipline’ bodily knowledges and share insights and experiences across both human and nonhuman domains.
From June 2024 to September 2025, five researchers working with AR and VR, digital somatic experiences, site-specific dance research, film, photography, and interactive art have been working together to develop an AHRC Curiosity Award funding bid supported by The Studio.
Read the blog
Silvia Carderelli-Gronau reflects on a Somatic Communication research day facilitated by Nita Little and hosted at BSU.
Read the blog
Professor Vicky Hunter reflects on her experience at the University of Malta’s annual School of Performing Arts Conference in Valetta, where she contributed to a curated panel on the theme of Embodiment, Experience and Participation.
Read the blog
Unless otherwise stated, our events are free and open to staff, students and members of the public.
Join us for the inaugural Moving Ecologies Summer School, facilitated by the Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledges Research Group (CPEK).
Explore intersections between embodied practice and environment-based creative arts enquiry through movement workshops, reflexive writing and classroom-based discussion.
Explore transdisciplinary exchange between movement, ecology, art ecosomatics and cartography.
Engage with ideas and perspectives on Moving Embodied Ecologies and their implications for practice, research and scholarship.
Develop connections and networks with fellow participants from diverse disciplinary fields of practice and research.
Over two days you’ll take part in an immersive, experimental, and informative learning experience, exploring intersections between embodied practice, deep ecology, somatic screendance, feminist new materialisms, and environment-based creative arts enquiry.
You’ll take part in:
Set in the beautiful grounds of our Newton Park campus, close to the UNESCO Heritage City of Bath, the Summer School will include site-based workshops, reflexive writing and mark making, classroom-based discussion, and time for socialising.
Moving Ecologies Summer School is open to artists, researchers, scholars, practitioners and the public interested in embodied approaches to human-nature space enquiry. No previous movement experience is required – just a curiosity about the body and embodied knowledge as a mode of exploring human-nonhuman environment relations.
Book your place here.
With support from CPEK, Bath Spa University PhD candidates in Dance, Chen Yin and Rose RUISI Zhang present a double bill of interdisciplinary performance across two evenings.
Bringing together two distinct works, this event explores how choreography can intersect with digital technology, multisensory experience, and live audience engagement. Through performance, interactive systems, and immersive environments, the evening invites audiences into two experimental worlds shaped by movement, sensation, and exchange.
Nü,女 Prelude: line of the unlined Nü,女 Chapter 1: Longing
This practice-based research project consists of live performance and art installation, exploring the intimate female emotion from Nüshu through dance and interactive technology.
Present？
This research explores interactive dance performance through multisensory engagement, investigating how emotional shifts and physical movement evolve in the dynamic exchange between dancers and the audience.
The performance Present? – meaning both ‘the gift’ and ‘the present moment’ – integrates VR, different kinds of playtronica real-time interactive devices and the Isadora software to build an immersive environment.
The stage dissolves as performers invite the audience to join a fusion of dance and technology, where spontaneous reactions, unexpected connections and shared impulses turn every live moment into a unique, unrepeatable surprise.
This two-part lecture/workshop offers arguments for dance as perhaps the most likely source of breakthroughs in an investigation of the breadth of communication across human and the more than human worlds. Initially it considers why dance offers this potential and goes on to extend practices, anchored in real experiences of entangled states, that interrupt ideas of the limitations of singular being.
Ideas that will be investigated include sensate levels of information that rely, not on interpretation, but rather on changing our underlying embodied states and thus our experience. We will discuss and explore the orientation of the imagination in framing our body schemes, play with alternative modes of imagining the human, and consider the relationship of the mind that experientially is always also a body.
This tripartite interrelationship of imagination, thought, and felt sense of being that organise the physicality of our attention will be employed in the workshop to engage participants in relational movement training through Contact Improvisation practices that move us into ensemble dancing in which our felt sensing exceeds the limits of the flesh.
Part One: Online will be a lecture/discussion with practical exploration by participants. Thursday, May 28, 2026 - 6pm-7pm (booking will open on Bath Spa Live soon).
Part Two: In-person in the dance studio and is a practice based deeper exploration of the initial online event. Sunday, September 13, 2026 - 10:00am - 16:00 (ANG01, Newton Park Campus) £10, £5 concessions, Free for CPEK members, BSU staff and students (booking will open on Bath Spa Live soon).
In this short talk, dance artist, curator and producer Minou T. Polleros will share insights and motivations from the 2022 interdisciplinary symposium Sentient Performativities: Thinking Alongside the Human and its upcoming publication: The Breath we Share: Embodied and Creative Practices for a living and dying world, published by art.earth books.
Reflecting on the evolving field of eco-somatic practices and eco-embodied arts, the talk will be inclusive of reflections of some of the issues and questions in the field. It will also highlight why the broadening reach and development of these disciplines might be increasingly essential in view of the growing schism between the human and natural worlds.
This is a joint event with the cross-institutional 'Environment and Experience' research group.
Book your free ticket here.
This half-day online session bridges the gap between theory and practice in allyship, equipping you the practical skills and knowledge to foster inclusivity and collaborative co-creation in your roles as educators, researchers, and activists.
Together we will explore the purpose and principles of allyship, meaning making within intersecting systems of oppression, epistemic injustice, and the key skills required to meaningfully practice allyship.
This session is written and delivered by Lou Chiu (she/her) who is a highly experienced Culture and Relationships Coach, Consultant, and Facilitator with more than 15 years of experience in UK further and higher education.
Specialising in anti-oppressive practices, allyship development, and addressing cultural and collective trauma, Lou brings a unique combination of professional expertise, lived experience and academic curiosity to her work.
Please book your place in advance.
Join Maymana Arefin for an introductory talk exploring the fascinating world of fungi, mycelial networks, and the "wood wide web" and what they can teach us about mutual aid and collective care.
In this talk, Maymana will share insights from their research on mycorrhizal fungi and explore what these underground networks can teach us about activism and grassroots organising. The presentation will be followed by an open Q+A.
Together, we’ll reflect on themes of social justice – including mutual aid and community organising – through the lens of fungi and nature connection. Everyone is welcome, regardless of background or prior knowledge.
The event is free to attend, but booking is required.
Zoom details will be circulated one week before the event.
This workshop offers an experiential exploration of Focusing, a practice developed by Eugene Gendlin that invites participants to tune into their “felt sense” – a subtle, embodied awareness that holds implicit meaning. Through verbal and non-verbal practices, we will delve into ways of being with the felt sense, uncovering its capacity to reveal new insights.
Stefan Jovanović Kaasa is an artist, teacher and somatic traumatologist whose work bridges performance and therapy to explore trauma, myth, and transformation. His artistic practice spans dance-theatre, installation, drawing, and sculpture, often unfolding as immersive rituals that blur the boundaries between art and healing.
This event is designed to bring PhD researchers together (and anyone who is thinking about embarking on a PhD) to share their practice, network and exchange strategies, methods, ideas, and approaches to researching creative and embodied practices.
This informal gathering will be shaped around exchange, sharing, and exploring in a collegiate and supportive environment. It will be hosted by Michelle Elliott and Professor Vicky Hunter.
For further details please email:
This event took place on Wednesday 26 February at Newton Park.
If you are planning a research paper, preparing a funding application, writing your PhD thesis, preparing a conference presentation or embarking on your first novel, come and join in this session for inspiration and motivation.
This event took place on Monday 25 November 2024.
This event took place on 4 July 2024. If you missed it, you can watch some of the key moments on YouTube.
What can we learn, in moving together, about how we make decisions, how we listen, how we can move others and be moved by them (in all the ways)?
This workshop is open to anyone curious to engage in movement explorations and with choreographic ideas. There is no need for formal dance training. It will be playful. We will walk, stand in stillness, and move as we like. We will notice what emerges from our moving together and alongside, and share some of this with one another.
The session will be practical but there will also be space for reflection and conversation.
This event took place on 3 July 2024. If you missed it, you can watch some of the key moments on Vimeo.
This research project raises intriguing questions: How do we navigate and embrace changes in our lives? How can we flow through life’s twists and turns with grace and resilience? How do body memories influence the process of creating technology-involved dance compositions?
Zhi Xu is a choreographer, dancer, researcher and Senior Lecturer in Dance at Bath Spa University. He completed a PhD focusing on dance technology and cultural identity at Brunel University London in 2021. As a choreographer and dancer, he has created more than 20 works touring world-wide in China, the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, Belgium, Malaysia and Israel.
This event took place on 24 June 2024.
The walk will culminate in a movement workshop in the dance studio where we will draw on the walk to create a collaborative movement ‘score’ for participants to collectively engage in and share their experiences of the day’s events. No specialist dance or movement experience is required – this workshop is inclusive, adaptable and open to all.
Workshop leaders:
This event took place on 21 June 2024.
Sonic Dancer is an innovative creative technology project aiming to develop human connection and interaction through movement and sound when physical presence is not possible.
Silvia Carderelli–Gronau is a movement artist and dance-movement therapist. She has been consolidating her practice and research in somatics, embodiment, improvisation, relational practices (Ensemble and Contact Improvisation) and the dialogue with creative technologies, and is interested in how they can support/enhance human experiences. Silvia is a resident at The Studio in Bath and a member of The Creative Practice and Embodied Knowledge Research Group at Bath Spa University.
Swen E. Gaudl is a Senior Lecturer of Interaction Design at the University of Gothenburg and Computer Science Lecturer at the University of Plymouth. He is interested in human behaviour and agent design. He works with novel interaction mechanisms to engage users from various also non technical backgrounds; this includes robotic movement expression for social signals such as using auditory information to identify users.
This event took place on 14 June 2024.
Participants will include invited researchers, PGR students, artists and practitioners interested in exploring the themes of 'being otherwise', learning from ecological systems and structures (such as growth, degrowth, and composting), nonhuman and organic ways of organising and relating, learning from nature and the interdisciplinary possibilities that may arise from Pluriversal thinking.
This event took place on 21 March 2024.
As ecological breakdown continues to accelerate, how can we find ways to cope with the information we are receiving and to share our anxieties?
Whether it is through a sense of hope, hopelessness, or somewhere in between, this event provided a space for creative practice as a form of embodied knowledge, greater understanding and awareness, and exchange.
If you would like to get in touch with us, please email:
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