Body Ecologies is a creative inquiry into how we understand and experience our bodies.

We are physical beings — flesh and blood, skin and bone; our senses the interface between ourselves and others, and the world around us. Our DNA is passed on to us and by us, and we have limited control over how our bodies work or how they look. Biology and culture influence how we regard and inhabit our bodies, our choices and actions. This project will explore the scope of our corporeal natures, our connection with the living world, and the stories our bodies have to tell.

Culminating in a full-scale theatre performance in autumn 2025, the project will encompass exploratory workshops involving a diversity of creative practitioners and methods, classes, and work-in-progress events.

We will look at the body — materially, conceptually, and emotionally — through an array of different lenses: in culture (how we fit into and are seen by our society); in nature (our connection with the flow of life); in science (the biological body); in imagination (metamorphosis and transcendence). But we will also acknowledge the porous nature of those lenses and seek an integrated understanding of what it means to be human.

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

13 June, 7.30 pm
Unicorn Theatre, Abingdon Abbey Buildings, Checker Walk, OX14 3JD
Showcase performance of work-in-progress (double bill with US artist Julie Becton Gillum), plus Q&A

13 September, 10.00 am – 4.30 pm
Braziers Park, near Ipsden, Wallingford, OX10 6AN
Body Ecologies creative workshop
(supported by South Oxfordshire District Council)

3 October, 6.00 pm
Earth Trust Centre, Little Wittenham, OX14 4QZ
Showcase performance for opening of Watlington Arts Hub autumn exhibition

22 November, 7.30 pm
Old Fire Station, 40 George Street, OX1 2AQ
Full performance

23 November, 7.30 pm
Old Fire Station, 40 George Street, OX1 2AQ
Full performance

April 2026 (tbc)
Jacqueline du Pré Music Building, St Hilda’s College, OX4 1DY
In collaboration with DANSOX: showcase performance and discussion

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