moving with ana

Social Presencing Theater

“Social Presencing Theater invites us to tap into our natural creativity and ability to fully embody the “performance” of being human. My intention with this work is to offer movement practices that support people in recognising their own and others’ embodied wisdom, compassion, and courage to act.”from the very beginning. It is that which can liberate us.”
Arawana Hayashi, in Social Presencing Theater

Social Presencing Theater (SPT) is a practice that uses the body and movement to make visible what cannot yet be said — in individuals, in groups, and in systems.

Developed within the framework of Theory U, SPT works at the intersection of contemplative practice, systems thinking, and embodied intelligence. It offers a way to sense the social field: what is present, what is stuck, what is wanting to emerge.

We don’t analyse the situation. We embody it and let it find meaning.

A drop of theory

From Theory U to Social Presencing Theater

Otto Scharmer developed Theory U as a framework for navigating change by accessing deeper levels of knowing — moving from downloading habitual patterns to sensing and actualising emerging possibilities.

Arawana Hayashi brought the body into this framework. Trained as a contemporary dancer and a meditation teacher in the Shambhala tradition, she created Social Presencing Theater as a movement-based practice that makes the social field tangible — not through description, but through embodied enactment.

SPT draws on contact improvisation, embodied cognition, and contemplative traditions. It has been used in leadership development, organisational change, and community building across the world.

STRUCTURE
SPT works with a small set of practices — simple, precise, and repeatable. Participants are invited into specific movement scores: 20 Minute Dance, Village, Stuck, and others. Each one offers a different lens on a situation — personal, relational, or systemic.

There is always time for resonance and meaning-making. What is experienced becomes the material for collective insight.

The collective body becoming conscious

When using embodiment tools, we often start with an exploration at an individual level.

However, the potential is to tap into a deeper understanding of the social dynamics that are present in the collective body. Making the invisible visible in the network of a social field has the potential to provide insights into the unseen forces that guide behaviour and beliefs, even if not easily perceived at a cognitive level.

Structure

We blend tools from Authentic Movement and Social Presencing Theater.

No previous experience necessary. Ideally, participants know at least one of the methods.

Details:

tba

Interested

Sense your current field and move into the next phase with clarity

What are the seeds that you are sowing to create your future reality?

Sitting in front of a blank piece of paper and dropping your ideas and thoughts into words is part of the process, but not the only part. Theory U speaks of including an open mind, but also an open heart and an open will, so that we can let the new emerge.

In a small group (max. 6 people), join me for an exploration of the Seed Dance, a practice of Social Presencing Theater, and Authentic Movement. Include your inner wisdom by connecting with your embodied consciousness in the preparation of your seeds!

Structure

I’ll offer a combination of the “seed dance”, an SPT exercise aiming to sense the field of the future and Authentic Movement. The session combines journaling, visualisation, movement and embodiment.

No previous experience necessary. Ideally, participants know at least one of the methods.