#50 Embodying Creativity: The Eros of Transformation. Thomas Kampe PhD
Imagine a kid that grew up playing in the ruins of a Nazi fascist Germany destroyed homeplace.
Thomas Kampe, PhD, the special guest to crown episode #50 of The Sensual Sessions podcast, was this little kid born in Kassel.
Grew up embraced by a radical left-wing environment and top avant-garde artists educated him. He became an educator forged on the approach of the anti-pedagogies and somatic pedagogies.
Discovered origins of the somatic approach of movement tracing way back to the women of Bodenwieser´s dance group who were teachers of men of the like of Moshe Feldenkrais and Joseph Pilates who made body-mind movement popular but dismissed these women as their lovers who then were silenced by history.
Studied cognitive system thinking from Gregory Bateson, Edgar Moran and one of the pioneers of the neurobiology of cognition Francisco Varela, to thread in his creations this understanding of the self structurally coupled with the others and the environment.
Thomas greatly challenged himself walking in the shoes of the perpetrator by theatrically performing physical theater role playing a Nazi. And found that it´s not hard to give into the worse of you, starting with a little slap and scaling violence to viciously beat the vulnerable.
It´s easy to become a monster.
While humanness is in choosing not to.
Creative transformation is in deciding offering the fire of your fullest capabilities to become a beacon of hope for human kind.
As the bold words of Ben Ferencz, who passed this Friday at 103, the last Nuremberg Trials prosecutor alive stated:
“LAW, not war.”
Hilde Holger, holocaust survivor, embodied the dignity in this relentless spirit of beholding justice above violence. Thomas met her when she was 83, and collaborated with her for 13 years.
Thomas says “Hilde was a crippled ninety year old woman in the studio and when we started dancing she would just transform in front of us—she would become this erotic creature.”
Hilde called it the power of dance. For her, being truly alive was THE RESISTANCE. She lived. Hitler didn’t.
What we sense brimming from Hilde Holger until her last breath is pure life force.
What we sense dancing beyond age in Hilde Holger is THE EROTIC.
Hold on to the power of dance.
Live with no reserves.
Embody dignity.
Own your eros.
RESIST!
Delight in this extraordinary 1h 40m documentary conversation crowing the #50 episode of The Sensual Sessions Podcast about “Embodying Creativity: The Eros Of Transformation” with Dance Artist, Pedagogue and Feldenkrais Method Practitioner, THE Thomas Kampe, PhD.
WATCH NOW:
This is a special episode for me because I learned how sensual pelvic movement, my main teaching at Centro De Poder, goes beyond Joseph Pilates´s “imprint”, Moshe Feldenkrais´s “pelvic clock” and even Martha Graham´s “contraction and release” to these pioneering women of Bodenwieser´s whose golden work is now a hundred years later, rescued from oblivion, being voiced and made justice by Thomas Kampe´s research.
But not only because of that. Something random and quite mysterious happened to me by the end of the recoding when Thomas Kampe shares a movement experience with us. I then placed my hands on my chest and I felt my own warmth—for the first time in my life.
Thank you for being part of this now 50 episodes long journey on The Sensual Sessions podcast!
All erotic splendor,
Candia Raquel
CENTRO DE PODER®, Founder.
Sensualist. Scientist. Artist. Woman.
Sense your fire to share the flame!
About Thomas Kampe
Thomas Kampe (PhD) has worked as a performing artist, researcher and somatic educator across the globe. Between 2012 and 2022 he worked as Professor of Somatic Performance & Education at Bath Spa University, UK, where he co-directed the Creative Corporealities Research Group. Artistic collaborations include work with Liz Aggiss, Hilde Holger, Julia Pascal, Tanzinitiative Hamburg, Somatische Akademie Berlin, and with Carol Brown on re-embodying the diasporic practices of Modernist choreographer Gertrud Bodenwieser. Thomas’ research focuses on critical somatic legacies and he recently co-edited JDSP Vol. 9. (2017) ‘Bodily undoing: Somatics as practices of critique’ and JDSP Vol. 13.1 &2 (2022): ‘Embodying Eco- Consciousness: Somatics, Aesthetic Practice and Social Action’. He is the co-editor of the book 'Beyond Forgetting: persecution/exile/memory - transdisciplinary perspectives on education in design and performance' (Cuvillier 2020).
Thomas is a practitioner of The Feldenkrais Method® and guest-editor of the IFF research Journal Vol. 6 (2019): Practices of Freedom: The Feldenkrais Method and Creativity. Since 2015 direction of international symposia: (re)storing performance (2015); Theatre, youth, trauma and Europe in crisis (2016); Bodily Undoing –Somatic Performance Cultures and Activisms as critical practice (2016); Beyond Forgetting 1938-2018: persecution/exile/ memory (2018). He co-directed Body IQ Berlin Festival 2019 & 2021.
Discover more about Thomas Kampe´s work:
What´s Next
Go to The Sensual Sessions Podcast Episode #51: How To Infuse Sensual Mystery Into Intimacy with Leah Gastler
Learn more with resources on: Bodymind Philosophy Resources
Discover: The Ecstatic Breathing Practice
