Arawana Hayashi - "Social presencing"

Arawana will talk about her most recent book and an emerging art form based on contemplative practices called Social Presencing Theatre (SPT), an art form that makes visible both current reality and emerging future possibilities for individuals and groups. This movement-lead practice
connects different communities and their transformational stories by blending social action research, theater, intentional silence, generative dialogue, and open space.

Arawana heads the creation of Social Presencing Theater (SPT) for the Presencing Institute. Working with Otto Scharmer and colleagues, she brings her background in the arts, meditation, and social justice to creating “social presencing” that makes visible both current reality and emerging future possibilities for individuals and groups. Arawana’s pioneering work as a choreographer, performer, and educator is deeply sourced in collaborative improvisation. Her dance career ranges from directing an interracial street dance company formed by the Boston Mayor’s Office for Cultural Affairs in the aftermath of the 1968 murder of Dr. Martin Luther King, to being one of the foremost performers of Japanese Court Dance, bugaku, in the US. She has been Co-Director of the Dance Program at Naropa University, Boulder, CO; and founder-director of two contemporary dance companies in Cambridge, MA. She spoke with online participants and students at RYI on 14th Feb 2023.