Touch, Gesture, and Kinaesthesia: movement workshops and talks

Dr Fusako Innami (Durham University) in collaboration with Surface Area Dance Theatre CIO (SADT) presents a weekend of movement workshop activity, delivered in partnership with SADT associate artists Annie Dearley and Christopher Fonseca and panel talks presented by Dr Fusako Innami, Prof. Derek Humphreys, Dr. Nicolas Schwalbe and Prof. Neil Roberts.

This movement workshop focuses on touch, gesture, and kinaesthesia (the sense of movement) to explore communication with others through sensory and embodied experience.

The workshop asks:

• How can we touch others?
• How do we convey sensory experience?
• How is lived experience transformed as it moves between people, across time and space?

Alongside practical movement exploration led by Chris and Annie, a panel discussion will consider the possibility of community building through touch, drawing on a series of related workshops held in Japan (2021–23) and the United States (2025). Friday is targeted toward art/dance professionals and academics. Saturday is open to the general public.

We recommend booking tickets early, as we have limited capacity.

When:

Friday 29th May 10:30 - 17:00 (BST)

Saturday 30th May 2026 13:00 - 17:00 (BST)

Where: Dance City, Newcastle Upon Tyne

Please come in comfortable clothing.

Touch is a site of encounter with others. It recognises both the unreachability of the other and of the self, while still reaching out.

Touch mediates past experiences and layered sensations, acting as an interstice that invites us to imagine another’s experience. It is a way of invoking both others and oneself—anticipating response, thinking of another’s mind, and imagining another’s lived reality.

In the context of COVID-19 restrictions, reduced opportunities for physical contact, and the urgent need for community-based resilience during health crises, touch has become an especially vital concept to reflect upon.

Durham University, School of Modern Languages & Cultures

Dr Fusako Innami is Associate Professor in Japanese and Performance Studies at Durham University. She is the author of (University of Michigan Press, 2021 – Open Access), runner-up for the British Comparative Literature Association’s First Book Prize (2025).

Her awards include the New Scholars’ Prize (International Federation for Theatre Research, 2012) and the Fulbright All Disciplines Scholar Award (2024–25, US–UK Fulbright Commission). She has published widely on literature, dance, and performance, and has contributed writing on the performing arts for organisations including Bunkamura, Danceart, and Glyndebourne Opera.

Surface Area Dance Theatre (SADT)

SADT is a multi-award-winning, inclusive performing arts charity based in North East England. Since 2022, it has been a funded Arts Council England National Portfolio Organisation.

A Disability Confident Employer, SADT is recognised for its distinctive approach to inclusivity and its team of highly trained experts in accessibility, inclusion, and creative production. Working closely with D/deaf and diverse artists and communities, the organisation champions the transformative power of creativity, representation, and participation—particularly for marginalised and underrepresented groups.

Based at Dance City in Newcastle upon Tyne and Sunderland, SADT has a wide-reaching impact across the North East and beyond, contributing to both the UK and international cultural landscape.

Prof. Derek Humphreys (Université Paris Cité)

Derek HUMPHREYS is a psychiatrist and psychoanalyst. Having conducted research into the ‘clinics of the extreme’, primarily in the fields of social vulnerability, migration and precariousness, between 2020 and 2023 he led a research programme on ‘precarious epistemology’ and creative processes in the work of Fernand Deligny, in association with the Maison des Sciences de l’Homme in Paris. Full Professor of clinical psychopathology at Paris Cité University, where he directs the Master’s programme in psychology, he recently established a research programme on the work of Pierre Fédida in association with King’s College London, in 2024. As director of an interdisciplinary centre, the Centre d’Etudes du Vivant, his current research focuses on the relationship between psychoanalysis, phenomenology and creative processes.

Dr. Nicolas Schwalbe (Université Paris Cité)

Nicolas Schwalbe, adjunct lecturer at Université Paris Cité, is a franco-american clinician and researcher. He holds a BA in comparative literature from Harvard University, a Masters of Social Work from the University of Southern California, and a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Université Sorbonne Paris Nord. His research approaches the history of psychiatry and psychoanalysis from a philosophical, clinical, and intercultural perspective. In his psychotherapeutic practice, he explores the intersection of lacanian psychoanalysis and East Asian meditative traditions. In addition to his clinical and academic work, he also performs and records regularly as a rock musician under the name Bardo Stars and with the band Happy Sundaze.

Prof. Neil Roberts (University of Edinburgh)

As Director of the Magnetic Resonance and Image Analysis Research Centre (MARIARC) in the University of Liverpool, which was built to house the UK’s first commercial Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) system, Neil set up an Image Analysis Laboratory to support measurement of brain structure and function in health and disease.In 2009 Neil was appointed Chair of Medical Physics and Imaging Science at the University of Edinburgh (UoE) where he leads research in the application of Magnetic Resonance Elastography (MRE) for non-invasive measurement of tissue mechanical properties (i.e. virtual touch).

Email to add access requirements or ask any questions.

Information on Dance City, access and getting there. Click this link to view information on getting to Dance City, parking and building access.

Thanks to the generous support of Durham University, tickets for this event have been largely subsidised. We ask for a small contribution when booking, which helps us plan effectively and ensure a committed and engaged group across the weekend.

• Full weekend (workshop + talks): £5
• Friday only: £3 (aimed at art/dance professionals and academics)
• Saturday only: £3 (open to all)

Full concession
We believe that cost should not be a barrier to participation. If you would prefer to attend on a fully subsidised basis, please feel welcome to get in touch at [email protected].

Tickets can be booked for the full weekend, or individually for Friday or Saturday.

While there are no strict age requirements, adults are most likely to benefit.

Please contact us if you have any questions.

• BSL interpreted
• Wheelchair accessible

Image credit and copyright: Dr Fusako Innami

Image description: Artwork on textured paper featuring soft blue watercolour washes, dark ink-like organic shapes with feathery edges, and a small bright red accent, with a red stamp mark in the bottom right.

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