Embodied Knowledge Workshop 2026

What does the body know that we might not be aware of?

How can we reconnect with our embodied life?

In the process of nine sessions, this workshop opens up the question of “what the body knows” and how body experiences shape our life. To investigate together, we move, write, read, trace maps, we talk. There are no predefined answers, but you can become familiar with varied approaches to the body. During the process (35 hours), we look at our relationship with our diverse bodies and the histories they carry. We reflect on the role of the body in our interaction with others, human and other living beings. Rather than presenting a given technique for dance or relaxation, we explore movement, ask questions, do playful exercises, and address the tensions that shape our bodily existence.

The workshop is done in person. It is a sustained space for a kind of bodily attention that is rarely available in daily life. It is also supported in short readings to bring awareness on cultural ideas on the body, ability, knowledge and worth we have grown up with. The workshop presents alternatives to think about them today.

The open-ended embodied practices and exercises help address these matters personally and collectively, through senses, gestures, dancing and creative writing. The process invites a gentle dialogue on cultural norms and ecology. We foster individual and group reflections to acknowledge the bodies that we have, their histories and how they wish to move.

I designed and have run four editions of the Embodied Knowledge Workshop in Finland (Helsinki 2019, 2021, 2023, Turku 2024) in the context of art studies and organizations. However, the workshop is not meant as an artistic or dance training process. Instead, it proposes a safe space for exploration of ideas and emotions around the body, that anyone can join for their own purposes, artistic, humanistic, scientific or just personal. Participants are selected based on motivation and commitment to process, not skills.

In 2026, the EKW workshop is offered as part of my PhD research on adult education conducted in Tampere University and supported by Kone Foundation. The research follows the process and will reflect on the meaning of embodied knowledge for different people based on their life experiences and interests, in relation to coexistence. Your personal reflections may be kept entirely private, but sharing with others is encouraged and enhances personal experience. I may ask to share them for research purposes. You can do that either anonymously or be openly credited for them in later research publications.

EKW 2026

Commitment

The workshop is about doing a process — entering a journey of discovery during 35 contact hours. It requires taking part in sessions that build one upon the other. We have a personal meeting or interview before, and another after the workshop, to follow your unique process.
There are no expected outcomes or final artistic presentation — only a closing (session 9) with an informal group reflection, and the personal meetings.
Small experiential or reflective tasks will be proposed to nurture the process.
All exercises and dynamics are flexible; you can participate based on your own bodily ability and comfort, and you may abstain from any exercise when necessary.

Schedule

The 9 sessions are organized once a week at a dance studio with access to a kitchen.

Place: Esitystaiteen Keskus (ESKUS) Suvilahti Puhdistamo, Building 6, 2nd floor Kaasutehtaankatu 1/33, 00540 Helsinki

Wednesdays 9.09, 23.09, 7.10, 21.10, 04.11 — 17.30-20.30 (3-hour sessions)

Saturdays 19.09, 3.10, 17.10, 31.10 — 10.00-16.00 (5-hour sessions, with 1-hour lunch break)

Total: 35 hours of in-person practice.

What you need

EKW session at ESKUS

The practice happens in person in a dance studio at ESKUS. Come with comfortable clothes to move. All materials for activities are provided. Short supporting readings in English will be given, along with prompts for reflection. Personal notebooks are provided at the beginning and used throughout the sessions. Tea will be offered.

If you have any specific needs, please communicate them to the instructor.

Who can join?

The workshop is offered this time for adults 30 years old and above. We work in English.
Commitment is essential. 15 people will be selected to participate based on motivation and ability to commit to the process. No special knowledge is required just the curiosity and willingness to be present.
No experience in movement, art, yoga, meditation or performance practices is required. The workshop does not aim to teach dance techniques or to push bodily boundaries in any way.
People with very varied professional backgrounds are welcome.
We operate with safer spaces guidelines and run the sessions only in person.
Important: this is not a therapeutic space, but a practice that engages gently and playfully with personal emotions, sensorial exploration, and ideas about bodies. People with ongoing mental health challenges or any other concerning issues should communicate their situation to the instructor. They may join at their own discretion.
The ESKUS building and dance studio are largely accessible. The lift is available by arrangement with staff in advance.

Registration

Participation is free of cost. Registration is done via a simple form telling the instructor about your background and personal motivation to join.

Join EKW 2026

You will be invited to a short interview in August to get to know each other before the workshop starts and explain about the research project. A second conversation will take place at the end of the process to reflect together about your personal journey. All personal information will be made anonymous in the research.

What do you get from it?

We investigate through the body. We don’t offer predefined answers according to a single body practice tradition, or propose an approach to body and mind based on traditional techniques from arts, yoga or somatics. The instructor proposes to investigate some questions together: What do bodies know? How does our body affect how we move in the world? Does it shape our politics? And what can we learn from a guided exploration of our bodily existence? To answer them, the sessions typically move between individual quiet practice, small group interactions, and some group sharing.

The readings are offered to reflect on our personal habits, stages in life, how we are affected and affect other beings, and how our bodies are not static or fixed. The Embodied Knowledge Workshop shares different practices and serves as a space to reconnect with your body and to illuminate the relation between your body and creative work, professional interests, and everyday life. In the sessions, you work at your own pace and based on your own sensitivity.

Safer and braver spaces guidelines

All participants share responsibility for these guidelines.

This is a shared space for a learning, exploratory process. Be compassionate to yourself and others.
Acknowledge our bodies: enter the practice being mindful of your body disposition and energy, and kind to those of others. Interaction and movement should always be consensual. Be creative, but always look for each other’s eyes or gestures to check consent.
Anyone might stop the flow at any given time for personal reasons, or if you sense someone else might not be doing well. Express your needs. It is okay to remove yourself and take a break when necessary.
People have very diverse identities, gender, sexual orientation, background, body experiences. We all come from varied places and histories, so let’s appreciate that while staying curious and sensitive to each other. Listen to others’ ideas, even when they differ from your own. Make space for others in conversation. It’s okay to ask questions and it’s okay to disagree.
Respect each other’s time, space and effort. Show up for others, engage and participate in the way that feels right for you.
Nobody is perfect and we are bound to fail occasionally. Let’s encourage each other to take responsibility for our words, actions, and missteps.

EKW 2026 poster

About the instructor

María Villa Largacha is an independent curator and educator with academic degrees in Philosophy, and Curating and Contemporary Art. She has worked with public art programs as editor, facilitator, and public program coordinator in Colombia. Her focus for more than a decade has been designing and organizing initiatives for discussion, collaboration, and sustainability, which have been increasingly grounded in performative methods. In 2019 she created the Embodied Knowledge Workshop as an art education experiment, which after several editions became a platform exploring the potential of embodied, performative, and participatory pedagogies to create a more humane and sustainable coexistence. She has taught creative writing and curatorial practices at MA level in Helsinki and co-curated the New Performance Turku Biennale before developing the 2025 Audience Ambassador program. She is currently a doctoral researcher working with transformative approaches to adult education at Tampere University. Outside her professional work, she has a long-term personal practice of outdoor running and yoga.