How can one transition from the stillness of meditation into a creative movement task? Is it possible to distinguish authentic impulses for movement from the starting moment of embodied habits?

Critical Movement led by Luis Odriozola offers a practical exploration of performance training, specifically how intentional movement can emerge from states of deep attention and stillness. Drawing on the Pali concept of samadhi (meditative concentration) alongside personal phenomenological experience, participants will explore movement beyond habitual patterns and performative expectations.

The investigation of neutrality as equanimity sits at the core of this workshop as an active and dynamic process of ego-softening, attentive witnessing, and embodied presence. It combines yoga-informed somatic awareness, meditation, micro-movement investigation, and ideas from Queer Phenomenology, particularly Sara Ahmed's writing on perception and orientation. Participants will examine how non-judgemental observation and subtle bodily sensations can become sources of creative action, resisting the speed and productivity-driven ethos that dominates much of contemporary artistic practice.

Designed as a conversational laboratory, the workshop fosters collective enquiry, reciprocal listening, and horizontal exchange, welcoming movers, performers, educators, choreographers, and artists interested in contemplative practice, movement research, critical pedagogy, and queer embodied methodologies.

Both sessions will be investigating the same questions, with different exercises and practices. Attending both sessions will foster a deeper understanding of the work, but each session offers a full individual experience.