Koen Vanbiesbrouck
My interest is in overcoming Western ‘dualism’, but not only from a theoretical point of view, but especially as it is ‘embodied’ in ourselves and our daily practices. I’m developing and working with ‘phenomenological’ (body oriented) methods that open up the space to integrate/transform ourselves, to let go of ‘motoric amnesia’ (Hanna), ‘emotional blindness’ (Miller) and ‘psychological’/‘ideological’ ‘defenses’ (from Freud to Bosch).
My sources are too many, but to name a few of the most important: Jack Painter (Postural Integration), Arthur Janov (Primal Therapy), Stanley Keleman (Formative Process), Alexander Lowen (Bioenergetics), Marshall Rosenberg (Non-Violent Communication) and Alice Miller (Black Pedagogy).
I studied philosophy at the university of Leuven (Belgium), and started writing (especially poetry and journals), drawing, painting and sculpting. I joined some bio-energetics groups (in Brussels), but it was only after several years that I followed a formation in Postural Integration (body oriented psychotherapy, with Dirk Marivoet). This (re)openend the world of movement and dance for me. I started dancing the ‘Five Rhythms’, rather not as a ‘dancing style’, but as a platform to move and have fun together. (I also danced tango for a few years but in stead of learning more figures to ‘execute’, I decided to develop more body consciousness.)
Only half a year ago – I discovered ‘Halprin work’ and ‘Contact Impro’. I did my first CI workshops with Maria Grudskaya and Magdalena Michalcewicz and later I danced with Milan Kozanek , Agnieszka Rybak & Dorota Kamecka, and Claire Filmon.
I also rediscovered philosophy, as there’s a growing field of ‘somatic’ studies, integrating phenomenology, neuroscience, (body) psychotherapy, sociology and (medical) anthropology.
Read about Koen Vanbiesbrouck’s “Working with(out) armour: transforming (motoric, emotional, ideological) blindness” workshop