On the Gifts and Perils of Choreography

Social Presencing Theater: The Art of Making a True Move, by Arawana Hayashi (PI Press, 2021)

Abstract

In this response to Arawana Hayashi's first book on Social Presencing Theater, Aftab Erfan reflects back what she sees, senses and feels as she beholds the writing, before engaging in an analysis of the content and building out an understanding of the social art form described in the book, from her perspective as a long time student of Hayashi's work. The review helps make visible the contrast between the experience of reading a book that has been choreographed with care for the reader in mind, and the experience of Social Presencing Theater exercises as intentionally unchoreographed.