This paper discusses teaching somatics in higher education and professional settings. The author examines his background in somatics, dance, and Rolfing® Structural Integration, as well as his research about racialized phenomenologies. The interspersed reflections and curiosities are to encourage engagement, including strategies for implementing antiracist and globally inclusive approaches to lesson planning and curriculum. The Rolfing Structural Integration Principles of Intervention were used as an overarching framework to discuss somatics pedagogy and process. Asking questions of the reader, the author traces his education to inspire an audience of dance and somatic educators to expand their personal threads of inquiry. Ultimately, the goal is to motivate people invested in the field of somatics education and to deepen their approaches towards inclusivity in content and curricula

ABSTRACT This paper discusses aesthetic and phenomenological philosophies as a lens to understand and discuss Rolfing Structural Integration (SI) and its relationship to orientation, neutrality, and Whiteness. Three primary understandings of orientation are discussed to investigate the aesthetic standards SI upholds, and the racialized implications of such standards. The first orientation relates directly to the work of Dr. Ida Rolf and Kevin Frank. The second, integral to this work, relates to scholar Sara Ahmed’s explication of phenomenological orientation. Finally, the work of aesthetic philosopher Robin James explores how these models of orientation illuminate the ways SI may uphold Eurocentric hegemony. This paper outlines these orientations as an invitation to practitioners of SI, as well as all somatic educators and explorers to challenge their own understandings and assumptions of what a well-structured human should be. Questions are offered that may help somatic educators and scholars to question the ways in which they may, unknowingly, uphold Eurocentric hegemony in their philosophy and praxis. The author discusses his experience training as a Rolfer, and as a professional dancer and dance scholar, putting into conversation SI theories that are academic, somatic, and personal.

ABSTRACT Tristan Koepke spoke with Russell Maliphant, acclaimed dancer, choreographer, and former Rolfer to explore the connections between the different and related inquiries – aesthetic, spatial, and physiological – that have informed his work across three decades. While Maliphant no longer practices as a Rolfer, his bodywork training and ongoing studies offer a deep basis for analysis and inspiration, and recently led to the award of a PhD achieved through performance and analysis.

ABSTRACT The following is a transcript of a conversation between Marekah Stewart, Advanced Rolfer and member of Dr. Ida Rolf Institute’s® (DIRI) Committee for Diversity and Anti-Racism (DIRI D/A), and Tristan Koepke, Rolfer and Chair of DIRI D/A, from August 8th, 2021. Together, they reflect on the theme of integration, weaving their personal histories, the history of Rolfing® Structural Integration (SI), and ongoing work regarding diversity, equity, and anti-racism within SI and broader culture.