Choreo-Constellating: An Artistic Practice of Embodied Storytelling and Collective Sense-Making

In a time of increasing complexity, fragmentation, and systemic crisis, how might we collectively and artistically sense and respond to forces shaping our lived experiences? How can the body become a site of knowledge, not only for personal expression but also for collective understanding and transformation?

Choreo-Constellating is an emergent artistic practice developed by artist and choreographer Liv Schellander, in close collaboration with her peers. The methodology interweaves choreography, systems theory, constellation work, improvisation, and spoken language in a live, unscripted format. Through this hybrid form, movement becomes a tool not only for artistic expression but also for mapping relations, exploring unconscious narratives, inviting speculative futures through the body, and engaging with socio-political and ecological questions.

The notion of constellation signals a shift away from the individual as center.                          Bodies, stories, and ecosystems are approached as interdependent within a shared field.

Participants respond in real time to spatial relations and embodied perception. Meaning emerges through the interaction of movement and language. Choreography becomes a way of thinking with complexity, allowing contradictions to remain present rather than resolved.

A Living Map: The Poetics of Relational Choreography

At its core, Choreo-Constellating operates as a kind of living map—a dynamic and relational choreography in which participants may embody various elements within a chosen theme or system. These embodied roles might for example represent an idea, a place, a desire, a human or nonhuman being, a historical site, a question, or a speculative future.

Initially, participants are invited to embody these elements without knowing what they represent. This opens up a space for intuitive exploration, where the body becomes a sensory tool for perceiving and responding to the spatial, energetic and relational dynamics of the constellation. Through movement, gesture, voice, and spoken language, participants share what they perceive, gradually unfolding the web of relationships between elements. As the constellation evolves and the roles are revealed, a poetic dialogue between the known and the unknown emerges.

From Somatic Sensing to Collective Inquiry

Drawing on methods from contemporary choreography, systemic constellation work, somatics, and neurophenomenology, Choreo-Constellating positions itself as both an embodied research method and a participatory performance practice. It resists linear narratives, and instead highlights spatial, relational, and multisensory forms of knowing.

Participants do not merely “perform” ideas—they live and move through them, experiencing the tensions, alignments, and frictions that emerge in real time. The body and nervous system becomes an active participant, attuning to shifting dynamics and deep listening—not only to one’s own experiencing but to others and the environment.

In this way, Choreo-Constellating becomes a form of collective embodied inquiry, where abstract themes such as climate, individualism, historical movements, or political themes are processed through the body and a group. The resulting constellations are not static representations but evolving, co-created rituals that offer space for shared meaning-making and imaginative speculation.

Between the Real and the Imagined

While the practice is grounded in theoretical frameworks—phenomenology, neurocognitive science, systemic theory—it also embraces the visceral, intuitive, and ritualistic dimensions of artistic engagement. It creates space for the ephemeral and the unspoken—those dimensions of experience that often elude language but are deeply felt.

In each session, whether in a workshop or research setting, Choreo-Constellating invites participants into an altered mode of attention: a collective attunement where small gestures carry meaning, silence speaks, and spatial arrangements echo the emotional landscapes of a group. Through guided improvisation and group facilitation, participants are offered the freedom to explore how the body can serve as both a receiver and transmitter of meaning.

Articulating the Ecological and the Political

One of the most recent applications of Choreo-Constellating lies in its attempt to address urgent societal and ecological concerns in an embodied form. In the project Animalariums’ Constellations, which tours as part of Perform Europe 2025, the practice is applied in site-responsive performances, workshops, and research encounters. Here, Choreo-Constellating becomes a method for engaging with themes such as climate crisis, land-based memory, multispecies cohabitation, and postcolonial ecologies.

In collaboration with Sámi artists in Guovdageaidnu/Sápmi, Ställbergs gruva or Future Farm Vienna working on site-specific themes, these constellations offer space for bodily negotiation of complex questions.

By bringing participants into collective spatial awareness, Choreo-Constellating also nurtures a kind of interdependent situation or presence—a stance that contrasts with the individualizing and isolating tendencies of contemporary culture logics. It invites us to explore interconnectedness not just as a metaphor but as a felt reality.

Where the Practice takes place

In 2025, workshops and research are facilitated by Schellander and Animalarium Dance Collective across multiple sites: Trollhättan and Ställberg gruva in Sweden, Future Farm Vienna, WUK Performing Arts in Vienna, and Kautokeino Culture house in Guovdageaidnu/Sápmi, with support from Proda Norge.

Since 2023, Choreo-Constellating research has been shared at diverse platforms including Diffractive Dialogues at Tanzquartier Wien, Backpulver Think Tank for Contemporary Dance, and Raw Matters Tender Steps.