Turning the world back to earth (and back again) through Alessandro Sciarroni's spinning practice

In this article, I address Alessandro Sciarroni's spinning practice as it was taught and perceived in the context of the choreographer's workshop at the 2019 Na Pratica summer school in Portugal. Drawing on my personal involvement as a participant, I begin by evoking my embodied experience to outline and character-ize the different impressions raised by the spinning exercises. Therefore, exploring a possible understanding of my body-in-action within the experimental rationale that framed the workshop. I then take a closer look at the practice under Martin Heidegger's conceptual dichotomy of 'earth vs. world' insofar as it provides a systematic scale of relational possibilities between our bodies, ourselves as individ-uals and our surrounding environment. Hence, contributing to the overall debate around the relation between somatic practices and knowledge reproduction. I build on this reflection by further exploring the potential that spinning practice has in stimulating new understandings of 'being in the earth', thus raising the great conversation about the urgency of human beings to 'turn' their attitude towards the planet.

Automated summary

This article explores Alessandro Sciarroni's spinning practice taught at the Na Pratica summer school in Portugal and its impact on individuals. Drawing on personal experience, the author analyzes the relationship between somatic practices and knowledge reproduction, as well as the potential of spinning practice to shift human attitudes towards the planet.