Hellerau, the Garden City, next to Dresden was started around the turn of the previous century (I mean: more than a hundred years ago) with people who wanted to live and work in a different way. It was a kind of alternative movement and they did a lot of work to integrate the arts and to connect with nature. They build what is now called the Festspielhaus, on the principle of ‘spatial rhythm’. Of course World War I interfered with the whole project…

This is the perfect place to hold this World Café on The Choreography
of Communication. Like these people a hundred years ago we also try to
re-integrate, to re-connect what has been separated. The convening team
of this World Café was in itself an integration of artists,
body-workers, facilitators; and they did a good job!

First question we were offered: What moments in your life can you
remember when your body helped you communicate with yourself and with
others? Before that we had been going through a whole sequence of
relaxing in the body and becoming more present. Then there was a basic
movement and even a little song, which would guide us through the whole
afternoon. We came back and back to it, until it was something of our
little community of this afternoon. The next question was reflecting
one: What is emerging from the stories that we heard?

Of course, for people knowing me, this café is right on the spot for
me. What was once again confirmed: the inner, physical knowing is so
important! It is an intelligence of its own. Movement and body
awareness are opening us in a deeper way; movement makes us aware; our body
is an antenna… and much more was shared.

For me it came down to: The next phase in listening is learning to
listen to and with the body; and not only to each others words. As Bo
was saying: Listen with your eyes what other bodies are telling! And
Juanita shared how important and powerful it is for the collective
intelligence to happen, that we realize that conversations happen in so
many ways!

There was a third question and then a fourth: What IDEAS could
transform ordinary social interaction? I found it a strange question in
this café on movement. Why was the question not: What MOVEMENTS could
transform ordinary social interaction? That was what I shared in the
collective harvest at the end. And then… some silence came in, just
naturally… nobody spoke… some started humming our little song… Stephen
stepped in. He tried a few days ago to  translate ‘meaningful
conversations’ into Chinese. He came up with: Intelligent Conversation.
And for describing our experience here he came up with: Physical
Delight! Right on the spot! And he concluded by showing a picture of
this beautiful Chinese city he is living in, next to the most beautiful
lake of China and with a lot of nature in the surroundings. He invited
the World Café to come over there! To him World Café is to let resonate
the beauty of cities around the world. Juanita was moved to tears; and
we closed again in circle, with the attention on our body… sigh… this
was good work! It gave me a lot of inspiration to bring my background and expertise in dance and bodywork into these kind of conversations.

Later on I heard from Bo that he first met Juanita on a dance floor,
and later he came to help her with her dissertation, which was pretty
much the beginning of the World Café! So maybe it is becoming full
circle…