Establishing an ecology of practice: a ‘Do It Yourself’ approach to performer training

ABSTRACT This article investigates how deeply engaging embodied perception can be nurtured and refined over a lifetime. In this article, we propose the ways in which an industry-based, self-styled performance training trajectory and a DIY approach to lifelong learning in performance-making cohere as an ecology of practice. Selected exercises are drawn on to consider how skills are accrued and how a consistent approach to practice can afford the practitioner a sustainable and flexible approach. These training examples are then considered as enablers of kinesthetic listening and embodied knowledge through the theorising of Maxine Sheets-Johnstone, George Lakoff, Mark Johnston and Shaun Gallagher, in order to discuss the deep perceptual learning that is possible when an ecological approach to performer training is adopted. Finally, we open up the paper to a broader discussion about industry sustainability and performer wellbeing, arguing for this ecological approach, which affords the practitioner aesthetic agency, social responsibility, and political engagement, as a crucial contribution to the debate.