Lerna Babikyan

Tag: dance

  • Where we get lost in each other we deeply reborn …

    Where we get lost in each other we deeply reborn …

    Lerna is moving within the river and the tree in Devon

    Where we get lost in each other we deeply reborn …

    There was intense 12 years in my life, I was devoted to spiritual practices from all cultures. Days passed by dancing, celebrations, griefs, meeting sisters and brothers, artists, mystic teacher all over the world.

    Then I had on other 5 years based in separation from all this practices and communities. Observed and experienced injustices, denials, mainstreamed sells and marketing vibes around sacred spells, vertical hierarchies in this social circles, lack of ethnically and economically diverse backgroud people, stories, languages, and more over poor information yet big misjudgements on human psychology had hurt my soul… It was very disappointing, I was so angry; I just run away without looking behind. 

    A few years later, one day the MA program I was studying in, pushed me back to connect with the sea, forest and it’s souls from ecosomatic perspective. I started to touch, feel, sense and reconnect. The sun started raise in me and warmed my heart again…

    Now when I look back all this circle made me realized that; spirituality or sacred practices do not belong to anyone; in the core can not be colonized by anybody or any community…It’s there for everyone, open to feel, sense, unify without paying any money or going to that retreats, meditations etc. We just need to save nature and be respectful to the elements, dynamics and energies of the ecosystem. Then we will able to remember that we are part of this miraculous holistic structure. 

    There might be some people and places where we find ourselves comfortable with them; when we have space and shared trust to each other and that’s all … connection goes on with all in any case and our ecosomatic existence is one of the direct ways to holisticly connect to nature through our oldest, ancient language; movement

  • Multi Layered Movements: Trans-disciplinary Dance Workshop

    Multi Layered Movements: Trans-disciplinary Dance Workshop

    Nothing in the world exists independently of one another, including our bodies and the art of dance! Multi Layered Movements; creative dance workshop series invites you to rediscover this relationality and deepen your creative dance practices.

    Multi-Layered Movements Creative Dance Workshop, which sets out with the intention of revitalizing and strengthening the holistic dance expression that thinks, dreams, feels and dialogues, opens an experimental and non-judgmental space for participants to discover their body awareness and creative potential and turn them into action through dance.

    Outcomes

    • Body awareness
    • Strength, balance and coordination development
    • Enrichment in movement repertory
    • Multi layered and multi directional awareness in action
    • Improvement in imagination and abstract thinking
    • Creativity
    • Cultural Learning
    • Development in body language
    • Gaining easy dance flows and self confidence
    • Gaining ergonomics in movement
  • Pedagogy for Dance Teachers

    Pedagogy for Dance Teachers

    This training is for dance teachers from any style who want to develop themselves pedagogically and for instructors who teach movement-oriented classes!

    Although the basic material of dance education is the body, in principle, its education is not different from the learning processes of any other creative field.

    If you are an instructor in this field, being trained in a master-apprentice relationship with a dance teacher without scientific pedagogical knowledge may not be sufficient for your professional life in the changing conditions of the time.

    Knowing the scientific foundations of the work in terms of educational sciences will increase the quality of your professional practices and make you feel safe, while contributing to the positive change that dance art will create in your students and society.

    Outcomes

    • Learning body-oriented scientific learning theories
    • Introducing new approaches to classroom management
    • Learning how to create a creative, equitable and inclusive classroom environment
    • To review the basic operation plan and evaluation criteria of the dance course
    • To contribute to the establishment of productive and supportive relationships in areas such as classroom communication, parent-school management
  • Ecosophic Moves – Ecology Based Creative Dance Teacher Training

    Ecosophic Moves – Ecology Based Creative Dance Teacher Training

    Ecosomatic Movement and Creative Dance Pedagogy Training

    For educators, artists, facilitators, and professionals in health, social work, consultancy and academia

    This training is designed for professionals from diverse fields—trainers, educators, artists, consultants, health and social workers—who wish to integrate dance and movement as tools for learning, connection, and transformation. It supports participants in cultivating body-based awareness, creative confidence, and ecological sensitivity within their educational and professional practices.

    Originally launched in 2015 as the Creative Dance Trainer Training, the program evolved over the years to respond to contemporary challenges. Since 2023, it has been delivered in a hybrid format that grounds movement learning in ecological thought and ecosomatic practices, aligning body, mind, and environment as co-learners.

    Led by Lerna Babikyan, the program offers a rich blend of creative movement pedagogy, body awareness, and contemporary dance history, explored through both experiential and reflective modes. The exercises are designed to be low-risk yet highly activating—awakening participants’ physical, imaginative, and cognitive capacities. The integration of ecological transitions and sensory metaphors in movement invites a holistic perception of interconnectedness, nurturing a grounded sense of “worldliness” and embodied presence.

    The program also includes seminars by expert guest instructors, covering topics such as:

    • Introduction to Dance Therapy

    • Drama and Dance in Dialogue

    • Intercultural Dance and the Embodied Self

    • Designing Effective Learning Environments with Creative Dance

    • Dance Composition and Choreography

    • Introduction to the Skinner Releasing Technique

    Learning Outcomes

    Participants will:

    • Learn over 140 creative movement exercises across 14 thematic areas, integrating critical pedagogy and ecology-based practices

    • Gain tools to apply experiential, body-based learning in diverse settings that support emotional, social, and cognitive development

    • Learn to design inclusive learning spaces grounded in creative autonomy, ecological attunement, and somatic self-trust

    • Cultivate a joyful, creative, and compassionate relationship with the body—and the more-than-human world

    • Enhance skills in body language, improvisation, public speaking, and performance

    • Develop a sustainable, long-term approach to integrating dance and movement in educational, therapeutic, or social contexts

    • Understand creative dance through lenses of dance history, anthropology, drama, choreography, and embodied education

    • Strengthen ecosomatic awareness and contribute to pedagogies of sustainability and ecological peace

  • Dancing Within Poetries

    Dancing Within Poetries

    Dancing Within Poetries workshop provides a creative space for adults to express their feelings and thoughts with both words and their bodies. In this workshop, participants will explore the depth of poetic expressions and bring the spirit and rhythm of these poems to life through dance. In each session participants explores a new poet and his/her poem, exploring the emotional layers of the text through improvised bodily movements and expressing them through their authentic dance.

    Outcomes

    • The combination of poetry and dance offers participants a multidimensional form of expression, enhancing both their mental and physical awareness.
    • The workshop nurtures artistic creativity and allows individuals to express themselves in a deeper and more meaningful way.
    • Dancing Within Poetries workshop enables participants to explore their inner worlds, experience emotional resonance, and connect with themselves and others through art.

  • Book on Creative Dance Pedagogy

    The book is written in Turkish by Lerna Babikyan, to spread the creative dance culture in Turkey, including history of creative dance, lesson plans, family activities and embodied learning though dance; published in 2022 by Töz Publishing House; ISBN number 9786057186409

    “Dance is not only fun, encouraging, and motivating activity for children, but also a wonderful tool for learning by internalizing concepts.”
    From the earliest years of our lives, we naturally learn through movement—we connect, we touch, we respond. Movement and dance, which have existed since the beginning of the universe, have been part of human history through natural phenomena, mythological figures, and rituals; they have also visited our lives through performing arts and stage shows.
    This book has been written as a guide to move beyond the “guest” status of dance in the lives of individuals living in postmodern society, aiming to bring dance back to the center as a vital, educational, and artistic activity—to experience it anew.

    Creative Dance has long been used across the world both as an artistic activity and as an alternative educational tool, without enforced imitation, pressure, or comparison. Suitable for individuals of all ages who wish to explore their bodies through dance and discover their unique expression, creative dance practices not only nurture the physical and mental creativity of children and adults but also support the development of a positive body image beyond conventional notions of “beauty” and beyond gender norms.
    They invite us to live a life in harmony with and awareness of our bodies, to engage with the world in a playful, body-centered space that transcends words, and to learn and teach abstract and concrete concepts through dance.