My Story
Seónagh Kummer, Ph.D.
As a mentor, facilitator, speaker, and internationally recognised author and dance artist, Seónagh teaches and inspires thousands of people each year through the arts of dance and somatic movement, helping people re-get back in touch with the way they breathe, move and perform. Having been transformed through movement and visualization herself, Seónagh has experienced and assisted in a vast array of global ceremonies that lead to healing through dance and movement. She trains as a Movement Analyst and a Somatic Movement Therapist, and now travels all over the world to lead these teachings and continue to expand her research in this field.
Seónagh needs to create dances, and meaningful relationships are important to her. As a dancemaker, she loves to collaborate as she explores what is sacred and profound (life, love, loss, transformation, death, time, yearning). She explores topics through the juxtaposition of artistic form, memory, and objects or living things. Each dance asks ethical questions. What right do we have to ignore ways are we interconnected with our environment and with other beings? What do we owe to a particular life, object, or memory that we encounter? She seeks to investigate her own culpability in relationship with others, an ideal of love in action, and to sense an ethics of interconnectedness and relationship to all living beings.
Now a freelance artist and Somatic Educator, Seónagh holds an MA in dance/theatre education from the University of British Columbia as a Graduate Fellow, earned her doctorate in Dance at Temple University as a Fisher Center Fellow, and taught dance as a tenured professor at the university level for many years.
Mission Statement
Seónagh’s mission is to empower people to rise to their most compassionate selves through the liberation of dance, and to use dance and its effects as a means to cultivate global community dialogue. As co-founder of Dharma In Motion, an organization that empowers women and their communities using dance to raise funds, and as Creative Advisor for the International Gandhian Institute for Nonviolence and Peace – everything Seónagh delivers the message of service as a way of life, and comes in focused making things better and easier in the world.
“Seonagh is an accomplished professional and friend whom I had the pleasure of knowing since the Summer of 2020 in several capacities. Seonagh has many qualities: intellectual brilliance, passion, care, empathy, creativity, and openness. There is one aspect, however, that rises above the rest, which is her sense of social responsibility and awareness about the community where she creates, works and lives. “
“Seónagh is a dedicated somatics coach who helped me personally to find faith in my artistic voice, and provided a safe space for me to grow. Her depth and breadth are driven by wisdom and reason. She inspires me to do good for my community. She constantly seeks new ways to be fruitful, make changes, and always expresses a message of love.”
“To dance is to be out of yourself. Larger, more beautiful, more powerful… This is power, it is glory on earth and it is yours for the taking”
“Seónagh Kummer was an emotional tour de force, eloquently rendered movement”
“Working with Seónagh has been a transformative experience. As a result of our work together, I’ve been able to more effectively tap into my body’s power, and remain connected to my body’s needs as well as its strength. Seónagh has an incredible ability to sense exactly how to help — her approach is a rare combination of both genuinely nurturing, and truly educational. I can’t recommend her highly enough!”
“I was having a really difficult time during a traumatic event in my life that activated my Complex PTSD. Seónagh offered me a short Somatic Coaching session over the phone. She gave me a simple practice to do on my own using the natal position. Within 24 hours I felt a significant shift in my experience. I was able to respond instead of react to the people involved in the devastating situation.”
em·bod·ied
embodied
Feeling at home in your body. … an ability to be in your body in the present moment, to know and to feel its sensations (emotional and physical).
Knowing how to respond with wisdom…to know a safe and healthy expression of your needs, desires, fears, anger, joys, hopes, and wants.
Life is for living. It’s time to get you out of your own way, and move.
Seónagh leads lots of different dance workshops, retreats and educational events. Check the workshop page for online events, and check back for live workshops when we can be together safely again.
