KAREN PALAFOX

ABOUT ME
I am a dancer, producer, and movement researcher dedicated to Somatic Education, Contact Improvisation, and Evolutionary Aquatic Movement.

I hold a B.A. in Dance from UDLAP (Mexico, 2011) and have deepened my exploration of movement pedagogy and body practices through my training as an Educator and Therapist in Somatic Movement with Body Mind Movement® in Mexico and Brazil (2015), as well as the Immersive Practices in Improvisation and Somatics intensive training with the P.O.R.C.H. program at Ponderosa, Germany (2016). I am also a Certified Facilitator in Janzu Aquatic Therapy (levels I & II) by Casa de las Artes Acuáticas (Mexico), and I am currently in training as a Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner, Peter Levine’s approach to trauma and nervous system regulation. At present, I am developing Fuente Somares®, a platform for education and gatherings dedicated to deepening somatic practices and CI on land and in water.

I have participated in and organized dance, improvisation, and somatic events in Mexico, Brazil, Germany, Argentina, New Zealand, the United States, Colombia, and Ecuador. I was part of the co-direction of Performática: Festival of Contemporary Dance and Movement Arts (founded by Ray Schwartz), co-created Encuerpar: Somatic Movement Festival, and co-produced the Contact and Flow Festival in multiple editions.

Throughout my career, I have collaborated on numerous stage and audiovisual projects. Highlights include my work with Performática, Arcdanz, and especially the Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, where I was part of the video documentation team at the historic Ted Shawn Theater, working with international companies such as Mark Morris Dance Group, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dorrance Dance, The Hong Kong Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Companhia Urbana de Dança, and LeeSaar The Company, among others. I also contributed to special productions with dancers from the New York City Ballet.

Over the years, this path has led me to embrace a polyglot lifestyle, teaching and communicating in French, English, Portuguese, and Spanish.

ABOUT MY WORK
At the heart of my work lies a deep interest in sharing the wisdom of human movement development with the intention of awakening an amphibious understanding of our evolution. My practice is nourished by the work of Body Mind Movement/Centering® and the study of the Basic Neurological Patterns (BNP), developed by Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen and Mark Taylor. I explore both on land and in water how these movement roots reveal pathways of consciousness, relationship, and transformation.

IN THE WATER
Since 2017, I have developed my own research on the application of the BNP in water, expanding what I first discovered on land into a fertile field of self-knowledge and awareness of the body’s systems. My approach is linked to embodying our amphibious origin, recognizing that the first patterns—also called Oceanic Patterns for their intrauterine development—are primitive expressions of movement and consciousness that emerge from conception through the earliest embryonic stages. I understand each pattern as an organic state of movement, a living manifestation of cellular, energetic, and relational processes that shape our original somatic experience.

ON LAND
On land, my research is strengthened through the practice of Contact Improvisation, where I explore states of presence and attune to the nuances of sensation, perception, and proprioception. For me, this practice is a profound relational tool that opens pathways to understand how our bodies communicate, adapt, regulate, and create meaning in relation with others. In this way, Contact Improvisation becomes a bridge to expand my somatic research, discovering new ways of translating sensory information into efficient motor impulses, fostering fluid, creative, and joyful movement.

AMPHIBIOUS AND SOMATIC CONSCIOUSNESS
My focus is to cultivate an embodied understanding of the mind-body connection in movement, inviting each person to immerse themselves in the richness of their somatic landscapes as membranes of lived experience. In this way, I remember that each movement is revealed as a manifestation of embodied consciousness, both in terrestrial and aquatic environments.