WAEF2023 Ended with Huge Success

Thank you for all the contributors and participants of WAEF2023!

WAEF2023 was finished on April 23 with big success. The Forum lasted more than two months with a 14-day full program with one pre-conference and four summits, organized in hybrid (online & in person).  120+ sessions (presentations, workshops, art performances, panels, key conversations) were presented by 140+ speakers from 15+ countries.  40+ event partners around the world were involved, most of which are national professional associations. We are very glad we have made this Forum an inclusive event connecting arts and embodiment, education and therapy in a wider platform, especially with many underrepresented voices heard, in a spirit of collaboration and solidarity, which is so much needed in the post-Covid arena, helping to advance the humanity. A Forum gallery of photos can be found online.

When we started preparing this Forum nine months ago, we didn’t expect that this would become such a big event. Eventually, with the involvement of all the speakers and partners, the hard work of our curators and organizing, translation and technical support team, we created and ran a huge global event with four summits that eventually attracted nearly 900 participants from around the world.  Such a fantastic achievement for our big team, congratulations! Many thanks to all our presenters for your contribution and support. It is a blessing to have you and many other path finders, and colleagues who continuously lead, nourish and develop our field with your passion and compassion.

The four summits, from Dance Therapy to Creative Movement, to LBMS and Authentic Movement, were not  intentionally planned in that sequence. But amazingly it follows the exact order of how we started the  Inspirees programs in China  in 2005.  It seems like an organic evolution of offerings in the area of body, mind and spirit/soul progression and integration.  It feels so satisfying and alright that we end this Forum with the Authentic Movement Summit where we felt so much moved and inter-connected as human beings, and then moving beyond ourselves to become one with nature.  It feels like the Tao, the natural way in Chinese saying, the Wuwei, which means achieving something without forcing it happen but nurturing the meaningful things emerge in the right place and moment with Te (the Chinese word for virtue), which is the good intention embedded in humanity, and the persistence over time.  More than one time in this forum, we were touched and burst into tears hearing your gentle yet powerful voices, with paying attention to your movement and dance, sometimes even without attending to your languages and words.  We want to honor all those precious feelings and moments.  Many thanks to all your presence, for co-creating and sharing those beautiful moments together with compassion for yourself and others.

There will be conference proceedings and CAET special issue on arts & embodiment published later this year. We invite you to contribute, especially that CAET is now indexed in Scopus. Please also follow our other programs and courses happening later this year.

We hope after this Forum, that all of us will still stay connected in this special global community. Each of us, just like the four summits, resembles a shining star in the night, but when we are all connected in the darkness, we can form a beautiful constellation in the sky. With great gratitude and unforgettable warm memories, we close the World Forum of Arts and Embodiment 2023.  See you next time!

WAEF Organizing Committee and Inspirees Team

Click here to see more pictures in WAEF2023 Gallery

Comments & Feedback

I just wanted to write and thank you — and congratulate you — on this wonderful Forum and all the international participation that it drew!  I so appreciated being involved, and was so thankful for the care your team took to make sure everything worked out well for all of us presenters. Also, I saw that you were on the Authentic Movement Summit for Janet’s final talk / presentation, as I was, and I was so deeply moved by your closing remarks. Your words were so clear and inspiring. We all share this common mission to enhance our communities through these creative, embodied practices, and to growing together along the way. — Susan Bauer (USA)

I want to thank you for your terrific and super professional integrated organisation. Moving and reaching us intellectual and emotional over so many different distances throuhout the world.  — Erika Kletti-Ranacher (Germany)

I know I do not have everyone on your team’s email but since I have the 4 of you I want to send my deepest appreciation and gratitude for all the WAEF and all the summits and all your determination, grit, gentleness, translations, efforts, reminders etc. to create such a deep and enriching experience these last two months.  The experiences have been profound and the connections deep and I am so grateful.  I am delighted I could participate in at least some of each  of the summits live and even finished off with Janet at 1am-3am for me!!  You handled that last part and those challenges with such grace, the room size , the waiting room, the internet glitch etc.  — Connor Kelly (New Zealand)

Thank you for making this symposium (LBMS Summit – hybrid) practically possible across multiple continents and time-zones. It was such a pleasure to connect, and consider the thematic of the day to create the presentation I shared. Congratulations on this symposium and warm wishes. — Alexandra Baybutt (UK)

Congratulations and many thanks to you and to all of your wonderful team doing so much to create what unfolded as an inspiring and deeply meaningful experience over three days/nights with so many people joining from all around the world.  — Paula Sager (US)