De-anthropocentric choreography: Cosmo-poiesis in Jennifer Monson’s bend the even

This article introduces the concept of de-anthropocentric choreography as an ontological rethinking of choreography beyond human-centred frameworks. Drawing on Martin Heidegger’s notion of poiesis as bringing-forth and Daoist cosmology, particularly ziran (‘self-so-ing’) and wanwu (‘the myriad things’), this article proposes cosmo-poiesis as a framework for understanding choreography as a cosmological mode of revealing rather than a human-centred system of control. Through an analysis of both the rehearsal process and performance of Jennifer Monson’s bend the even , the article shows how movement emerges through listening, sensing, waiting and being with nature. De-anthropocentric choreography reframes choreography as an ontological event of emergence in which the truth of things comes into presence. In doing so, it portrays a way of thinking and practising dance that engages with the unknown, foregrounds the spontaneity of the more-than-human world as ultimate reality and reimagines choreography as an embodied archive of being with nature.