Rori Smith is an artist, somatic movement educator, and researcher of bodily experience. She has been immersed in Continuum since 2014 and joined the Continuum Teachers Association in 2023. Her relationship with Continuum is one of embodied philosophy, direct learning about how what is—biology, ecology, physics—links up with how we experience the world to be. Continuum’s method of slow response to sensation provides an unobstructed perspective from which to learn about, and learn from, the processes of movement and exchange that comprise the life of our bodies in the world that includes us. Rori enjoys presenting Continuum to other educators in the fields of performance, environmental studies, and philosophy.
In 2022, Elaine Colandrea and Rori published The Elemental Body: A Movement Guide to Kinship with Ourselves and the Natural World, a Continuum workbook for those curious about how they belong to the animal, vegetable, mineral, winds, and waters. As an artist, Rori’s creative practice is rooted in dance improvisation and video.
In addition to teaching Continuum, Rori is a certified Pilates instructor, the education programs assistant at the Center for Maine Contemporary Art, and associate director of Watermark Arts, Inc. She earned a master of fine arts degree in dance from Temple University in 2013.