Emilie Gallier

Researcher, ATD Lectorate
Head Heart of THIRD

Emilie Gallier (she, her) is held by soils in Leiden (The Netherlands) and Les Minières (France). She is an embodied reader, a dancer, a gardener, a mother, a researcher with curiosity for situations of holding and being held, reading with a tactile gaze, and for being in the world head down-butt up. Through dance, textures (of papers and textiles), poetic documentation, and in collaborative ways, she studies and develops soil connections practices, in close relationship with biodiversity and diversity of experiences, resisting all forms of domination. 

2021 was a pivot year for Emilie. She self-published her doctoral thesis in the form of a partly edible book: ‘Reading in Performance, Lire en Spectacle’ (Coventry University). She co-founded the association Les Minières in Normandie, gathering within rurality, regenerative agriculture and artistic practices. She initiated the collaborative project ‘Gleaners and the Worms’ with visual artists Nina Boas (host, education, rituals) and Nienke Terpsma (graphic design, edition, conversation). 

Emilie is a Researcher with the ATD Lectorate (0.2fte) and head-heart of THIRD (0.05fte) together with Rajni Shah. Her research relates to soil connections, interspecies performance, earthworms, poetic-ongoing-participatory documentation, social justice. It manifests through projects ‘Gleaners and the Worms’, ‘Dance Beyond Ableism’, and the ‘Garden Above the School’. 

Some links:

A conversation with Emilie Gallier – A thousand kilo of worms in every hectare of land. 

THIRD Talks - Earthworm dialogues