Surface Work is an ongoing movement research practice exploring floor-based movement, relational awareness and the organisation of the body in motion.

Rooted in contemporary dance and informed by martial arts training, the practice investigates how bodies negotiate gravity, pressure and environment. Attention is placed on efficiency, responsiveness and softness — allowing movement to emerge through clear physical organisation rather than force or display.

Working close to the ground becomes a way of studying friction, sliding, yielding and redirection. The relationship between body and surface acts as both physical and conceptual inquiry: what appears externally in movement, and what internal coordination makes it possible.

Surface Work approaches movement as material research. Improvisation, repetition and task-based exploration are used to observe patterns, shift habits and develop awareness between bodies, space and surroundings. Contact may arise, though partnership is not required; relational movement exists through shared attention as much as physical touch.

The practice is influenced by civic space performance and environmental awareness, considering how movement adapts outside traditional studio conditions. It remains research-oriented and evolving, continuing alongside Shahin’s choreographic work and long-term investigation into flow, negotiation and embodied decision-making.