Description of Workshop |
In this workshop, we will explore how our practice of contact improvisation can grow when we are able to connect our physical intelligence, which allows us to sense ourselves, others, and where we are and meet the physical demands of the moment, with our compositional mind which considers things like timing, proximity, distance, effort, stillness, musicality and the overall syntax of our movements by ourselves and with others. The physical principles of contact, how we move and support ourselves and one another, are central to the form and need ongoing practice. But without the development of a sense of the poetics within the dancing, contact can become predictable and uninspired. In this workshop, we will explore ways of using dance improvisation to invigorate our partnering skills and to develop ways of engaging in ensemble thinking and practice.
For those who are interested, we will create an informal performance designed to create an opportunity to practice contact and dance improvisation within a performance context on Friday night at 8 pm. This will provide an opportunity to witness and be seen by others while dancing. The purpose of this is in part to activate our ability to see ourselves as we make physical and compositional choices in the moment.
Our work starts from the belief that there is no prototypical contact dancer. Each person has something to offer, their personal history, culture, dreams, feelings, physical experience, and capabilities. We will develop ways of being together that are both clear and open-ended, inviting curiosity and sensitivity toward one another.
Each class will include a guided warmup that will prepare us to move, tune our awareness and guide us into dancing. We will engage in specific practices that are designed to highlight core principles such as moving into and out of contact, modulating the tone, finding and offering support, falling, rolling, and sliding, leading and following, becoming oriented and disoriented, learning how to keep the weight moving so that it protects the joints and allows for energy to be recycled.
For those who are interested, we will create an informal performance designed to create an opportunity to practice contact and dance improvisation within a performance context on Friday night at 8 pm. This will provide an opportunity to witness and be seen by others while dancing. The purpose of this is in part to activate our ability to see ourselves as we make physical and compositional choices in the moment.
Our work starts from the belief that there is no prototypical contact dancer. Each person has something to offer, their personal history, culture, dreams, feelings, physical experience, and capabilities. We will develop ways of being together that are both clear and open-ended, inviting curiosity and sensitivity toward one another.
Each class will include a guided warmup that will prepare us to move, tune our awareness and guide us into dancing. We will engage in specific practices that are designed to highlight core principles such as moving into and out of contact, modulating the tone, finding and offering support, falling, rolling, and sliding, leading and following, becoming oriented and disoriented, learning how to keep the weight moving so that it protects the joints and allows for energy to be recycled.