For intermediate and advanced Contact Improvisers.

 

Where do we go when we have been dancing CI for a while and have become ‘stuck’ in our habitual patterns that we have learnt? They can become limiting and frustrating. It feels like there is something missing or there is much more than can be discovered in our dance by moving beyond our learnt movement vocabulary.

 

This workshop is aimed at moving into deeper exploration of truly improvising in Contact.

 

We will work with some fundamental patters that support clear and coherent Dances in duets, trios and groups, and offer approaches and ideas to playfully, yet mindfully challenge and ‘break’ these forms. 

Ideas around disruption, and saying ‘No’ whilst not creating unnecessary risk or endangering our dance partner/s.

 

Letting go of our preconceptions around what is the ‘right way’ to move in the Contact space, and opening to the unknown. This requires a softness of both body & mind.

 

From researching the subtle mechanics of the ‘small dance’ in solo movement, tools for clear yet spacious duets, to free exploration, to integrate the material into the dance naturally & organically.

 

We will focus attention towards how we sculpt space as a group, opening our collective perception & examining how we move as an interconnected whole - how we frame dances by watching, giving space, feeling when to move, & when to be still. 

 

We will work with structures & scores to frame improvisation, & specific techniques for  working in trios & larger groups. 

A dance score can be understood as being similar to a score for music, giving specific points of focus & guidelines which offer structure & direction to an improvisation. 

 

There will be a strong focus on cultivating a deeper awareness of listening, breathing, giving, receiving, & timing; 

balancing technique & poetry, structure & freedom, as playful beings in motion.