![[ID logo]](../../img/logos/id.gif)
Following on from the Dance UK article, we invite you to contribute to the discussion around the current state of the dance sector.
Click here to join the DANCE SALONS discussion
Following on from the Dance UK article, we invite you to contribute to the discussion around the current state of the dance sector.
Click here to join the DANCE SALONS discussion
click on teachers for their biographies
gaby agis/kirsty alexander SRT uses image-guided floor work and hands-on tactile studies to facilitate a deeper kinaesthetic experience of movement. Spontaneous movement evoked by imagery enables the student to explore technical principles such as multi directional alignment, suppleness, suspension, economy and autonomy.
ben ash We'll begin by using thematic exploration to connect to our inherent awareness, listening to and moving with the songs of the body and self, and opening up to become present in the environment. Then, with this fertile ground, we'll engage with structured sequences that will transport us on articulate, connected and weighted journeys through space.
nonie bradley my intention is to encourage a subtle, curious awareness of how we listen to our inner impulses (breath, imagination, relationship to gravity, and the felt senses) and express these through movement in space in connection to our surroundings. We can move in ways which might be unexpected, playful, fluid, quiet, and boisterous, rhythmically both with and without music, and through improvised and perhaps some set movement ideas.
kate brown Improvisation - The classes will begin with a simple physical warm-up, alone or in pairs. This will lead into improvised dancing with a specific focus. We will then take the dancing into structures, with opportunities for solo, duet and larger group improvisations, and a chance to watch each other.
andrea buckley approaches teaching in a relaxed and supportive way inviting participants to fully engage in the process through using the tools of improvisation and contact work. From solo to group work the landscape of anatomical imagery will aim to increase creative potential, self awareness and energy flow through the heightened observation of our senses.
scott clark - Scott will lead an extended 2.5 hour Feldenkrais session. For further information on Scott Clark and the Feldenkrais method go to http://www.feldenkraislondon.com/absco.html
gill clarke Begins from visualisation of skeletal connections & use of the breath to open pathways of energy through the body. We then move on to the exploration of set material, focusing on clarifying awareness of movement through the body & into space, playing with weight shifts, quality, and timing. The aim is always to go beyond learning material to the dancing of it!
theo clinkard Drawing on his varied experience as a performer / collaborator and grounded in a desire to move with clarity and awareness, Theo’s classes have a focus on playful, dynamic and expressive movement. Among other things, his class explores our relationship with the floor, falling in space and tackling some technical phrase work. He is also currently interested in improvisation as a means of actively noticing the physical choices available to us and as a tool for developing personal movement enquires to enable dancer / collaborators to continue generating movement in the creative process.
marina collard Teaches an energised class with influences from release technique. The movement is focused on the use of weight, fluidity and engaging in the space multi directionally.
rosalind crisp the class draws from BMC, release and contact improvisation. The focus us on developing sensation awareness and support in the body that doesn't rely on gripping and holding, and at the same time allows maximum dynamic range. We will work alone and in partners with weight/gravity, container/contents, release/support, reach/withdrawal, breath. An interplay between wilful decision-making and receptive/responsive play is encouraged.
charlotte darbyshire & sue smith Charlotte Darbyshire will be leading a professional level class open to experienced dancers with or without disabilities. A release-based class exploring how the breath and skeletal connections can encourage a dynamic use of space. We will also be looking at different ways to adapt set material so that it challenges and inspires every 'body'.
robert davidson SRT uses image-guided floor work and hands-on tactile studies to facilitate a deeper kinaesthetic experience of movement. Spontaneous movement evoked by imagery enables the student to explore technical principles such as multi directional alignment, suppleness, suspension, economy and autonomy.
sybrig doktor focuses on internal body-organisation/co-ordination in simple exercises which simulate a deeper awareness of the body as whole. Complicated movement-sequences follow focus shifts from basic movement concerns to a multi-focused attention where there is a need to continue monitoring how one is functioning and what one is doing whilst maintaining an awareness of form and direction.
paul douglas class is informed by his life long study of Japanese martial arts and, through applying the fundamental principles, aim to communicate a powerful and gyroscopic sense of centre coupled with fluid and articulate movement. Class progresses to dynamic and challenging sequences in which the space and the dancing body are treated as interactive elements.
toby gunn [ex-dancer with Ricochet and Windwitches] my quest is to explore the first steps on the journey towards an unlimited place - both physically and mentally - through the consanguinity of imagery, efficiency and flow!
sean feldman Through a release based class a subtle sensory awareness is explored with particular attention given to an appropriate and expansive use of breath throughout. Starting gently to uncover a sense of deep connection through isolations in the body the class culminates in more complex sequences of movement that are both highly physical and technically challenging.
Finding the Ground, Finding the Sky
– what does it mean to be "oriented"
These classes will use the Yoga positions and the principles of Rolfing Movement, contemporary movement theory and experiential anatomy and biomechanics as frames to help us explore how there is a "before" to movement because we are always fishing for information inside ourselves and around us to build a context for being in movement. Using questions, rather than answers, we will look at . . . how we build the space and time around us; how we find and are found by the ground; how we find and are found by the space; what is balance between the front and the back; how to use our senses to be in the space inside us and the space around us; how the skin is a bridge or a barrier for this; what is the relationship between the limbs, the shoulder and pelvic girdles and the spine/ribs/breastbone and why does the body and nervous system look for and love twists.
Working in lying, standing and sitting through the gestures of reaching, pushing and pulling each class will have a balance of frontbends, backbends and twists so that you should leave feeling ready for the days rehearsals. The pace of the class should also allow you to be in your own process of making meaning and exploring your own body image in a safe space and rhythm.
yael flexer Focusing on skeletal connections and imagery to find an ease and flow of movement through the body classes begin with simple exercises building towards dynamic movement sequences. Drawing on elements of bodywork and lyengar yoga emphasis is placed on momentum, inversion and an expansive use of space combined with core strength.
hanna gillgren hanna gillgren's rhythmic and dynamic classes explore how the breath and use of the floor can free up possibilities for the rest of the body. Drawing on these principles the movement sequences develop into highly physical travelling phrases that encourage the dancer to move freely and articulately through the space.
henrietta hale Henrietta's class involves preparing and tuning ourselves for readiness, efficiency and clarity within a mix of simple structured exercises and improvised explorations. We discover a constantly changing relationship with our energy, breath, skeletal connections and with gravity. Through set sequences she emphasizes the experience and awareness of detailed information shifting through the body as it discovers freedom and definition.
paula hampson draws upon her extensive range of skills in improvisation and contact work with a focus on skeletal alignment and the use of imagery to enrich the imagination, and heighten an awareness of the senses trough the whole body. Patterns of movement are developed throughout the week to encourage attention to detail, phrasing and offer time to explore individual connections and pathways of the body.
The Athletics of Intimacy with K J Holmes £100 / £80 concession
A workshop in dance: sourcing body-mind centring, contact and improvisations ‘Dance is the art of taking place. Improvisation finds those places.’ Steve Paxton
This weeklong workshop combines the skills and practices of contact improvisation, applications of Body-Mind Centering (BMC ®) and the tunings of improvisational compositions in solo, duet and ensemble dancing. We will play with memory, musicality and phrasing as we discover new challenges and risks within our movement vocabulary, composing dances that are physical, sensorial and imaginative. Morning sessions focus on BMC, investigating the individual body systems, learning basic anatomy and physiology to become familiar with the interior of our bodies and our thoughts. The afternoon sessions will develop what is learnt by playing with contact improvisation skills, integrating the information into sensation, movement and feedback through witnessing, engagement and composition for both solo and ensemble work. The workshop is for beginners who wish to acquire skills, tools and practical experience of contact improvisation and an embodied sense of their dancing, and for more experienced dancers who wish to become more tuned to centre and subtleties of touch, direction and intention.
Although priority will be given to those attending the whole week, there may be the opportunity to participate in the week of mornings only. The cost is £50 for the five mornings - email your interest to info@independentdance.co.uk.
wendy houstoun These classes aim to awaken the body through both formal warm up exercises and sequences (i.e. with music) and freer tasks/improvisations and games (drawing on both movement and theatre sources). The theme is "inside/outside" and the work will move around the (sometimes) discrepancy between how we feel and how we think and look.
rachel krische teaches a dynamic, release based class that draws from the principles of Scaravelli yoga.
lalitaraja beginning with a slow, thorough warm up with awareness as the key; paying attention to the desires, impulses and appetites to move and bringing them from desire to form. Allowing dancing to arise out of letting do of doing and moving into being. Questions, skills and strategies held playfully within simple scores opening gradually into the full range of physically open to us in the dance.
May Ya-Wen Lin Tai Chi Dao Yin was originally developed for health. But since this system was introduced to Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan, it has become part of their daily training program. They report fewer injuries, increased flexibility and efficiency and ease of movement. The system has also been used directly as a tool for developing movement for some of Cloud Gate's works. Throughout the week the individual exercises will be taught, along with the principles behind them. Gradually, the inner energy will allow participants to explore their own ways of moving. The Tai Chi Dao Yin exercises will be used as a warm up, followed by movement explorations and taught sequences following themes arising out of the principles of the exercises to introduce different ways of embodying them.
anouk llaurens In and Out a practice of exchange. The aim of the class is to open the exchange between inside and outside space. Starting with the tuning to breath and connecting with the earth, I will encourage you to refer to your own sensation to guide yourself from floor to standing to create space with others. Softness and simple connecting exercises will lead you progressively into taking more risk in the dancing. Going from one extreme to the other will expand your experience of movement and create space for delightful surprises.
jovair longo Improvisation - Classes combine improvisation, partner work and some set movement. Jovair encourages movement to be developed from the opening of spaces, and support around the joints and the whole body. He works with the senses and different layers of the dancer's attention when performing movement and encourages the flow of movement with awareness of the space and group. He breaks down different aspects of partner work for detailed study, occasionally using set movement phrases.
rachel lopez de la nieta By connecting with our own innate awareness and sense of being, we will explore the relationships of mind, body and environment through both improvised and set material.
fiona millward Draws on her teacher training in the Franklin® Method of Dynamic Alignment. Class aims to support each individual in the deepening of their experience within set exercises through the use of imagery and Franklin® Balls. Movement sequences then explore ease of motion, relishing detail and counterbalance and the effortlessly dynamic physicality this can create.
henry montes with attention to our midline, focus on the fluidity, expansiveness and support of the organs and expanding our field of awareness to take things in, we can begin to let movement initiate from a place of simplicity.
jeremy nelson The classes are influenced by Nelson’s 20 years of continuing study in the work of Barbara Mahler and Susan Klein, and by more recent studies in Alexander Technique®, Contact Improvisation and Bodymind Centering®. The focus of the class is to integrate this investigation and alignment work into a more formally structured dance technique class. We will begin with a warm-up which focuses on our skeletal structure to access the deep supporting muscles of the body, allowing mobility and suppleness in the superficial muscles, and emphasizing the connection to and use of the floor. The class builds from simple exercises to phrases of movement that involve moving boldly, covering lots of space, taking chances off balance and finding a strength, specificity and ease in our dancing.
stine nilsen Teaches a release-based class which involves some hands on work, clear initiation of movement, leading to articulate and dynamic movement through the body and space. Influenced by teaching opportunities within CandoCo and in dance colleges nationally and internationally, Stine is interested in how to make technique class informative, accessible and enjoyable.
rick nodine A combination of set movement patterns, improvisation, and skills for connecting the limbs into the centre of the body will be our entrance into dancing together. Phrases that move the centre up and down from the floor and turn the body upside-down, combined with elements of Contact improvisation will get us flying and falling as we dance with risk, humour and a vigourous physicality.
lionel popkin Using a weighted and grounded warm-up that draws from release-based techniques as well as imagery from Skinner Releasing Technique, we will move into improvisations that improve our skills for dancing near, around, on and next to other people.
karin potisk classes are inspired by experimental anatomy - the awareness of our internal structures and how they can support our movement range and offer different qualities, in order to dance from the inside out, and be convincing, and be.
lauren potter Works with a strong emphasis on weight and gravity using the breath as a movement source and the floor as a partnership to aid the transference, shift and momentum of weight with an ease of connection through the limbs, whilst still maintaining a dynamic and articulate presence.
susanna recchia Susanna’s classes explore the interrelations between the inner anatomical landscape and the outer realm of perception. Combining improvised exploration and set material, the class is a journey through sensation and alertness, gravity and orientation, fluidity and clarity. We investigate movement as a way of relating to others and experiencing independence, being in and out of the floor, exploring form and finding freedom from it.
sasha roubicek Emphasises the release of energy, focusing on developing strength, flexibility and articulation.
heidi rustgaard The class is a release-based technique class focusing on elongation, breath and rooting to the floor. The aim is to strengthen the upper body and create a fluid movement vocabulary with the power of your upper and your lower body in equal balance. The class moves from simple placement exercises using gravity, to more complex movement sequences with attention to details and dynamic. Varying from extremity extensions to complete collapses with gravity, the floor is through out the class used as a tool to economise your strength and stamina allowing the body to move in a strong and soft manner.
deborah saxon Deborah investigates anatomical conversations within the body and the dialogue with the space it occupies.
caroline scott Improvisation - Begins each session with a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement lesson and uses this experience to lead into improvised dancing. We will often work with a partner to help clarify our own self image and to help refine our ability to observe and work with others.
kirstie simson kirstie simson leads students into a state of mind from which dancing arises effortlessly and spontaneously. The activity of locating, listening and allowing dance to be expressed through the body, combined with simple technical and sensory expanding skills, guides people to be able to access and work with the powerful energy of Ki, training a concentration that excites and loosens the body's natural hunger to express itself through full and vibrant dancing.
scott smith Improvisation - Classes begin with warm ups focused on action and release of movement, in relationship to mass, gravity, momentum, falling, recovery, and reflex, to bring a state of flexibility and awareness to dancing. The movement work uses skeletal imaging and action, with particular focus given to the pelvis and spine as root and limb, for extending spherically and dimensionally into space. The material encourages sensation, research, and use of the dancer's own form and action in relationship to the physical world.
ted stoffer I combine principles of yoga and tai chi with my own approach to movement to work the body as efficiently, safely, powerfully, and as fun as possible.
rahel vonmoos Draws from her own movement research, her experience in Body-Mind Centering and Aikido. She investigates the different movement qualities of the body's physiological systems focusing on the volume/support of the organs and the connection of the centre to extremities and space. Rahel works with developmental patterns leading to phrases on the floor as well as standing, using a combination of set material and improvisation.
fin walker will focus on stimulating the rational and emotional 'bodies' and the possible equilibrium between the two. Limitations will be imposed as to create more breadth of freedom.
lucia walker Seeing the world move, sensing our own movement and letting go of what restrains us from thinking, feeling and moving freely. The class will offer games, exercises and scores to encourage us to “wake up” to the present moment and to our strength, awareness and pleasure in dancing. A particular focus will be on observing the flow of our attention so we can develop a consistent quality of connection with ourselves, the dance, other people and the space.
sarah warsop Sarah draws inspiration mainly from Hatha and Shivananda Yoga styles, as well as from many years investigation into dance and the moving body. Her class focuses on breath during relaxation, and breath as a motivation to move. Helping to create physical and mental clarity, stability and flexibility.
david waring teaches class focusing on a fluidity and articulation through the skeletal structure alongside a projection of the body into space across a broad dynamic range.
suzannah west A release based class as part of the Bare Bones Company residency at the Siobhan Davies Studios. Call 020 7091 9650 for more details.
ben wright Class begins quietly, exploring alignment and structural awareness, then progresses through both formal and improvised exercises towards complex phrases and improvised structures. He frequently uses imagery to exemplify ideas and encourages the use of touch and partnering at various intervals during the class.