Improvisation, as with wild swimming, is an act of diving into the unknown. We will embark by connecting with our body’s oceanic inheritance through the evolutionary link of saline, symmetries and our tidal breath. We will then discover different creatures of the depths and let these travel through our bodies, allowing their motion to influence ours. Developing improvisation skills, we will explore how to dive into the moment, how to float amidst the rise and fall of waves, how to visit our shipwrecks with sensory curiosity. Together, we will encounter shoals of words and islands of sound amongst the ever-shifting tides of an all-encircling present.
“I learn so much from people in the way they meet the unknown in life and water is a great test. I am sure no adventurer nor discoverer ever lived who could not swim. Swimming cultivates imagination . . . This love of the unknown is the greatest of all the joys which swimming has for me.” Annette Kellerman, 1887 – 1975, champion sea swimmer and cinema star.
Note from ID : In the interests of safety, we encourage everyone to take a lateral flow test before coming to the building to attend class.
Rebecca Mackenzie is a writer, performer and sea swimmer. She lives at the meeting point of three sea lochs on the West Coast of Scotland. A certified Action Theater teacher, Rebecca teaches improvisation and led the BOOK CLUB FOR DANCERS series for Independent Dance. Her first novel IN A LAND OF PAPER GODS was shortlisted for the Royal Society of Literature Ondaatje Prize. She is currently collaborating with CERN Scientist Jaime Norman and musician Reynaldo Young in the development of COLLIDER, which was first shown in the Siobhan Davies Open Choreographic Series, 2019.