This class is open to those who are curious to find pleasure in movement and engage in dance as a life-affirming practice. Informed by Jose’s experience in somatics, meditation and the queer club space, you will use movement to generate present moment awareness and collective joy whilst dancing together and alone.
Starting with grounding exercises, you will move through guided explorations, open improvisational scores and collective tasks as both dancers and witnesses. At times, you will work with the gaze and different modes of looking, considering how an anticipation of being observed shapes our experience of dancing. Disregarding skill, virtuosity and the performative urge to recreate images, the invitation is to tune into sensation and move without judgment. Supported by generative dance beats, you will embody your own form of sensuality, remaining open to whatever emerges and transforms through movement. Jose particularly welcomes and makes space for those who experience a sense of being hyper-visible when moving in the world.
Access
Independent Dance is resident at Siobhan Davies Studios. To find out more about accessibility and the amenities available within the building please see here.
If you have any questions about the accessibility of our programme and would like to discuss any specific access requirements, please feel free to reach out to us via email info@independentdance.co.uk or by phone on 0207 091 9665, to speak directly to a member of the Independent Dance team. Alternatively, you may phone the main reception at Siobhan Davies Studios on 0207 091 9650.
During class, all participants are welcome to take breaks, observe, exit and enter the space as they wish. Lounge areas are available on the first and ground floors of the building. Yoga mats, blocks, cushions and ear defenders are available for use. We also welcome you being in contact if you would like to discuss the option of bringing your access support worker. Please speak to a member of the ID team if you require any assistance.
Cancellations and refunds
Prices for classes are kept very low and are subsidised by ID in order to support artists to attend. To keep admin manageable for our small team, we don’t offer refunds if you cancel or can’t attend a class, and we can’t transfer your booking to a different class/event. We hope this is understandable. If a class is cancelled or changed by ID however, we do offer refunds/transfers to everyone who has booked.
Jose Funnell (they/them) is an interdisciplinary artist and dancer based in London. Through live performance, sound, film and the workshop space, they explore the radical potential of embodiment as a site of liberation, healing and exchange in service of collective transformation.
Using somatics, social dance, and various technologies of the gaze, their work examines practices of looking and representing as historic mechanisms of power, as well as the role fantasy and collective imagery play in world building. Working towards creating anti-oppressive structures, justice and equity, their practice brings awareness to the experiential dynamics of sharing space and the emancipatory potential of generating agency within contexts of marginalisation.
They have presented their work at the ICA (London), Les Urbaines (Lausanne, Switzerland), Steakhouse Live (London), Slap Festival (York), The Albany (London), CLAY (Leeds) and Centrum Sztuki Współczesnej Zamek Ujazdowski (Warsaw). They have facilitated workshops for Queercircle, the Barbican, Cell Project Space, Conditions Croydon, Migration Matters Festival, Prepster, Lovetank, Metro Charity, Live Art Development Agency and London Contemporary Dance School . They have performed with collaborators at institutions including Tate Modern (London), Palais de Tokyo (Paris), Stedelijk Museum (Amsterdam), the Swiss Institute (New York), Museu Serralves (Porto), Bergen Kunsthall (Bergen), Whitechapel Gallery (London), the Serpentine Gallery (London), and the Royal Academy (London).