This class will focus on simultaneous movement and text improvisation. We’ll turn our attention outward: working with each other to observe, react, and respond in real time: creating and connecting at once to get out of our heads and into the room. Drawing on tools from improv comedy and contemporary dance, we’ll fry our brains to create without filters, finding freedom and fun in our dancing.
Open to all, this class will particularly suit those wanting to sharpen their improvisational instincts, build confidence, and rediscover play as a tool for making seriously unserious performances.
Sam Burkett (they/them) is an award-winning performer and maker working at the intersection of comedy and dance. A comedy improviser and contemporary dancer, Sam blends physicality and humour to explore identity, relationships, and emotional contradiction on stage. Sam’s solo improv show, GOSS (described by Everything Theatre as “comedy gold – part improv, part stand-up, part dance, and entirely its own thing”) has toured the UK, playing at the Edinburgh Fringe.
They perform regularly in the London improv scene, including on house team Hotbed at The Free Association, and have taken improv and dance work to stages in Australia and Europe. Their solo dance-theatre piece, Crop Tops Make Me Feel Vulnerable, won the Best of Anything Goes Award at the Houston Fringe Festival.
Sam also teaches improvisation and works as a movement director, helping comedians sharpen stage presence and connect movement with storytelling. Their cross-disciplinary practice invites audiences to experience performance in fresh, unexpected ways.
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 9650, to speak to a member of the Independent Dance team.
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.
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.