The class will begin with some Cunningham-based warm-up, moving into improvisation using scores and tasks Jules has been using in their choreographic practice, including ways of queering space and practice. The aim is to make the class as inclusive as possible, offering ways to approach the movement from participants’ own perspectives and experiences.
Friday’s class will now be taught by Matthias Sperling:
‘In this class, I’ll share my interest in working with momentum and perception at the same time in dance practice: inviting a setting in motion of not only our mass but also our ways of knowing, sensing and relating. We’ll work with score-based materials that activate taking a reading of our experience while/as dancing, drawing on influences including Deborah Hay’s orientation toward ‘learning without thinking’ from ‘my whole body as my teacher’.
Some of the materials take pleasure in working with loosely repeating or rhythmic motion as a generative form, some also include potentials for working in contact with others. The materials offer specific and multi-layered parameters, and the invitation is for you to unfurl your own curiosities and appetites through them. I’m interested in a space where our different and always-evolving personal practices are nourished by dancing in each other’s company, each taking and giving space for getting what we might need that day.’
Jules Cunningham (they/them), originally from Liverpool, worked as an award-winning dancer for 20+ years with Merce Cunningham Dance Company and Michael Clark Company.
Jules founded Julie Cunningham & Company in 2017, to create and present work that combines clarity of form with an interest in gender identity and the body. Jules uses movement language that draws on their technical dance training, expanding and queering it collaboratively, working between sound, text, visual art.
Creative work is informed by solo and collaborative movement exploration, queerness, lived experience of mental illness, disability and exclusion based on Jules’ working-class background and non-binary identity.
Jules’ full biography and cv is here . Julie Cunningham & Company linktree is here including links to recent press coverage.
Matthias Sperling (he/him) is a Canadian/German artist, choreographer and performer living and working in London since 1997. His work includes creating performances in theatre, gallery and museum contexts, as well as extending to curatorial work and scientific research collaborations. His work has been presented at Sadler’s Wells, Tate Modern, Southbank Centre, Royal Opera House, Wellcome Collection, Dance Umbrella and Nottdance, among others. He has been a frequent collaborator with Siobhan Davies Dance, an Associate Artist with Dance4 and a Sadler’s Wells Summer University Artist. He created an adaptation of a solo choreographic score by Deborah Hay, and has created commissions for Candoco Dance Company and Weld Company among others. He completed his artistic doctorate in 2022 at De Montfort University, supported by Midlands4Cities in partnership with Dance4/FABRIC and Siobhan Davies Studios. He is artistic director of NEUROLIVE, a 5-year interdisciplinary research project.
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.