Archived Schedules and Teacher Lists from 2007, 2006.
WCCIF 2007 Schedule and Teachers Archive
INTENSIVES
5-day Beginner Intensive - The 5 Fundamental Keys of Contact Improvisation Dancing BA, MW, C
Mark Koenig and Stefanie Cohen
(1) presence (2) following the point (3) weight sharing (4) listening -the “master key” (5) improvisation
3-day Advanced Intensive AD
Shel Wagner Rasch and Stefan Fabry
Challenging the advanced dancer, drill and play with our 6 favorite CI tools, facilitating a higher degree of not knowing.
3-day All Levels Intensive - Fluid Contact AL, MW, S
Teri Carter
Awaken your body's inner world. body-mind centering and continuum deepen CI skills, enhancing fluid connection and momentum.
Somatics Intensive - Dance/Movement Psychotherapy and Contact Improvisation AL, MW, S
Kirk Andrews
A discussion of dance/movement psychotherapy will preface an exploration of who we are, and how we connect in contact
CLASSES
Aaron Jessup
Become a PDP (Perfect Dance Partner) IN, MW, C
What special things do your favorite dance partners do? Try these tried and true crowd pleasers, without losing your sense of self!
Ali Woolwich (w/ Erik)
Soft & Not so Soft
(but still really good) AL, MF
Exploring skin, skeleton, proximity and composition, one instructor with wheelchair, one without. Seek brave and meaningful dance.
Andrew Wass
Yes, No, Maybe BA
This class will examine how to use the contact point. What happens when these three colors, Yes/No/Maybe blend?
Ann Woodhead (w/ Theresa)
Advice for Protecting
Your Delicate Body BA, MW
We will focus on the situations where stress or injury might occur and offer methods to prevent disaster and improve your luck physically.
Anna-Lisa Adelberg
Inside Out and Outside In IN, S
Blindfolded dancing- disorientation, released joints, proprioception, and path of ease. Inner awareness in the outer world.
Brenton Cheng
Scores in 4D AL, MW, P
Constructing and discovering dynamic dance scores for jamming and performance. (2-part class)
Carol Swann
Perception, Reception, Unfolding or Not IN, AD, P
Perceiving, receiving, unfolding, and revealing impulses, pathways and gestures to clarify for the performing body. (2-part class)
Carolyn Stuart
UP/DOWN AL, MW, C
Play with the extent and refinement of your UP and DOWN by using support at the point of contact.
Erik Ferguson (w/ Ali)
Soft & Not so Soft
(but still really good) AL, MF
Exploring skin, skeleton, proximity and composition, one instructor with wheelchair, one without. Seek brave and meaningful dance. (2-part class)
Ernie Adams
Beginning in the Beginning AL
Experienced contactors will discover more flow, abandon, improvisational savvy; beginners will develop strength, confidence, trust. Explore CI basic principles, skills and awareness.
Karin Moriarty
Holding the Magic Within AL
Crafting the "puzzle piece" as bodies work in a deep contact duet, merging tendons, muscles, bones and energy.
Katja Irvin
Rhythm & Contact AL, C
Play with rhythms and phrasing, weight and suspension. Bounce, fly and swing your partner (do-see-do!).
Louise Bertelsen and Po Shu Wang
Just the Way You Are AL
CONTACT (in tune with each other)
+ IMPROVISATION (honest dialogue over clever conversation) = approach to a safe and respectful dance.
Mary Herzog
Will Work for Fun IN, MW
This class will explore ways to have fun and play in the context of the solo, duet, trio, and within the community of the room.
Ralf Jaroschinski
To Resist is Not an Offence IN, P
Enjoy experiencing resistance as a strongly motivating, inspiring and exciting dynamic force!
Rebecca Bryant
Weight to Share IN, S
This class explores the technical foundations of weight sharing in contact improvisation.
Scott Wells
Centered and Ridiculous IN, MW, P
Part 1: Wrestle, meditate and play, then performance jam.
Part 2: Performance research.
Sharon Tomsky
Contact ABCs BA, MW
Awareness, Being present, Connecting: with yourself & with a partner with deep listening, authenticity, respect and curiosity.
Stefanos Georgantis
Performance Duet IN, MW, P
We will practice structures that enhance the enjoyment and effectiveness of CI duet in performance. In a synergy of transformation...
Sue Stuart
Composition & Play for Bodies, Wheels & Platforms AL, MF
Exploring rhythm, timing, and gesture to enhance our encounters with touch, weight,flesh, chairs and the giving and receiving of support.
Tara Brandel
Inter(deepen)Dance IN, MW, P
Expanding our focus to dance simultaneously with our partner and the whole room. Heightening our group awareness. (2-part class)
Teri Carter
Fizz IN, MW
How can we open our entire being to the present moment, fully receiving and offering while feeling safe in a contact dance? Our liquid bio-systems melt and crackle as we slide, roll, fly, & FIZZ.
Theresa Dickinson (w/ Ann)
Advice for Protecting your Delicate Body BA, MW
We will focus on the situations where stress or injury might occur and offer methods to prevent disaster and improve your luck physically.
Vitali Kononov
Full Spectrum Space AL
Exploring whole body-movement-space relationships in contact; finding smooth transitions in and out of contact; integrating different levels of vision and attention.
Curious and Furious IN, S
Bored with contact? Learn to fight tenderly. Foster your curiosity. Tame your furiosity. Bring yourself fully in the dance affair.
| Morning 9:30 am - 11:30am | |||||||
| Studio | Friday 6/29 | Saturday 6/30 | Sunday 7/1 | Monday 7/2 | Tuesday 7/3 | Wednesday 7/4 | |
| 8th Street | - |
BA MW
Mark Koenig & Stefanie Cohen BEGINNER INTENSIVE Fundamental Keys of CI Dancing [Community] |
BA MW
Mark Koenig & Stefanie Cohen BEGINNER INTENSIVE Fundamental Keys of CI Dancing [Community] |
BA MW
Mark Koenig & Stefanie Cohen BEGINNER INTENSIVE Fundamental Keys of CI Dancing [Community] |
BA MW
Mark Koenig & Stefanie Cohen BEGINNER INTENSIVE Fundamental Keys of CI Dancing [Community] |
BA MW
Mark Koenig & Stefanie Cohen BEGINNER INTENSIVE Fundamental Keys of CI Dancing [Community] |
|
| Spring Fall | - |
lab
Ernie Adams Rolling into Contact with Feldenkrais [Somatics] |
AL MW
Kirk Andrews SOMATICS INTENSIVE Dance/Movement Psychotherapy and CI [Somatics] |
activity
Sharon Tomsky Breaking the Rules |
- | - | |
| Studio 12 | - |
AL
Vitali Kononov Full Spectrum Space |
IN MW
Tara Brandel Inter(deepen) Dance [Performance] |
IN MW
Tara Brandel Inter(deepen)Dance [Performance] |
IN
Vitali Kononov Curious and furious [Somatics] |
IN MW
Teri Carter
Fizz |
|
| Western Sky | - |
AD
Shel Wagner Rasch & Stefan Fabry ADVANCED INTENSIVE |
AD
Shel Wagner Rasch & Stefan Fabry ADVANCED INTENSIVE |
AD
Shel Wagner Rasch & Stefan Fabry ADVANCED INTENSIVE |
IN MW
Scott Wells Centered and Ridiculous [Performance] |
IN MW
Scott Wells Centered and Ridiculous [Performance] |
|
| Wildcat | - |
AL
Louise Bertelsen & Po Shu Wang Just the Way You Are |
IN, MW
Mary Herzog Will Work for Fun |
lab
Anna-Lisa Adelberg & Ralf Jaroschinski Momentum |
AL
Katja Irvin Rhythm & Contact [Community] |
lab
Samantha Beers Divine Contact [Community] |
|
| Lunch 11:30am - 1:00pm | |||||||
| Studio | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | |
| 8th Street | - | Gleanings | Gleanings | Gleanings | - | ||
| Spring Fall | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Studio 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Western Sky | - | - | - | Jam Basics for Beginners | - | Closing Circle | |
| Wildcat | - | - | Performing Improvisation Panel Discussion | - | Annual Performance Discussion - Stefanos Georgantis | - | |
| Afternoon 1:00pm - 3:00pm | |||||||
| Studio | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | |
| 8th Street | - |
BA MW
Sharon Tomsky Contact ABCs |
BA
Karin Moriarty Holding the Magic Within |
OPEN JAM starts at 2pm |
AL MF
Ali Woolwich Soft & Not so Soft (but still really good) |
- | |
| Spring Fall | - |
lab
Carolyn Stuart Lecture/Demonstration as a Practice |
AL MW
Kirk Andrews SOMATICS INTENSIVE Dance/Movement Psychotherapy and CI [Somatics] |
One On Ones | - | - | |
| Studio 12 | - |
IN
Ralf Jaroschinski To Resist is Not an Offence [Performance] |
IN
Carol Swann Perception, Reception, Unfolding or Not [Performance] |
THEME JAM starts at 2pm |
IN
Rebecca Bryant Weight to Share [Somatics] |
- | |
| Western Sky | - |
AL
Ernie Adams Beginning in the Beginning |
lab
Rebecca Bryant The Gaze and Performing Contact |
JAM DAY Community Gathering 1pm - 2pm
FACILITATED JAM starts at 2pm |
AL MW
Brenton Cheng Scores in 4D [Performance] |
- | |
| Wildcat | - |
AL MW
Teri Carter ALL LEVELS INTENSIVE Fluid Contact [Somatics] |
AL MW
Teri Carter ALL LEVELS INTENSIVE Fluid Contact [Somatics] |
FACILITATED JAM starts at 2pm |
AL MW
Teri Carter ALL LEVELS INTENSIVE Fluid Contact [Somatics] |
- | |
| Late Afternoon 3:15pm - 5:15pm | |||||||
| Studio | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | |
| 8th Street | - |
AL MF
Sue Stuart Composition & Play for bodies, wheels & platforms |
lab
Andrew Wass What do we watch when we watch? Why? |
OPEN JAM |
AL MF
Ali Woolwich Soft & Not so Soft (but still really good) |
- | |
| Spring Fall | - | -Performance Rehearsals |
AL MW
Kirk Andrews SOMATICS INTENSIVE Dance/Movement Psychotherapy and CI [Somatics] |
One On Ones | - | ||
| Studio 12 | - |
IN
Anna-Lisa Adelberg Inside Out and Outside In [Somatics] |
IN
Carol Swann Perception, Reception, Unfolding or Not [Performance] |
THEME JAM |
AL MW
Carolyn Stuart UP/DOWN [Community] |
- | |
| Western Sky | - |
BA
Andrew Wass Yes, No, Maybe |
IN MW
Stefanos Georgantis Performance Duet [Performance] |
FACILITATED JAM |
AL MW
Brenton Cheng Scores in 4D [Performance] |
- | |
| Wildcat | - |
IN MW
Aaron Jessup Become a PDP (Perfect Dance Partner)[Community] |
BA MW
Theresa Dickinson & Ann Woodhead Protecting your Delicate Body |
FACILITATED JAM |
lab
Sharon Tomsky CI & Feldenkrais |
- | |
| Evening Performance Rehearsals 5:30pm - 7:00pm; Performances at 8:00pm; Open Jams 8:00pm - midnight | |||||||
| Studio | Friday | Saturday | Sunday | Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | |
| 8th Street | OPEN JAM |
Curated Performance
OPEN JAM |
OPEN JAM |
OPEN JAM Music Jam 9pm |
Performance Finale
OPEN JAM |
- | |
| Spring Fall | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Studio 12 | - | - | - | - | - | - | |
| Western Sky |
Opening Circle & Jam
OPEN JAM |
Performance Rehearsals
OPEN JAM |
OPEN JAM |
Performance Rehearsals
OPEN JAM |
Performance Rehearsals
OPEN JAM |
- | |
| Wildcat | - | - | Performance Lab | - | |||
This is a two part class designed for beginning and advanced dancers alike. The first half will focus on the softer side of things, developing a sense of perception and proximity, the way proximity effects presence and meaning, how listening can introduce skin and touch and how touch can lead to dancing. The second part will focus on transitioning from skin contact and softness to more weight and intensity, how to build an awareness and search for the muscle, bone and deep structure in a partner and use that knowledge to build dances, structures, and ensemble compositions in contact improvisation. There will be an intentional focus on contact improv and disability, one teacher using a wheelchair and the other not. With additional material provided on adapted CI and the way a disabled body can intelligently inform and enhance the dance, supported rolling, using wheelchairs and garden variety chairs (in case you forgot yours) as additional exoskeleton and bone to play within your dances and compositions while doing it safely and without fear. (2-part class)
Ali Woolwich has been working in CI for 17 years, and directs HumilitySwim, a CI-based performance ensemble which has shown performance work throughout the Bay Area, Seattle, NYC and the EU. Her regular CI workshops include square-one beginners' training, queer women's issues, college guest lectures, and site-specific performance. She is an admitted tech geek, as Technical Director for CounterPULSE theater and WCCIF's 2007 Tech Upgrade Project Manager. She currently produces a local bi-monthly interactive community artspace tour in SF's Mission District in collaboration with Red Poppy Art House, and a local monthly TV show of dance art, CITV: Contact Improvisation Television, for San Francisco's channel 29. For more info please go to: www.rodneyj.net/ali.
Erik Ferguson was trained in DanceAbility in Germany in 2003 after working for several years with visual art, performance art and Butoh. He is a grateful practitioner of Contact Improvisation and is indebted to Alito Alessi, Karen Nelson and Carolyn Stuart. He is also the co-founder of the Disability Art and Culture Project, which seeks to promote disability culture and pride through dance.
The class begins with a full warm up of the hips and opening of the base area to give the students a strong starting point and touching on the center's idea. Then, we will move into duets, where the roles of giving and receiving weight will be interchanged. It is the "Gift of Magic" that comes alive - a wealth of information. The students will be invited to not only feel the physical weight exchange but also how the energy moves from one body to the other. They will be introduced to the "puzzle piece" idea. We will sprinkle tenderness and how we move with our partners and how we can create magic together.
Karin holds a Dance degree from UC Berkeley. She co-founded Dance-Is-It, a contact improv teaching and performing group, and is a Harbin Jam organizer. She teaches at DanceVisions studio and is a frequent guest at Stanford University. Karin's choreography is based in CI and "ritual-theater". She is also interested in site-specific performances. Her piece "Along the River" was set at an Andy Goldsworthy sculpture.
To be in CONTACT, is to be in tune with each other without loosing oneself. IMPROVISATION places importance in honest dialogues over clever conversation or skillfully scripted talks. This is our approach to a safe and respectful dance. In verbal conversation, we are either listening or talking in order to have a meaningful exchange. But in movement dialogue, we can listen and talk at the same time. And this allows us to enter into an intimate state of being, where thoughts are unnecessary and movements are at ease. This class is a series of simple exercises, structured to guide us through the above mentioned quality in our dances.
Po Shu Wang Bio
Po Shu Wang is a multi-disciplinary artist based in Berkeley CA. His background of Tai Chi Chuan is his way of dancing CI with the environment and others. He has created numerous permanent and temporary works in Europe and the U.S. over the years. CI has particular impact on his collaboration with Louise Bertelsen under Living Lenses: www.livinglenses.com.
Weaving Contact and Somatics, awaken your body's inner world. Deepen CI skills with Body-Mind Centering and Continuum to enhance fluid connection and momentum. Letting sensation inform movement choices, experiential anatomy and sounding can help nurture and embody your capacity for 3D movement, alone and with partners. Enliven body systems such as muscles, bones, organs, and fluids for free flow of energy. Increase self awareness while interrelating with partners. Explore skills of touch, weight sharing, rolling and flying while consciously embodying your soma to find satisfying dances.
How can we open our entire being to the present moment, fully receiving and offering while feeling safe in a contact dance? Letting our cells and molecules spread and melt in playful harmony with one another. What are these physical bodies and what is their potential? Skin-to-skin, mind-to-mind, in resonance with a safe environment and the larger vibrational field, expanding our consciousness to include infinite movement possibilities alone and with partners. Our liquid bio-systems melt and crackle as we slide, roll, fly, and FIZZ.
Teri Carter has practiced CI since 1983, with such mentors as Steve Paxton & Nancy Stark Smith. She holds a BFA & MA in Dance, and is a Certified Somatic Educator, Body-Mind Centering Practitioner & Tai Chi Instructor. An international teacher and performer, Teri founded and directed L.A.'s Intention Dance Theatre, as well as NYC's mixed-ability dance company Mobility Junction.
This class is for all levels. We will be exploring body-movement-space relationships while working with a partner, as a solo and in groups. By tracking spatial awareness in different systems of the body - visual, kinesthetic, proprioceptive, we will cultivate full articulation of it from subtle impulses inside the body to our relationship to external space. We will be exploring transitions in and out of contact; discovering hidden pathways up and down (rooting & flying); integrating different levels of vision and attention. Through cultivating awareness of internal and external landscapes, we will begin to look for ways to extend our possibilities of interaction, cooperation and play.
What makes the dance exciting? What makes you engage into a satisfying dance with a partner? Where do you find passion and tenderness? In this class we will explore and challenge our commitment to now and here. With our partner we will be looking for ways to make the dance alive and sparkling. Sourcing our bodily experience we will enrich our movement with emotion and images. Somatics as well as techniques of tender fighting, fascializing and furious cat style are going to be the foundation of this class. Vitali is a certified Meowing Therapist and Friendly Cat Educator.
Vitali Kononov was born in 1966 in Russia. He has studied dance, physical theater, contact, clowning and improvisation. He has taught and performed in Russia and Europe since 1996, incl. at Moving On Center School since 2001, and as a faculty member of ADF (2003-04). Vitali is a Somatic Movement Therapist and has a private bodywork practice in Berkeley, California.
Find out what people love about their favorite dance partners. What special things do they do? Try on some of these tried and true crowd pleasers, all without losing your sense of self! (We'll list a few pet peeves while we're at it.) Never sit out another jam! Be the most popular dancer in the room! Act now!
Originally coming from a circus and street performing background, Aaron has been a student of Contact Improvisation since 1990. He has taught classes and workshops since 1997, including a year at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy. His current passion involves leading wilderness expeditions with an awareness focus for his company, the Institute for the Study of Awareness in Nature.
Half the class will be blindfold dancing. Blind as bats, guided by sensation and proprioception, we will play on the edge of disorientation, release our joints, pour our weight and feel for the path of ease. As we free our eyes, we will open our attention to the outer space and integrate the wealth of visual cues.
Anna-Lisa Adelberg has been practicing and performing contact improvisation and interdisciplinary dance for over 10 years. Her current interests are in momentum and dynamic flow combined with subtle layers of listening and physical presence. She is in training to be a teacher of Axis Syllabus, which is the study of weight distribution and physiodynamics within anatomical parameters.
In any creative process, what comes to final form is intimately shaped by the constraints that are in play. One of the highest art forms is the crafting of these "rules of the game". Whether a score is discovered over the course of a dance or decided on beforehand, a good score enlivens the dance, provides a channel for spontaneous flow and serves as a launch pad for entering the unknown. This class will explore the conscious and unconscious constraints we employ to initiate, support, and sabotage our dances. We will develop scores both personally and as a group, and use them to connect our embodied, animal selves with the space and each other. (2-part class)
Brenton Cheng is a teacher, director and performer of improvised and choreographed work. He teaches contact improvisation classes in the San Francisco Bay Area and gives workshops in Europe, Russia and Taiwan. He began as a long-distance runner, re-balanced as a martial artist, and then graduated into dance. Brenton is a Laban/Bartenieff Movement Analyst and is on the faculty at Moving On Center, in Oakland.
Our basic Contact skills class intact, we prepare ourselves to communicate what we are doing for an audience, we drop into a deeper level of listening. Perceiving and receiving information is the first step. Then we want to know how to choose, reveal, or pare down what impulses, pathways, and gestures we want to follow and unfold. An impulse to "not" do anything is also an active choice, which could be the most profound choice of all. Through various duet and solo scores we will explore what we perceive and how to unfold it, as well as, what it means to do "the art of doing nothing". (2-part class)
Carol Swann is a teacher, private practitioner, facilitator, director, performer and visionary. She has been teaching and performing dance and vocal-related work for over twenty five years in the US and Europe. She is co-founder, teacher and Director of Moving On Center-School of Participatory Arts and Somatic Research. She teaches Voice, Alexander Technique, Contact Improvisation, Somatic Therapy and Group Process.
We'll practice dancing from the point of contact, in a standing/reclining relationship, to refine the soar in the core and discover evermore release into the floor. This class is for those looking to deepen in their experience of control and abandon, and the balancing act between them.
22 years teaching and performing C.I. worldwide. I use it daily to surprise, delight, remind, embody myself and others. I'm fascinated with distilling the form to it's simplest terms.
This class will provide a vehicle for experienced contactors to discover more flow, abandon and improvisational savvy, and help beginners to develop strength, confidence and trust in their dancing. We will explore the basic principles, skills and awareness involved in Contact Improvisation. Developing the ability to make contact, trust, support and follow a point of contact with a partner will prepare the ground for the more advanced skills of falling and flying. Learning to listen and respond to impulses, feelings, and the changing dynamics of the dance will develop the sensibilities and awareness necessary to improvise.
Ernie Adams has been teaching Contact Improvisation for over thirty years. Contact became the foundation for his performing and teaching in the USAand Europe, with Mangrove (1977-81) and Umbrella for the Performing Arts (1982-86). More recently he has taught in Buenos Aires, Seattle Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation (SFADI) and Northern California Dance Collective High Sierra Camp. He is also a Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner and Pilates Instructor specializing in injury prevention/rehabilitation and somatic education for over fifteen years.
Beginning with both technical and somatic approaches, this session will investigate how weight is applied and moved within/through our own body: pouring, shifting, extracting, diverting, channeling. We will then translate these concepts into juicy, highly-aware partner dancing...
Rebecca Bryant currently creates, collaborates, teaches and improvises in Springfield, Missouri. She is a core artist of the Lower Left Performance Collective and co-founder of the past)(modern performance duo (dance/percussion). She is interested in the intersection of technique and improvisation and wonders why they sometimes don't get along. Her work is informed by her background in visual art and her scientific approach to artmaking.
Come to this class and play with rhythms and phrasing, weight and suspension. Learn to use the rhythms and counter-rhythms of others to move in and out of contact and to generate a series of effortless lifts. Play with the ups and downs and ins and outs to bounce and fly and swing your partner (do-see-do!). Side effects may include giggling and out-right laughter.
Katja is a student, performer and teacher of many movement arts. She has a background in gymnastics, modern dance, and capoeira. Her teaching is also influenced by Nita Little's Mind in Motion theories. She has been a member of dance companies in San Jose Santa Cruz, and Palo Alto and has taught Contact Improvisation in the Bay Area since 1997.
A discussion of dance/movement psychotherapy will preface an exploration of who we are and how we connect in contact.
Kirk is a Licensed Marriage Family Therapist, Registered Dance/Movement Therapist, long time contact teacher, performer and Co-producer of the first four WCCIF's
(1) Presence:the state of being present, alert and responsive to thoughts, feelings, environment; (2) Following the Point:opening the physical body to movement pathways that work; (3) Weight Sharing:cooperative structures for relationship, compression, support, balancing, and lifting; (4) Listening:(the "Master Key"), the foundation of communication, the doorway between self and other; (5) Improvisation:spontaneous creation, timing, letting go and having fun.
Mark Koenig has taught Contact Improvisation dance in California, Colorado, New Mexico and Illinois since 1995. His background includes gymnastics, martial arts and modern dance. A founding member the Sonoma State University Contact Improvisation jam, and of several improvisational music and dance performance collectives, Mark has taught at the West Coast Contact Improvisation Festival since 1998. Stefanie Cohen is a movement artist, director, and educator. She has taught classes in performance skills, improvisation, writing and creative process for the past 9 years. She currently teaches Contact Improvisation and facilitates Authentic Movement workshops in Michigan, Illinois, and Boston. Stefanie and Mark co-created GLACIER, the Great Lakes Area Contact Improvisation Enthusiasts Retreat, and have co-taught for the past 6 years.
Stefanie Cohen, a dance/movement artist, teaches and performs throughout the United States; she facilitates investigations of contemplative movement, dance improvisation, performance skills, and creative process, and has organized GLACIER (Great Lakes Area Contact Improvisation Enthusiasts' Retreat), annually, since co-founding it with Mark Koenig in 2001.
This class will explore ways to have fun and play in the context of the solo, duet, trio, and within the community of the room. How to entertain yourself in the dance, and remember to offer movement jokes, surprises, and tender little treats like a scary ledge, a frank look, a broken expectation or a sustained swoop. Work toward the internal safety to do what you are not good at and have fun anyway.
Since 1990, Mary has facilitated contact improvisation classes, jams, and workshops throughout Southern California. She was a member of Momentum, and Nieces and Nephews, improvisation collectives in Buenos Aires and Los Angeles. She recently spent two years in Buenos Aires, Argentina, teaching and performing contact improvisation and studying tango. Her current research interests include the architecture of instability, fun and games, and the support capacities of the lower leg. She is also a licensed psychologist specializing in children's mental health.
Awareness, Being present, Connecting. Authenticity, Breathing, Curiosity. Action, Balance, Contact. Connecting with yourself & with a partner with deep listening, presence, respect, and curiosity.
Sharon has been enthusiastically involved with Contact Improv since the late 1970s, and has been teaching CI since 1981. She is a co-founder of this Contact Festival and has been teaching at it since its inception in 1988, and was an organizer for the first 3 years. Sharon also co-founded the California Harbin Contact Jam and co-organized and facilitated it for 18 years. She is a certified Feldenkrais Method and Anat Baniel Method practitioner and also works as an Occupational Therapist. She lives in Richmond, CA with her adorable cat Yin-Yang.
With the aim of challenging the advanced dancer both physically and mentally, we will work with our 6 favorite CI tools to facilitate a higher degree of not knowing. Each of the three days we will use two tools that we have found to have an important impact on our own dancing as a starting point for deepening and broadening the knowing, the not knowing, the connection, the trust, the excitement, the now, the ease, the risk, the fun. It is our goal to hold space for serious improvement or expansion of your CI craft through lots and lots of conscious dancing with other advanced dancers.
Shel Wagner Rasch is a Los Angeles-based Contact Improv dancer, teacher and choreographer. She started dancing contact improv in New York in 1985 and has been teaching contact at UCLA since 2000. She has been collaborating with Stefan Fabry teaching, exploring and performing site-specific contact improv scores and spontaneous dances for 10 years. Shel has a private practice as a Somatic Experiencing Practitioner, Alexander Technique teacher and Pilates instructor in Los Angeles, where she also collaborates with her husband making stop motion animated films and raising their 3 continual motion kids.
Stefan Fabry is a modern dancer, contact improviser,Tango dancer, minimalist and choreographer. Since 1997 he pursues his choreographic and improvisational body of work as solo creations and in collaboration with local dancers and improvisers in southern California. Stefan studies with, assists and recently collaborated with Rudy Perez in his ongoing Post Modern choreographic projects since 1997.
In a synergy of transformation, our own dance, the connection with our partner, and the presence of the audience, temporally meet, travel, and create. In our dance we will address the practice of generocity while committing to the form as a way to broaden the reaches of our creativity and presence.
Stefanos Georgantis is a distinguished Bay Area physical performer. His practice in improvisation spans 19 years. In the early part of his career he taught, and performed CI in the US and Europe. In the last seven years he studied Action Theater, which further enriched his complex and distinct performance style of physical improvisation.
Expanding our focus to dance simultaneously with our partner and the whole room. Heightening our group awareness. (2-part class)
Tara Brandel started learning Contact Improvisation from Steve Paxton when she was 15. She has been teaching CI for 15 years in London, Berlin, Ireland and the States (including Liverpool University, Tanz Fabrik, Ponderosa, SFADI and NCDC Dance Camp). She currently runs an Integrated Dance Company in Ireland.
Taught by 2 older dancers and contact practitioners who have been through it all, this class will focus on the situations where stress or injury might occur, and offer methods and information which could prevent disaster and enable you to improve your luck physically. A basic contact lesson will inevitably offer various examples of such moments for us to analyse.
Theresa Dickinson trained as a modern dancer with Martha Graham and Merce Cunningham; danced in Twyla Tharp's earliest company; founding member of Tumbleweed Dance/Theatre/Music and present-day ZaZa; learned Contact Improv from Steve Paxton and the Reunion group when they toured in 1973; teaching and doing Contact ever since, right now at New College in San Francisco. Ann Woodhead bio coming
At first, the class focuses on "centering" and "awareness": We will look for the true internal source and the authentic external expression of our dancing. We will then investigate attentively the texture and momentum of our connection with our partner(s) through listening to their and again our actions and reactions during the "tactile and kinetic communication" which is our dance. We will be able to fully enjoy participating in it, because our contributions will be generous and full-hearted, since they are at all times nurtured from within from within ourselves and from within the connection with our partner(s). Therefore, our dance will be inexhaustible, and we will feel union and satisfaction while dancing with our partner(s). We will then experiment with principles like "resistance", "yielding", "passivity" and "activity" in our dialogue, and at last we'll experience them as inspiring and motivating dynamic forces, that equally contribute to the dance that welcomes all possible ways of interacting.
Ralf Jaroschinski was born in Southern Germany and grew up in Brazil, he was trained in classical, modern and contemporary dance techniques in Germany and in New York City. He works as a free-lance dancer, teacher and choreographer since 18 years mainly in Europe and the Americas. He teaches contact improvisation since 11 years and uses it in the choreographic research for his pieces while emphasizing authenticity and expressivity of the dance. For more information view www.ralfjaroschinski.de
After a solo warm up, we will examine the two basic actions that can happen at the point of contact- resistance(No) and acquiescence(Yes). How do resistance and acquiescence relate to your center, your partner's center, the floor, and the point of contact? How can these two colors, resistance and acquiescence, be combined to form any number of shades(Maybe)? What can happen when we fully embrace the No? What can happen when we give into the Yes? How can we slide along this spectrum between these extremes in multiple points of contact? What can we do with Maybe?
Andrew Wass has been dancing for 10 years. Danced in work by Scott Wells, Jess Curtis, Shelley Senter among others. His interests lie in breaking down ideas and situations into their basic elements. For more information visit www.andrewwass.com
Researching subtlety and refining silliness, we'll work the kinesthetic and the expressive into a performance jam. In the 2nd class (you can come to either or both) we'll elucidate choices, cultivate strategies and practice performing. (2-part class)
In 1981 Scott Wells discovered the pleasure of contact improvisation shortly after becoming obsessed with the struggles of modern dance. He received an Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Choreography and was named "one of the 25 to Watch in 2005" by Dance Magazine. Scott spends several months abroad every year teaching his techniques for contact and flying.
Exploring rhythm, timing, and gesture to enhance our encounters with touch weight,and the giving and receiving of support. Through our bodies, chairs, and other ledges in the room, we will seek out and offer support. For folks new to Contact Improvisation, basic duet skills will be reviewed in the 1st part of the class including dancing with wheelchairs. We will then play with compositional elements to expand our duets into ensemble dancing.
This is Sue Stuart's 20th anniversary of dancing Contact Improvisation. For 7 years Sue taught 2-3 classes a week throughout the year, as well as produced and performed in dance events in Santa Cruz and the Bay area. With Miranda Janeschild she taught Mixed ability classes for 4 years and co-directed two mixed ability performances. Her study of the Hakomi Method body centered psychotherapy influences her teaching. She lives in a small community with her 13 year old daughter.
Curious about the 2006 festivals? Browse the entire 2006 website...