This workshop will address the subject of breaking our own patterns and limits within the practice of Contact Improvisation. We will deal with one of the side effect of many intermediate and even advanced practitioners – staying confined within our mutual kineshpheric bubble.
Contact is the physical technique, Improvisation is the life behind this dance. Much of our emphasis in the jams, classes and workshops goes to improve our physical technique yet not much work explores the dance that can grow from our bubble and beyond it.
One glass ceiling that an advanced Contact Improviser may encounter is seeing the dance as only 2 people in a very confined space – the bubble. The side effect of this is that the world disappears and there is only the sensation and movement that is inside our mutual bubble, this nice and comfortable feeling holds us back from going into the next step – keeping the same feeling of our point of contact, using our strong technique, whilst improvising with everything else that is there in the moment.
In this workshop we will try to break our bubble – not to lose that feeling but rather to grow from it into a wider bigger world. To Improvise not only with our physical partner and input but also with space, composition, and other potential partners that are not yet in physical contact.
This workshop is meant for Intermediate and advanced people who have experience in one of these fields – Contact Improvisation, Dance Improvisation and dance performers who wish to enlarge their vocabulary in dance and on stage.
The number of participants is limited. If you wish to participate you need to register in advance by sending an E-mail to this address – saskia@contactdance.co.uk
Tom Goldhand – I am a performance artist in the field of Dance & Contact Improvisation. I studied Dance and theater Improvisation in Israel at “Hakvuza beyafo” and “play school for Improvisation”. After finishing my studies I moved to Amsterdam where I had the privilege to work, learn and be inspired by great teachers of dance and contact Improvisation – Paulien de Groot, David Zambrano and Karl Frost amongst others. In the last years I perform and give workshops on the technique of Improvisation in Dance and Contact. 2 years ago I chose Amsterdam as my base and co founded with 5 other performance artists the group – Mono Collective that performs free and anchored Improvisation pieces as well as choreographed pieces. For me, Improvisation is a way of life and I try to take it out of the studio into everyday life. I believe that the core of man spirit comes from new experiences, and that it is much more important to be open and present, than to make plans and try to stick to them. For more information, go to www.tomgoldhand.com.
“You cannot teach an old dog new tricks, but you don’t have to be an old dog”