Contact Improvisation is based on the physical exploration of how the body moves through its own intelligence and how two or more bodies in contact with each other can move together. A dance that fine tunes your senses and wakes up your ability to listen and respond to what is happening in the moment. Sometimes wild and athletic, sometimes quiet and meditative, and all levels in between. It is a form open to all bodies and inquiring minds.
The class will be led from 6pm – 8.15pm. Please arrive on time or you may not be able to participate.
Underscore including Standing with the Earth practice
The Underscore is a long facilitated focused jam that in principle gives ample opportunity to explore our kinesthetic bodies as they move through states of being, sensing, sharing the dance and coexistence.
This fundamental Contact Improvisation Dance practice has grown out of investigations by Nancy Stark Smith, one of the founders of CI, into what happens at CI jams. Nancy named and codified her observations and as a result The Underscore practice has become not only an useful tool for entering jam space but also a dance ritual shared globally by all contact improvisation communities.
As a special feature I will introduce Standing with the Earth practice as a dancers’ way to demonstrate our human solidarity with the living organism, the earth, in a simple, non spectacular yet reverent ritual of pausing, being still and acknowledging our interbeing.
About the structure:
The dance will take the entire 2hrs and 15minutes. We will start as an “assembly” and then I will guide us on a physical journey through all the symbols describing changes of states whilst encouraging us to move and embody their qualities so that the principles are felt rather than just thought. In the “open space” part of the Underscore Mark Smullian will accompany us musically with his gorgeous soundscapes.
We will dedicate the last 20 minutes of the dance to a direct and deliberate practice of “harvesting” and “reflecting” and we’ll finish as an assembly.
The last Sunday of each month will be an open jam from 6 – 8:15pm with a live musician.
These Sunday sessions are run and taught by a community of contact dancers. Classes are open to all levels and generally led by a different teacher each week.
Participants are responsible for their own safety and wellbeing in the jam. Take care to be alert and sensitive to yourself and others. The organisers cannot accept responsibility or liability for injury.