The Art of Contact Improvisation for Beginners & Beyond

When

12/11/2022    
2:00 pm - 4:00 pm

Where

The Island
Nelson Street, Bristol, BS1 2LE

Event Type

Loading Map....

Free 1 hour taster class on 15 Oct 2.30pm-3.30pm
Saturday 2 hour classes from 22 Oct – 3 Dec, 2pm – 4pm (no class: 29 Oct)
Level: Beginners and those who want to brush up their skills
Cost: £7 per class / £5 concession
£42 / £30 for all 6 classes
Drop-in is possible (limited number of spaces) – pay cash or card
or email bristolcontactresearch@gmail.com to book a space in advance (limited numbers)
Class description
Contact improvisation is a form of improvised dancing that has been evolving internationally since the 1970s. It explores our body’s relationship to others by sharing weight, touch, and movement awareness.
Using principles from martial arts of Aikido & TaiChi, rock n roll partner dancing and experimental performance art, Contact improvisation plays with the artistry of falling off balance, counterbalance, finding the shelves of the body, understanding the anatomy of our body in order to carry someone else’s weight or be lifted lightly. It also fine-tunes our perceptive skills in communicating with each other through touch, flow and spatial awareness to practise the art of collective improvisation.
This class guides you through floor-based movement improvisation into dynamic partner-work and collective dancing, welcoming people with different bodies, levels and experiences. As there are no set moves, it is a practice that honours and adapts to how different bodies move – beginners are very welcome, as well as those who want to brush up their skills!
About the teachers Jan-Ming Lee & Yasin Hussain:
We are dancers with 20 years experience between us in dancing Contact Improvisation, as well as a background in martial arts, performance art and contemporary dance, and advocate for safe spaces to learn and practice dance and collective movement together.
www.janlee.org
Venue info:
The Dance Space, The Island, Bridewell Street, 1st floor, Bristol, BS1 2QD
Entrance on Bridewell street, opposite Rough Trade.
For class entry please ring the buzzer and the teachers will buzz you in the space. There are a set of stairs leading to Dance Space.
Contact info:
Jan-Ming +447834 227678 or Yasin +447824 389512 or bristolcontactresearch@gmail.com
With thanks to @diverseartistnetwork for all their support
Photo by @algy_behrens taken at @freshdanceandarts