BEGIN:VCALENDAR VERSION:2.0 PRODID:-//wp-events-plugin.com//7.2.3.1//EN TZID:Europe/London X-WR-TIMEZONE:Europe/London BEGIN:VEVENT UID:2857@contactdance.co.uk DTSTART;TZID=Europe/London:20250706T150000 DTEND;TZID=Europe/London:20250706T210000 DTSTAMP:20250519T131244Z URL:https://contactdance.co.uk/events/underscore-practice-with-david-leahy / SUMMARY:Underscore Practice with David Leahy - St Werburghs Primary School - 6 Jul 25 15:00 DESCRIPTION:\n\nDavid will facilitate an Underscore and will play live musi c for it. More details to follow soon.Attendees are invited to bring food to share together afterwards.\n\n3:00 - 4:00 Arrive and talk through for p eople who haven't done the Underscore before\n4:00 Arrival of people famil iar with the Underscore\n4:00 - 4:30 Assembly - a space for the group to c ome together\, share and set intentions\n4:30 - 7:00 Moving together for 2 .5 hours\n7:00 - 7:30 Harvest - coming together to verbally share and refl ect\n7:30 - 8:30 Foodshare meal\n8:30 - 9:00 Clearing up and leaving\n\nAn y queries email info@contactdance.co.uk\n\n£10/£15/£18\n\nhttps://www.t ickettailor.com/events/bristolcontactimprovisationdance/1691820\n\n \; \n\nThe Underscore practice\n\nThe Underscore\, which was conceived by Nan cy Stark Smith\, takes the improvising dancer through a number of states o f listening and awareness that commonly occur within an improvised dance / Contact jam setting. Beginning with a deeply internal focus the practice gradually expands outwards until the dancer is invited to engage more full y with the physical space and everyone within it.\n\nNancy always referred to the Underscore as both a personal research tool\, one that allows each individual the opportunity to scrutinize how they engage with the dance\, while at the same time being a frame that supports the dancers to establi sh deeper and more sustaining connections with the others that they are sh aring the practice with.\n\nAn important aspect of the Underscore is that the facilitator does not guide the dancers through the process but rather introduces the practice before the practice starts. This leaves the respon sibility of navigating through the various stages of the practice to each individual. In this way\, the practice exists in between being both a pres criptive guide and a descriptive tool\, that beautifully supports and unde r-scores what naturally happens when we come together to dance.\n\nHaving first worked with Nancy and her partner\, composer Mike Vargas\, in 2003\, my approach to my facilitation of the practice remains very true to how I was introduced to it. As a facilitator of the practice\, I am particularl y focused on emphasizing how the Underscore can greatly support each indiv idual’s personal journey into contact improvisation: with the practice e ffortlessly providing permission and space for a wider range of connection s through dance.\n\nTeacher Biography\n\nDouble bassist and dancer\, David Leahy has been an active member of both the free improvised music and con tact improvisation scenes ever since his arrival from New Zealand in 1998. As a musician\, David has performed with many of the leading figures on t he free music scene and has a long-standing relationship with artists such as Philipp Wachsmann\, Terry Day\, Loz Speyer\, and Neil Metcalfe to name a few. Beyond being a member of the London Contact scene\, David cites Pa ris-based dancer Claire Filmon\, former Pina Bausch dancer Geraldo Si\, an d Nancy Stark Smith as formative influences on his practice.\n\nDavid work s at Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music and Dance\, where he is a lectur er to both music and dance students. He is particularly interested in cros s-disciplinary and spatialized performance practices and continues to base much of his personal practice on Nancy Stark-Smith's\, Underscore\, which he translated into a music-based practice in 2014. ATTACH;FMTTYPE=image/jpeg:https://contactdance.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/20 25/05/david-leahy.jpg CATEGORIES:CI Jam,CI Workshop LOCATION:St Werburghs Primary School\, James Street\, Bristol\, BS2 9US\, U nited Kingdom X-APPLE-STRUCTURED-LOCATION;VALUE=URI;X-ADDRESS=James Street\, Bristol\, BS 2 9US\, United Kingdom;X-APPLE-RADIUS=100;X-TITLE=St Werburghs Primary Sch ool:geo:0,0 END:VEVENT BEGIN:VTIMEZONE TZID:Europe/London X-LIC-LOCATION:Europe/London BEGIN:DAYLIGHT DTSTART:20250330T020000 TZOFFSETFROM:+0000 TZOFFSETTO:+0100 TZNAME:BST END:DAYLIGHT END:VTIMEZONE END:VCALENDAR