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Nov 27-Dec 1Berkeley, CA
at The Finnish Hall
CI Workshops with KJ Holmes (NYC) & Ezra LeBank (Los Angeles)
Special guests including Merrick Jacob, Klaus Neuhold, and more! Jams, Naps & Snacks Galore!!
Schedule:
Nov 27 - Dec 1, 2024
Wednesday - Sunday
Register Here: https://forms.gle/xbRqv4Zy98bgdEM77
Summer Special by September 1.
Early Bird by October 15.
Space is limited to 36.
Start each day with Dirt Work Floorwork taught by Ezra LeBank. After rolling, sliding and getting upside down, we'll have a contact improvisation class with the wonderful KJ Holmes. After a relaxing lunch, we'll have space for a nap, a stretch and a snack, followed by dancing scores and ensemble play with KJ or Ezra.
We'll cap each day with a jam (silent or live music). And we are excited to welcome Merrick Jacob, Klaus Neuhold, and other special guests who will contribute through the week.
Our intention is to dance dance dance and then enjoy our evenings together or apart, take an easy morning and start again at the next day.
This sweet 5-day dance immersion is created for contact improvisers who have been engaged in the practice/form/play for six months or more.
From K.J.:
“What is my body doing when I am not conscious of it?”�(Steve Paxton)
This workshop will honor practices initiated by dancer Steve Paxton (1939-2024). We will artfully enter the basic principles of the form of Contact Improvisation which he initiated in 1972, and his Material for the Spine, begun 1986. “Forms for sensations and sensing” (Steve Paxton), these classes will offer students the opportunity to deeply enter the basic study of the physics and ecological forces dancers experience as they move in relationship with each other and themselves. We will engage with the body in spherical space to improvise in solo, duo and with the class as an ensemble. As we deepen into the discipline of practice, we will evolve the process as tools for dancing to witness how we make sense of being HERE. Playing with the chronosphere and spirals of time, space and weight, we will explore what Steve has said: “Dance is the art of taking place. Improvisation finds those places.” Sources will include several of Steve’s writings as well as what we discover in our practices together in this living art form.
Bios
K.J. Holmes (NYC) has been practicing Contact/Improvisation forms as process and performance since 1981. These practices have deeply informed her journey as a dance artist as well as an actor, vocalist, writer and teacher. An avid improviser and creator of solo/duo and ensemble work, she has studied with the early pioneers of CI including Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith and Daniel Lepkoff and has also been very influenced by the Tuning Score of Lisa Nelson, Body Mind Centering ® and the work of Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, Ideokinesis with Andre Bernard, Meisner acting work with Terry Knickerbocker, voice and singing with Richard Armstrong, Barbara Maier Gustern and Samita Singha, among others. K.J. is a certified Yoga teacher through her studies with Sondra Loring, and a certified Ayurvedic Holistic Health Counselor through her studies with Dr. Naina Marballi. She teaches at NYU/Experimental Theatre Wing and Movement Research in NYC, as well as traveling nationally and internationally teaching, performing and creating. K.J. has performed most recently in the work of filmmaker/artist Matthew Barney, dancer/writer Karinne Keithley Seyers, music video of Mitski, as well as her own solo work 900 Bees are Humming. She is currently conducting a new ensemble piece, Blu/print, begun Fall 2023 with the mentorship of composer/instrumentalist Henry Threadgill through a grant from the NY State Dance Force. K.J. has been honored to dance in many of Steve’s creations, as well as knowing him as a dear friend.
Ezra LeBank (LA) is the Head of Movement and Professor of Theatre Arts at California State University, Long Beach where he has taught since 2011. He was previously Assistant Professor of Theatre & Dance at The University of Montana, and has taught at The Juilliard School, Purchase College, Smith College, and Vassar College/Powerhouse Theatre. Recently he taught Contact Improvisation and acrobatics workshops in Sweden, France, Poland, Germany, Mexico, Guatemala, Costa Rica, Israel, Estonia, Canada, Italy, Belgium, Australia, Japan, and across the United States. As the Founder & Director of Bossy Flyer, his original acrobatic theatre productions Flight, Back Left, Terms & Conditions, Extinguish, and THREE have toured across North America, Europe, and Australia to critical acclaim including an Off-Broadway run at the historic Barrow Street Theatre. He is recognized internationally as a specialist in Biomechanics, Partner Acrobatics, Contact Improvisation & Somatic Practice, Stage Combat, and Clown. He served as the editor of the national periodical for the Association for Theatre Movement Educators ATME News. His book CLOWNS: In Conversation (2nd Edition) is available from Routledge Publishing, UK.
For more info and various events: www.badgoatdance.com
Event Photo by Eric Allen.
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Event Venue & Nearby Stays
Berkeley Finnish Hall, 1970 Chestnut St, Berkeley, CA 94702-1723, United States,Berkeley, California
