ESZTER GAL (HU)
Eszter Gál is a dancer, dance teacher, ISMETA Registered Somatic Movement Educator, and choreographer who has been teaching Somatics and Contact Improvisation for over 25 years. She loves traveling and teaching in different cultures, learning from everyone and every situation and sharing her passion for Dance and dancing. She is an improviser, joined the Berlin based Cranky Bodies a/company in 2020 to further develop collaborative performance art research within an international frame and make the artistry of the Postmodern dance legacy visible.
Her core interest issomatic-based movement research, dance-improvisation performance, community work for dance education, and as part of her doctoral studies, she researches the Hungarian legacy of Contact Improvisation and analyzes its methodology for performance art education.
INTENSIVE: Grouding – Supporting – Emerging
A contact improvisation practice to study physical dialogues
The key principles of dancing contact improvisation is to listen to sensation, touch and weight, giving into gravity, moving and being moved by touch. The listening process creates a very rich and curious „space”, I call it. To enter that space takes practice. During our sessions we will „simply” give time to notice, respond and explore what is already there, where there means: inside our physical self: skinbag or skinesphere and also what is outside of us: our kinesphere and the environment – the studio walls & floor, the wind, the trees and our partner(s).
Our investigation will be:
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- how to be easily moved
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- how to offer and receive support
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- how to enter the dance by responding to the ever changing environment
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- how to become partners of and for each other
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- how to allow for the dance to emerge
Each session will begin with grounding, a fine tuning to our physical self, then we will be working with the basic principles of CI practicing how to identify support, where support can come from a partner, the group, the material, the guided focus, or the Earth. By building on the experience of our tuning we can discover how to be safe and trusted while entering the unknown. We will explore finding the wonder of our partners’ form, touch, imagination, force, and structure. We are going to enter the dance in different ways and challenge ourselves in extended duet or trio dancing. The moment is always unique, and every contact teaches something new.
ALESSANDRO RIVELINO (BR)
Where is the intersection of dreamland and awaken realm at this big reality called Dream?
Alessandro Rivellino? What to say? I have been living dance and contact improvisation in a surrendered way as a dancer for 20 years (if i do not count my childhood experiences) and as a teacher for 14, and I had the opportunity to travel to at least 30 different countries, offering and having classes, intensive courses, workshops, residencies and Jams with different and experienced colleagues, what probably gave me a good "floor" to start with 'not knowing with certain quality' ...
I have also organized, with more people, different meetings and retreats of this beautiful practice, in Brazil, Italy, Peru, Argentina, Netherlands, Denmark, Portugal, Norway, Turkey and Mexico. I come from different dance schools at the somatic level and movement research, today I see that I have danced and taught a great part of my life and yet I feel that, in a way, I have just started. In my practice I have been integrating various techniques and bringing the potential of dance to life. If I ask myself between my name and my body, the second one is the dearest, and if you ask about my deepest interest in dancing and teaching the answer would be around living questions related to dance itself, to the presence and to the Big Mystery.
I hope through this illusion of you and I being separated, we can drop it, and go beyond our hanging names to explore the in-between field of existence to dance and be danced with and through the visible and invisible forces entangled at each single moment and find the way to be at the arch of beauty.
INTENSIVE
Sometimes I dance with someone who just started, and I have an outstanding gate to improvisation.
Sometimes I dance with a very experienced dancer and I also have it!
Sometimes not.
It is clear that the work is with myself!
. . .
So, what are the bases of this practice?
And, what works for me to take a step aside in order to dance and life forces be able to show its entanglement?
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Gravity, how to embody this force?
It relates with falling-flying, with yielding, with parasympathetic systems, with weight, direction, piezoelectric force, muscular system, respiratory and skeleton system?
Momentum, how I join gravity and let it empower my movement?
Listening, can i tune with other and have same mind, or attention, for a moment?
Body, what a body can?
Time, is that thing we measure with a clock? Or instead, it is rhythm, pulsation, movement, perception?
Space, where it begins and where it ends? Where is the sound I listen?
With this, and the mistery, with attention and what is behind it. Through myself and others and environment, can i empower presence by landing my attention with it?
Do I dance or am I danced?
Does it matter?
...
And then...
How to open the field for dance to teach us and take us, with trust and safety, into the unknown?
Let's keep these questions alive at this intensive, and enjoy our process in between past and future.
SERGIO PALOMARES (ES)
Sergio is a multidisciplinary artist and passionate of arts of movement interested in the integration of different languages like acrobatics, dance and Contact Improvisation. He's background is in martial arts, gymnastics, circus and contemporary dance. He has been teaching circus acrobatics since 2012 and Contact Improvisation since 2015.
In 2019 he taught at the Contemporary Circus School of Guadalajara (Elcirca), Mexico, mixing CI and different circus disciplines. He was part of the program of studies of Contact Improvisation in Enestudio (Barcelona) from 2020 to 2022 teaching "Acrobatics into CI". In January of 2020 he participated at the "January Workshop" by Nancy Stark Smith.
In 2022 he obtains a postgraduate degree in performing arts and education, Institut del Teatre, Barcelona.
He lives in Madrid now studying Osteopathy, which is being a great inspiration in his dance and in his pedagogy. He is interested in the exploration and research about movement patterns with the goal of efficiency and health, especially in the most intense physical dynamics.
WORKSHOP: Fundamentals of CI
This class will be focused at some of the Fundamental concepts of Contact Improvisation. The purpose would to learn or to experience in a new way how we can meet together in time and space on the dance floor. Certain physical patterns can help us learn how to enter into contact more naturally and smoothly and continue to dance in fluent way. We will address different ways of entering into contact and continuing to dance as duet or a trio while building trust and respecting the boundaries and the process of our partners. One of the fundamental principles of our practice will be using the contact point as door or access gate to mutual weight – moving multiple masses as one unit/entity.
The workshop is conducted in a way that makes it easy for beginners to join in the world of CI while at the same time inviting and allowing experienced dancers to approach movement and connection in a different way and explore even well known patterns through a new sensatory dimension.
WORKSHOP: Flying and Falling
In this workshop we will explore some acrobatic and gymnastic principles and their application in CI. We will put special emphasis on "landing" and "take off". We will study different ways and technical skills that will give us more confidence managing the "fall" from any position and situation. Befriending disorientation, opening our awareness to the spherical space and the only real direction we need as a reference, the others and the down, our balance shared with others bodies and gravity.
ZUZANNA BUKOWSKI (DE/PL)
Zuzanna Bukowski started dancing at the age of 4 and continued her embodiment practices through martial arts, ballet, yoga, modern dance, and Axis Syllabus. She has been deepening her embodiment practice under the influence of various international contact improvisation and contemporary dance teachers.
Currently, she is deeply interested in applying movement principles highlighted by the Axis Syllabus into the practice of contact improvisation, as well as the Underscore structure. She is passionate about the impact of connection between body and mind, which she continues to discover through her work in coaching, IT, and dance.
Teaching dance, co-organizing the Thailand Contact & Movement Arts Festival, Warsaw CI Flow Festival and working as an IT Consultant gives her the balance between headspace and movement art.
WORKSHOP: Moving Me , Moving You – Solo into CI
In this workshop we will dive into the world of researching our own movement patterns and breaking those, before we get into contact with one another. We will focus on different CI principles using the lens of the Axis Syllabus to refine our movements and create more potentiality in our moving structures. Exploring those alone, in specific patterns and partner work shall deepen the understanding of the concepts.
We will dive deeper into the concepts of landing pads, tensegrity and how our bones are moving in the body. Asking questions like: How can meeting the floor be a soft experience? How can biodynamics make our moves smooth and strong at the same time? And how can we keep our own flow while moving with someone else? We will jump, roll, research, soften, listen to good music and have fun with great music. We’ll also incorporate choreographic patterns to smoothly transition into solo movement, ensuring a mix of learning and fun throughout the workshop.
MANUELA BLANCHARD (CH)
Dancer, WaterDance® teacher, Watsu® practitioner with a large experience in Healing Dance®, Manuela Blanchard has been teaching Contact & Dance Improvisation in Switzerland since 20 years. CI in water grew out of her wish to combine the interactive intelligence of contact improv with some techniques of aquatic bodywork. She was one of the first to share in international festivals (f.ex. Thai Water-Land that she co-grounded).
In 2017 she created "Aquatic Bodywaves", involving dance improvisation as a way to learn aquatic bodywork more playfully and intuitively than the classic water trainings. Her work links intimately emotional process and tantric tools to aquatic research.
Fascinated by fluidity, whether in human relationships or in body language, she likes to combine improvised dance with a search for a connection to one’s deepest nature. Her teaching supports everyone in their own discovery of vitality, authenticity, openness and presence.
Her enthusiasm for organic and expressive qualities of movement led her to explore Butoh, Authentic Movement, Body Mind Centering, Synchronized Swimming (intensively as a teenager) and Tango among many other artistic fields. She is also Esalen Massage practitioner with experience in emotion coaching process.
POOL CLASS
In this class you learn how to play with the resistance and dynamic of water, how to ground your feet and anchor your movements in order to make soft and clear propositions with a soft quality of touch. You transition between standing, catching the waves with your whole body, falling into motion and graceful flow.
You let the physical forces such as friction, buoyancy or inertia lead you into the unknown. As no one decides where to go, you engage deeply in a non verbal communication, where you listen to which dance wants to grow at the present moment.
In the subaquatic explorations, you are invited to relax and expand your breathing and experience an expansion of your consciousness. We will reach for inner stillness to reach a state, where we can bring our body and mind to explore freely in the water.
BEACH EXPLORATION
The dance will start with us being on the beach, opening up to the sand or stones embracing our shapes. We will go on an inward journey where we will explore the resonance of our body landscapes, in touch with the natural surroundings, each of which will suggest to us different movements qualities.
Alone and in a group, we will engage into a sensual and playful approach to our environment, moving from land to water, using our skin and our senses as interfaces and spaces to meet.
We will share dance, breathing, relaxation exercises and movement explorations. We will learn how to connect to someone floating in water and how to move together fluidly in this element. Observing the body language and deepening our ability to connect with ourselves and the other will be an important part of the process. There will be space for verbal exchange to integrate our feelings.
ELISABETH ANDRIO (GR/DE)
Eli started her embodiment journey through yoga. In India she first discovered contact improvisation dance. She has been travelling the world exploring various movement and bodywork modalities as well as meditative practices. Her interest lies in the greater body mind realm, the potential for healing and living to our fullest.
Water is the element she feels most at home. She works as a water therapist and recently started the flying.pool.project on Corfu, a therapy pool dedicated to the aquatic arts. She is an avid water dancer that loves to let her dance be informed by the landscape, deep water dancing, shallow, in the sea, waterfalls, rivers, in the pool. She feels that part of her mission is to connect people to the magic of the water.
POOL LAB: Embryonic Journeys
In our pool water dancing sessions we will a journey into embryonic states. The warm and calm waters, a womb like environment are conducive to deep relaxation. We will explore movement that arises naturally and authentically. The intention is to move from a state of doing towards resting in the joy of beingness. In each session the will be invitations for various scores. No previous experience needed, come as you are, all of you is welcomed!
BEACH LAB: Amphibian Adventures
In our beach and sea session we will explore our amphibian nature. Savouring the warmth of the sand, the solidity of the ground, the movement of the sea. We will play with solo movement as well as with partners. Experiment with your CI vocabulary with changing degrees of gravity! No previous experience needed, bring your curiosity!
KATYA PODOPRIGORA (RU/HU)
Dancer, performer, coach, body work therapist.
I am dancing all my life on the ground, in the air, in the water and on the ice. I am in love with Contact Improvisation for 18 years now, and have studied many bodywork and improvisation techniques. I am a Watsu therapist and for many years practicing spontaneous massage. I have studied various somatic techniques, including Body Mind Centering and Skinner Release Therapy. Currently I live, work and dance in Budapest and Moscow.
LAB: Authentic Movement in Nature
The Authentic Movement lab will be about unique possibility to be in contact with nature without looking for something specific or having a purpose. We will work in pairs where one person (the mover) will be given plenty of time with closed eyes to dive into their inner world and the present moment, and from this state perhaps something will appear: the desire to explore, dance or surrender. Their partner will give their focused attention to support the mover and witness whatever may arise in the moment. This lab will be a unique possibility to come back to the roots of our own existence and to explore in a safe way different aspects of the self.
LAB: Letting Go – Relational Bodywork Process
The session will be about exploring the physical aspects of our bodies. We will be looking for possibilities through gentle touch of the partner to let go, relax unnecessary tensions and release our weight into the ground. Through gentle work with a partner or in trio we will record into our systems new patterns of body awareness: skin, liquid, muscles and bone structures. You do not need to have any experience of body work or massage. Come with open eyes and hearts.
WATER LAB: Melting Into The Water
The session will be about exploring the physical and emotional aspects of our bodies in contact with water and with each other. We will be looking for possibilities through light movements and floating to let go, relax unnecessary tensions and release our weight into the water and the hands of the partner. We will observe how our bodies get tense without any reason and learn how to release and work with the partner(s). Through the gentle work with a partner or in trio we will record into our systems new patterns of receiving support and loving touch in the water. You do not need to have any experience of body work or massage. Come with open eyes and hearts.
FRAN CAROCCI (IT)
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Fran is a passionate and intuitive therapist trained in physiotherapy, fascia therapy, osteopathy, aquatic therapies, and Thai massage. He combines ancient wisdom and modern knowledge to share the art of bodywork around the world. A dedicated yoga practitioner, Fran devotes his life to exploring somatic relationships through water, dance, and touch.
Since the early stages of his journey, Fran has practiced contact improvisation, a dance form that has profoundly influenced his approach to bodywork. By incorporating elements of contact improvisation, Fran creates a dynamic and responsive therapeutic experience where movement and touch become a dialogue between bodies.
For Fran, Dance in water allows a unique exploration of buoyancy, resistance, and fluidity, offering a special medium for healing and connection. For Fran, bodywork in water is a powerful and profound form of medicine that he believes should be shared with as many people as possible.
Life Begins in Water: A Dance Journey from Cells to Human Form
Water is the cradle of life. The very first forms of life, simple cells, emerged in the primordial oceans. Our own existence as humans also begins in an aqueous environment, nestled in the amniotic fluid. The membrane of these cells, the earliest form of fascia, plays a crucial role in both dividing and uniting structures and elements within the body.
Life is a story of connection and movement. The intricate dance of life unfolds through a series of connections, from the microscopic to the macroscopic, from individual cells to the complex human form. In this workshop, we will delve into the world of movement in water, exploring its various forms such as spirals, expansions, contractions, and undulations.
We will investigate how fascia, the connective tissue that surrounds and penetrates every muscle, bone, nerve, and organ, facilitates movement and communication within the body. This exploration will take us from the cellular level, where the first hints of movement and connection appear, to the full expression of human motion.
We will start with an understanding of the fundamental principles of fascia and movement in water, and then transition into practical exercises. Participants will experience and dance firsthand how movements in water, inspired by natural patterns and rhythms, can enhance their understanding of their own bodies and the interconnectedness of all life.
IDO MARON (IL)
Ido is a longtime movement enthusiast, exploring movement via Capoeira, Tai-chi, classic dance, contemporary dance and even folk dancing. He has been performing in various kinds of dance-theater creations - from Operas to children’s fairy tales brought on stage, contemporary, commercial, and more.
Today he is mostly fascinated about the influence that emotional patterns have on movement patterns and vice versa.
Ido has been teaching contact improvisation since 2021, focusing on the different ways in which increasing a dancer’s physical awareness of their own body can generate a richer and a more comprehensive understanding of the connection between them and their partner/s.
CI Class : Am I Pushing You?
In this class we will explore two principal qualities in contact improvisation dance: Leaning and Pushing.
What kind of “feel” does each quality bring into my dance?
What does each quality enable me to do?
What quality do I like more?
And most interesting - can I always tell the difference between the two?
CI Class : Of Pleasure and Responsibility
In this class we will pay attention to our attention :)
Where do I put my attention while I’m dancing? At my partner/s? At myself?
If it is with my partner/s - where is it exactly? Their thoughts? Intentions? Wishes? bodies?
If it is with me - where is it? My intentions? My success? My body? My heart?
Each direction we aim our attention to, takes us to a different place, creates a different world.
We would like to put more light on the directions we already know, and perhaps find new ones.
TUO MAA (FIN)
TUO MAA is musician, multi-instrumentalist, resident DJ of Corfu Ecstatic Dance and sound engineer, soundgardian of Soundgarden.
He is originally from Finland. Traveling several years around the world, discovering different communities, cultures, traditions, experiencing sounds and vibrations, he is now settled down to Arillas, Corfu. Through travels and changes, music has been within all the waves of life, through flows of unknown.
Non verbal communication fashioned to discover more different ways to communicate. Improvisation in different ways, through music and movement, he found Ecstatic Dance, Contact Improvisation, Circus, Flow and Martial arts. He has been playing Live Ecstatic Dance sets, creating music for fire performances, Contact Impro jamming’s and hosting several Jamming’s. He trust in his music for the magic of improvisation, power of the moment and unknown, that it brings us to the right place when we surrender and trust.
TUO MAA mix different instruments and elements in his music. He sings, play guitar, clarinet, flutes, handpan and blend it together with live looping, drum machine and synth. He also use recordings from the nature to bring elements of the nature in to his sets. In Contact Improvisation jamming he tune in to the energy and vibration of the group and interact, improvising music through the feeling of the space and people, bringing waves and different qualities of the movement to the dancefloor.