Archives 2013

photo Céline Babin Foundation for CI 4 ACI Sunday morning classes November 24 & December 8-15-22, 2013, 10-11:15am A look at our incredible capacity for physical adjustment to the movement of our environment. During this series of classes, we will have the opportunity to exercise our capacity to pay attention, in the present moment. We will cultivate tools to recognize and refine the constant dialogue that exists between our physical body and the forces passing through it. Our animal brain will be invited to overstep on our “social brain”. We will study how to study, we will research how to research, in order to be physically ready for improvisation, in contact with the ensemble of our partners (forces, objects, beings, space, sounds). We will practice to become permeable to the movement of weight, inside and outside of us. At the UQAM dance department, 840 Cherrier (Sherbrooke metro station), studio K-4110, 4th floor. Registration upon arrival ($45 for the series, $14 per class). More info here: ACI website. photo Véro Boncompagni Catherine Lessard transmits the key principles of dance improvisation, Contact Improvisation and Authentic Movement since 15 years, with the passion and the coherence of a visionary. She teaches and performs in Canada, Europe and the USA. Her unique pedagogy combines a scientific sharpness and profound sense of imagery/poetry, in a deep atmosphere of discovery. She has performed and studied with Nancy Stark-Smith, Zoe Avstreih, Daniel Lepkoff, Nita Little, among others. cette page en français

photo Céline Babin CI evolution! Contact Improvisation and developmental movement September 28 & 29, 2013 Saturday 10am-6pm (bring a lunch), Sunday 10am-1pm A journey through the different stages of the development of life, from floor to flight, from the deep ocean to the standing biped. An encounter with our inner animals and with the supports they offer to our natural structure and perception. Also an encounter with the various qualities of body & mind state these animals bring to our fundamental movement. This training is an intense and accelerated exploration of our cellular history, in order to bring more physical coherence into the game of weight transfers and kinesthetic communication. Open to all levels of movers. At the UQAM dance department, 840 Cherrier (Sherbrooke metro station), studio K-3220, 3rd floor. Cost : $100 - $80 if registration before September 10. How to register? See at the bottom of the page. cette page en français

Authentic Movement and Focusing August 19 to 23, 2013 with Catherine Lessard and Leyla Demir For the second year, this wonderful retreat offers us the possibility to investigate and connect with what deeply moves and manifests inside of ourselves.We will cultivate presence and awareness through two very powerful forms : Authentic Movement and Focusing. These 2 approaches will allow ourselves to listen with care to our body-mind needs and impulses. This event takes places in a beautiful and sacred natural environment. Costs: according to your capacity to pay $330 - $365 - $400 - room and board included in these prices!  (Suggested sliding scale: <$12 000/year = $330, $12 000 to 25 000/year = $365, >$25 000 = $400.) Early birds : $300 / $330 / $360 if registration before August 5! Presentation of Authentic Movement by Catherine: "Recently, I had the great opportunity to receive teachings from Zoe Avstreih, a pioneer in the Authentic Movement work. Fulfilled and inspired by this profound experience, I now want to suggest you to dive with me into the heart of this magnificent work, both simple and rich. Whether it is to feed the creative artist in you, or simply to access greater self-knowledge, I invite you to dare close your eyes for a moment, to enter into yourself, to welcome emptiness and to listen ... suddenly, something amazing happens, and it takes source in the silence and in the body. Zoe used to say “The answer is in the body!” This practice is rooted in the field of art therapy. It invites one to tap into the inner realms. And it frees us from our “I must ... I should ...”. With eyes closed, movers welcome internal sensations and impulses, allowing it to manifest into gestures and movements, giving expression to one’s subconscious creative process. Without judgement, a witness pays attention to both the mover and his/her internal experience. This unique form is an invitation for introspection, observation and contemplation of the whole, in details. This form is also an invitation to be patient and kind towards oneself, because it is with time and experience that one captures the essence and depth of this practice." — Catherine Lessard Presentation of Focusing by Leyla: "Focusing is a practice of presence and compassionate listening to the body as a means of connecting to its deeper experience and needs.  This refined skill brings increased self awareness and personal care.  In its use, one finds they are able to liberate themselves from physical ailments, emotional pain, anxieties, fears, and disruptive behaviours.  In some instances an individual may experience an instant healing or liberation of a symptom. This supportive practice can be combined with touch, intuitive drawing, movement, and neutral observation in combination with other somatic practices to contribute to greater physical, emotional, and spiritual well being." français

photo Maryline Charneau Intuitive Dialogues with the environment Contact Improvisation & Dance Improvisation Summer workshop with Catherine Lessard August 2-3-4, 2013 (Fri. 6-9PM, Sat. 10AM-5PM, Sun. 10AM-1PM) An improvisation method taking us beyond the desire to move in 'the proper way' or to be interesting at all costs. An opportunity to be connected with reality at every moment, in a body of awareness, availability, tone and release. An invitation to flow mentally and to physically embrace what we can't control. We will practice in solo, duet and group, in a spirit of collaborative support and discovery. As a starting point, we will listen to the small dance (from Steve Paxton) which is everywhere in our cells. We will also listen to it when our rhythm accelerates and our movements carry us despite ourselves. We'll listen to it again when our inside and outside spaces become one single thing. We'll still be listening to it when our consciousness of the environment will remain as our only work & survival tool. This training is well adapted for experienced dancers who desire to restore a seminal simplicity, richness and extasie of what really moves inside of us. It is also well adapted for non-dancers. At the UQAM dance department, 840 Cherrier (Sherbrooke station), studio K-3220, 3rd floor. Cost: $110 - $90 if registration before July 15. How to register? See at the bottom of the page. français

photo: Fabrice Beauvois Sourisdom Questions into form: a dance improvisation presentation Friday July 12, 2013, at 8 PM, with Daniel Lepkoff, Sakura Shimada and the participants in the workshop MOVING THE ENVIRONMENT (July 7-12 - info here). Studio k-1150 of the UQAM Dance department, 840 Cherrier st. in Montréal. Don't miss this! The participants will present a work in progress of the material explored during the week. Also, Daniel and Sakura will offer a duet. No entrance fee. You can make a donation ($0 to $20 suggested). Come see us! français

photo par Andre Andreev AndreinLA@gmail.com Moving the environment: questions into form with Daniel Lepkoff and Sakura Shimada July 7 to 12, 2013 arrival: Sunday Noon, end: Friday 4PM This workshop presents practical tools for researching how we physically interact with the environment and cultivates our ability to question again our root understandings of ordinary movement and what our physical sensations tell us. This ability is a basis for furthering our development as movers and dance makers. Using physical sensation together with anatomical information we explore the details of how gravity and visual information flow through the muscular, skeletal, organ, and nervous system structures inside of our body. The visible boundaries of our body are transparent to the force of gravity. Gravity does not know the difference between what is us and what is our environment. We move ourselves by extending our architecture into the environment. The environment answers. We move it and it moves us. Exercises are designed to help us embody this duality. This material is based in the legacy of information from Anatomical Releasing Technique, 40 years of dancing Contact Improvisation, explorations in contemporary dance and the personal movement research and performance practice of Daniel and Sakura . The movement of attention. Inside primary patterns: rolling, walking, crawling, running, and jumping. Space is a part of our body. Stillness organizing to move. What is an image?, What is being an image. How do we relate to physical objects. Seeing and being seen. How do we prepare for dancing? What is dance? What is the culture?! Costs : - Pedagogy: $200 - $170 if registration before June 25 - Room and board for 5 1/2 days (lunches and dinners): $200 This workshop will be followed by a presentation in Montreal on Friday July 12, at 8 PM, at the UQAM Dance department (studio k-1150). Details about the presentation here. How to register? See at the bottom of this page. Bios: Daniel Lepkoff played a central role in the development of Release Technique with John Rolland and Mary Fulkerson, and Contact Improvisation with Steve Paxton beginning in the early '70's. Through workshops, collaborations, performance projects, and personal movement research, Daniel has continued to expand and deepen this function approach to movement research. As a performer he is known for composing dances that arises from the process of living movement; as a teacher for his imagination and continual invention of original techniques, making direct contact with information and pursuing his own research and questions together with students. His work looks at movement from life, a vision of living in an ongoing magical and spontaneous physical dialogue with the environment. His approach explores the form and composition of these interactions. He is one of the founders of Movement Research in NYC. Sakura Shimada is from Japan. In Japan, she studied Modern Dance, Ballet, Jazz, and  Japanese Fusion dance. She moved to New York City in 1997 and studied at the Martha Graham Contemporary Dance school, Dance Space Center, Movement Research and presented her own works. She was an Artist Residency at Movement Research in 2008. She met Daniel Lepkoff in 2001; since then she has been studying and working with Daniel and has traveled internationally. Currently she lives in Vermont and teaches an improvisation practice class which is strongly focused on body information and observation of body mind connection with movement. Her class is influenced by experiential anatomy, Body Mind Centering, Aikido, and the experience of country life. She is a certified teacher of DanceAbility, completing the training with Alito Alessi in Bogota one year ago. She current teaches a weekly DanceAbilty class in Florence, Massachusetts. français

photo by Céline Babin Body Poem (Corps Poème) Solo and group performance Sunday June 23, 4 to 5 PM A way to celebrate our entry into the Summer! A dance improvisation presentation, at the end of a one week artist residency, with Catherine Lessard, Gabriel Forestieri, Sébastien Provencher, Nicoletta Dolce, Marijoe Foucher & Co... Followed by an encounter with the artists: a moment of sharing for your questions and comments, 5 to 5:45PM. This presentation is the recital of a work-in-progress based on a deep process of observation and improvisation. It also is a meeting of several artistic universes, where each performer nourishes the space with its own wealth of experience. We hope you can come! We need your witnessing! At UQAM dance department, 840 Cherrier (Sherbrooke metro station), studio K-1150, high ground floor. Admission: donation according to you capacity (suggested $5 to $20). Nobody will be refused for being unable to pay. To read the article on the improvisation process (in french only). To reserve a place in the audience: please call 514.518.6240 (leave a message if answering machine). This will allow us to foresee the amount of chairs necessary. Thank you! français

Dancing with the Divine with Solomon Kruger, Leyla Demir and Catherine Lessard May 31 to June 2, 2013 (arrival: Friday between Noon and 5 PM, end: Sunday 6 PM) Information : info@flowmontreal.org, 514.969.5209. Rates : $225 (tent) - $275 (dormitory of 4) - $325 (room of 2), + $25 after May 1. Registrations happening now! To get there : Map A message from Leyla: "Hello Flow friends! The glorious warm sunshine of these past days is a good reminder of the beautiful times to come for the Flow nature retreat!  The calm clear lake and peacefulness of the private land in nature awaits us! We are so very fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate and offer you this magnificent weekend.  DJ Neerav and DJ Eoka (LP) have some amazing music lined up for both an indoor Flow at the chapel in Chertsey as well as an outdoor tribal dance under the star-filled sky, amidst a flaming fire, and the great outdoors holding the space as our witness.  Personally, I have been longing for this retreat since Flow began. Together we will feel our roots through the earth and our hearts soar to the sky as we open to our tribal connection in these shared experiences.  Mmmmm...what a gift!  We will also have live improvised music offered by Nicolas Maranda (lead musician and musical director for the last Flow) while we explore in movement with our environment--discovering and playing with our setting and allowing it to influence and contribute to our improvisational dance.  Then, through the influence of Authentic Movement, we will offer an opportunity for deep inner journeying and communion with nature as we open to our inner witness and the witness of others while attuning ourselves to the vibrations of the land, water, air, and inner fire!  What a journey! Blessings abound!" français

photo Véro Boncompagni Commitment ACI Contact improvisation classes Sundays May 5-12-19-26, 2013, 10-11:15 AM (followed by a jam) Be present at every moment, embrace shapes and forms with all your cells, become a channel for the forces passing through you, receive others with mental and physical flexibility, in a dance of nearly perpetual motion. At the UQAM dance department, 840 Cherrier (Sherbrooke metro station), studio K-4110, 4th floor. Cost : $45/4 classes, $35/3 classes, 14$/class (payable upon arrival).