This 8 evening workshop to 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.
Students must commit to all 8 classes.
What to expect:
Students can expect to deepen into their interior kinesthetic senses with specific practices enhancing the spine as a fluid center; engage with physics through playing with balance through partnering using touch, momentum and evolutionary patterns; explore how language leads to perceptual play and composing with the ensemble of the class; be ready for the unexpected; among other improvisational foci.
Accessibility Notes
- This workshop includes auditive guidance.
- This workshop includes printed materials.
- This workshop includes readings.
To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, “K.J. Holmes workshop” at least three (3) weeks prior to the class start date.
For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “K.J. Holmes workshop.”
