This workshop invites participants to slow down. We will decompose our expectations of dance while riding the waves of spontaneous movement creation. Slowness encourages new understandings of cellular connection. Slowness invites sustained momentum, breath and virtuosity. What starts as a seed can grow with deliberate attention and care.
Can we be more vulnerable together at a slower pace? Can we calm our nervous systems and navigate harsh political and social realities by centering slowness? Can we ride the waves of collective awareness with the more-than-humans who live in ocean time? What dances can the ocean teach us? How do we revolutionize, decolonize, decompose and transgress traditional approaches to dance and somatics through s l o w n e s s?
Through solo and collective movement practice the invitation is to work with:
gravity’s desire…slow down long enough to be seduced by falling
buoyancy’s promise…slow down long enough to find momentum through suspension
viscosity’s magic…slow down long enough to touch sensation, feel friction, and discover more nuanced movement
There will be a focus on dancing in relation to one another and our environment as we play with direct touch, energetic touch, proximity, distance, and a decolonized, decomposed approach to Contact Improvisation. Embrace the swell, ride the wave and let’s stay afloat together! Access needs, REST, tools for consent, BIPOC solidarity, queer & trans solidarity and transgression as liberation will be centered! There will be at least one optional field trip to the ocean.
What to expect:
Participants can expect an exploratory approach to vocal work and improvised dance. There will be some writing and optional readings. If the class agrees we will visit the ocean as an optional field trip to deepen this practice.
Accessibility Notes
- This workshop includes printed materials.
- This workshop includes auditive guidance.
To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, MELT mayfield brooks” at least three (3) weeks prior to the first date of the workshop.
For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “MELT mayfield brooks.”
