The Phoneme Choir: Language as a Somatic Practice As part of her residency, Daria Faïn, 2008 MR AIR, and her collaborator architect/poet Robert Kocik, present a workshop and performance based on The Prosodic Body, their exploration of language as a somatic practice (the manifestation of language in the body). Together we will manifest language by moving as if our entire bodies are larynxes and we will orchestrate together a somatic voicing of all the phonemes, using permutations such as exhaustion, resorption, forced, unforced, vocalic, consonantal, unstruck, and more. Faïn and Kocik believe the Phoneme Choir will contribute to the expansion of our understanding of language in the body with a deep movement exploration. Workshop participants will form the performing group, the Phoneme Choir, and bring the research and discoveries, facilitated and guided by Faïn and Kocik, to various performance venues. The workshop culminates in a performance on May 4, 2009 at Movement Research at the Judson Church. Do not miss this rare opportunity to perform with these groundbreaking artists. You can start in January, February, March, or April. All participants must commit to the final weekend workshop (May 2 and 3), the performance (May 4), and a minimum of 1 additional full weekend. Call Movement Research at (212) 598-0551 x261 for further details.

Stephen Petronio is committed to the articulation of a movement language that stretches physical possibilities and reflects the energy, speed and adrenaline that is our modern-day legacy. Petronio’s language involves the transfer of energy easily throughout the body, the holding of multiple movement focuses in the body at one time, and the initiation of the two opposite ends of the spine – the tail and the head – in carving through space. Petronio’s workshop will begin with a warm-up and examination of the principles of his unique movement vocabulary. The second part of the class will explore phrases of movement derived from Petronio’s choreography.

This workshop with Katie Duck introduces dancers, performers and musicians to the research that she has been evolving within her practice since 1976 when she moved to Europe. Her recent research references are Alexander Techniqueâ„¢, brain studies, and popular culture. The content is geared toward artists who are interested in amplifying live time in a performance setting using collaboration, collectivity, and interdisciplinary as tools. Warm-up and exercises emphasize how the eyes and the ears work in coordination with movement, sound, and exposure to gathered crowds altering our perception of time, space and emotions. Improvisation sessions revolve around the terms pause, flow, exit, and presence as mental choices, with discussions articulating play, memory, intuition, and feelings.

Real Feedback Real Feedback provides a supportive, yet rigorous environment for groups of choreographers to get together, show work and get substantive feedback. Our goal is to use language as a vital tool to get at the essential nature of what we see – elevating our dances and the choreographic process. Expect dynamic feedback that identifies the driving principles of your work and learn how we derive meaning from them. By sharpening your critical skills in Real Feedback, fall into deeper conversation with the choreographic form and use your freshened awareness to help you create dances that truly match your vision. Real Feedback sessions will culminate in Open Performance showings on May 6 and May 26.

a behaviors game how we feel is what we think. we are both master and pupil we are the form shadow and light our hands shape system-less systems we don’t know and we do i have been thinking about us i have found you a lovely friend

Foundations of Improvisation: Researching Movement, Mind, & Flow of Information
This work addresses our underlying physical dialogue with the environment. This work provides tools for researching your own movement choices and understanding dancing as a language of relationship. Specific explorations offer ways to re-focus and play with the details of our sensory experience, perception, and action. We work with gravity, touch, vision, rhythm, and sequence. Material developed through both weeks will be presented at the Movement Research at the Judson Church series on May 18th. Our focus will be to use live performance as a vehicle for sharing information.

Body of Sound
Join a weekend focused on Voice-Movement principles and practices. How do breath, sound, melody, and story guide and generate movement, refuel sound? We warm up to vibration, liven to impulse, sample vowelconsonant explorations, tap into rhythms, stir the soundbody and its yearnings. We partner through the lens of immune support with its thread of intention upon the ground of fluid action. We unfold voice-movement vignettes, gateways to personal balance and performance reach.