HomeClasses and EventsClasses and WorkshopsWorkshopsImprovisation Strategies
  • Mon-Fri, Jan 8 - 12, 2024 | 3:30-6:00PM EST
Ishmael Houston Jones stands with weight shifted into one hip with his gaze looking downwards. In the background a maximalist design with purple pink yellow and blue design. Ishmael wears a long sleeve orange top and a light colored pair of shorts. There is a small pink plastic purse hanging from his neck. Photo of Robbie Sweeney.
ID: Ishmael Houston Jones stands with weight shifted into one hip with his gaze looking downwards. In the background a maximalist design with purple pink yellow and blue design. Ishmael wears a long sleeve orange top and a light colored pair of shorts. There is a small pink plastic purse hanging from his neck. Photo of Robbie Sweeney.

What is your first impulse? Can you trust it? What happens when the judge falls asleep? Can you know too much? This is a workshop about Dancing and Speaking and Improvisation and Composition.

In this workshop we will use several improvisation strategies to open a free flow of immediate, spontaneous writing, speaking and dancing. We will employ different approaches of partnering, releasing, scores, authentic movement and automatic writing to generate material. We will use the resultant dance and text to construct impromptu group pieces as well as a means toward broadening self-expression in solo work.

Accessibility Notes

  • This workshop includes auditive guidance.
  • This workshop includes printed materials.

To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, Ishmael Houston-Jones” at least three (3) weeks prior to the class start date.

For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “Ishmael Houston-Jones.”

Past workshop

Location

MR, 122CC – Ninth Street Studio
150 1st Avenue
New York, NY 10009

  • Get the Green - IRT Lexington Avenue Line numbers: 6 to Astor Place
  • Get the Light slate gray - BMT Canarsie Line numbers: L to 1st Avenue
  • Get the Orange - IND Sixth Avenue Line numbers: F to 2nd Avenue

Artists

Ishmael Houston-Jones

Ishmael Houston-Jones

Ishmael Houston-Jones is a choreographer, author, performer, teacher, and curator whose improvised dance and text work has been performed world-wide. In 1984 Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a New York Dance and Performance “Bessie Award” for their Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders.

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