This Indian Contemporary Dance workshop invites participants into a movement practice rooted in South Asian classical forms while engaging contemporary improvisation, task-based exploration, and embodied inquiry. Drawing from Bharatanatyam and Kathak, the class explores how codified gesture, rhythm, and spatial design can be deconstructed, expanded, and reimagined within a contemporary context.
Participants will work with concepts of lineage, hybridity, and authorship, examining how inherited movement vocabularies live in the body today and how they can be activated as tools for personal expression rather than fixed traditions. Through guided improvisation, structured phrases, rhythmic play, and somatic awareness, the workshop emphasizes sensation, musicality, and intention over replication of form.
The class centers accessibility and adaptability, welcoming dancers of varied backgrounds and training. Emphasis is placed on listening, internal rhythm, and choice-making, allowing each participant to engage the material through their own embodied history. Time will also be devoted to reflection and dialogue, creating space to unpack questions of cultural context, belonging, and contemporary practice within South Asian dance.
This workshop is designed for artists interested in exploring Indian dance beyond classical or performative frames, and for those curious about how tradition can function as a living, evolving source for contemporary movement-making.
What to expect:
Participants should expect to move, think, and reflect together through guided improvisation, structured movement prompts, short phrase explorations, and group dialogue. Please wear comfortable clothes you can move in. Pants that cover the knees are encouraged, as there will be floorwork, and be prepared to work barefoot or in socks. Bring a notebook and pen if you enjoy writing or sketching as part of your movement research. The lab draws from Kathak, Bharatanatyam, and contemporary dance lineages, and is best suited for artists with some prior movement experience who are curious, open, and ready to experiment rather than learn set choreography.
For workshop-related questions, please email coordinatoraocc@movementresearch.org.
Accessibility Notes
- This workshop includes auditive guidance.
- This workshop includes printed materials and digital readings.
To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, AoCC Pilot Workshop” at least three (3) prior to the class date you plan to attend.
For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “AoCC Pilot Workshop.”
Register for this workshop
In-Person
This is a FREE workshop, a suggested $5 donation is encouraged and appreciated!
Please ONLY register if you plan to attend. Each person wishing to attend must register individually.
Once registrations have reached capacity, a waitlist will become available. Entry from the waitlist will be according to the date and time each name was added.
