About this workshop
This weekend of Contact Improvisation will introduce the principles for beginners but also be a great chance for those with more experience to deepen their understanding and skills.
Contact Improvisation is a dance-movement practice that deals with the creative and poetic possibilities and limits of moving in physical touch and close proximity without a plan.
Most partner forms of dance emphasise modules of movement and a particular “feel”. In Contact Improvisation the emphasis is rather on understanding the principles of shared movement so that we can simply meet and create dances from there.
Contact Improvisation dances can be slow, fast, gentle, tender, athletic, boisterous and humorous. They are created through the meeting of two people in physical contact with no fixed intention beyond creating a dance together, and with no fixed leadership role.
Because Contact Improvisation approaches movement in an organic and natural way no-one really arrives as a beginner. We all have movement possibilities and we all understand to some extent, momentum, support, how to bear weight, how to move with and alongside someone else, how to travel up and down alone or together, how to deal with and enjoy gravity, how to adapt to the decisions and movements of a partner and how to understand and appreciate ones own decisions and intuitions as well as those of other people. Contact Improvisation is founded on this natural understanding and it refines and deepens it, opening up the opportunity for a rich expression of the human improvisatory, poetic, sensibility in interactive movement.
This course is open to anyone 16 years and up. Whatever your age, physical ability and experience, if you have a genuine desire to learn and to enjoy moving with other people, your presence will enrich the workshop. If you have any questions and would like to have a chat to check whether you feel it would be something for you, please don’t hesitate to contact us.
Artist-Teachers
The course will be taught by Steve Batts and Antonina Sheina of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company.
Antonina Sheina has been dancing and performing Contact Improvisation and related movement forms for around ten years. She was trained in classical Russian theatre and was an ensemble member of the repertory company at the Malaya Bronna Theatre in Moscow from 2007 – 2011. Since 2011 she has been an ensemble member of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company.
Steve Batts is Artistic Director of Echo Echo Dance Theatre Company. He has more than thirty years experience of dancing and teaching Contact Improvisation. He regularly travels internationally to teach and to perform. His main interest lies in the dynamic creativity that emerges when the, naturally compositional, improvisatory intuition is supported by disciplined attention.
You can hear Steve talk about Contact here .
Booking information
Everyone welcome including beginners, however this will still be interesting for professional dancers and people with more dance/movement/theatre experience.
Please wear comfortable loose clothing.
Numbers are limited so advance booking is recommended. Contact us by email / phone / social media.
If you wish to take part in this workshop but find the cost prohibitive or have another question, please do contact us.
Event details
- Weekend Workshop: Saturday 28th May and Sunday 29th May from 12noon - 6pm each day
- Contact Jam: Saturday 28th May 6.30pm - 8pm
Cost: £40/weekend or £25/day including Contact Jam | Contact Jam only - £3
Thanks to Eugene Titov for images.
