Come for 6 whole days of Contact Improv Intensive with Katarina Eriksson. Arriving Saturday, Aug 22 for orientation, dinner, evening jam with live music, sauna. First class is Sunday 10am. This intensive ends after breakfast on Saturday, Aug29. $525($450US) includes all meals, camping, dormitory and transportation on Lasqueti.
Accidental Excellence
Or The Joy of Stumbling into Contact
This class is inspired by a verbal misunderstanding. In a CI event that I was recently part of, an on-looker made a comment that I heard as “accident dances”, when he really said “excellent dances”.
I have noticed that, what can be perceived as mishaps in a dance often become an opening to deeper listening and awareness of the particularities of the dance I’m having right now. So, in this class we will cultivate our capacity of being “accident-prone” – to stop trying to get it right and instead becoming more and more curious about where the principles of contact improvisation can take us moment by moment.
We will study Falling (How does my body fall safely? Where is the edge of my comfort zone? What kinds of falls make me laugh?)
Rolling point/Sliding point/ In and out of contact (How can these concepts support my dance towards surprise and discovery? Can I shift from making it happen to watching it happen? Can I find joy in the moments of difficulty? )
Weight exchange (How do I respect my own and my partner’s limitations without letting “politeness” dull the dance? What are all the micro-grades on my scale for giving and receiving weight?)
It was when I found out I could make mistakes that I knew I was on to something. ~Ornette Coleman
Katarina Eriksson has been involved with improvisational dance since 1989, collaborating with artists such as Karen Nelson, Ray Chung and Cathie Caraker. She teaches CI and other improvisational forms in Europe and the US. Katarina’s traditional dance background includes The Gothenburg State Theater and Opera. She curates the performance series Moments Notice in Berkeley since 2000. Recent performance endeavors are; touring in Sweden and Germany with Hoppalappa Postfolki Tanziteatteri, performing and co-creating in Krista DeNio’s veteran/civilian Contact Project at CounterPULSE, and making clown debut at The Arc, San Francisco.
To register go to ‘Contact us’ on the right side of the screen and send an email. Please put Aug22-29 in the subject line.
