CONTACT @ the DOJO
Contact Improvisation (CI) class & jam
Mixed level. Open to beginner & experienced dancers
3:00 pm Class. 4:30-6 pm Jam
CLASS:
2/15 Niege Christenson
3/1 Patrick Crowley
3/15 Lani Nahele
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Feb 15: Creaturely Curiosity! w/ Neige Christenson
We will focus on waking up receptivity in our legs and explore how they can be as useful as our arms in tracking and connecting with our partner. This often leads to duets that are refreshingly whimsical and surprising. What wonderful things can this marvelous eight-legged creature do?!
Neige Christenson, MA has enjoyed over 40 years of exploring, teaching and performing Contact Improvisation, supported and enriched by the practice of Authentic Movement. She holds an MA in Expressive Arts Therapy from Lesley University, and is a graduate of the National Theater Institute and Smith College. She offers workshops and private coaching in Contact Improvisation; for many years she supported the CI dance events in Boston and the CI programming at Earthdance, and has recently moved to Montague, MA. Central to her approach to teaching is an appreciation for the way a Contact Improvisation duet can be a metaphor for human relationship, yet also be an abstract expression of life-force energy. Her teaching encourages opening the improvisational mind and body to full presence and connection with self and other. Performance and dance portraits can be found here: Her writings on the improvised life and our relationship to this earth have appeared in Contact Quarterly; The Sun magazine; Fire in the Womb: Mothers and Creativity; and Hope Beneath Our Feet: Restoring our Place in the Natural World.
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Patrick Crowley teaches once a month, and then once a month, he curates other teachers who hold and convey Contact Improvisation with a comprehensive depth. Contact @ the Dojo began in Oct 2021, meeting 2 Sundays a month.
Dojo comes from “Do-”, a variation of Tao/Dao (the way) and “jo” (immersive learning space).
CLASS
A broad range of Contact Improvisation will be explored — states, skills, scores/Underscore, artistic practice, life learnings.
Dancers play with movement pathways in contact with a partner — in relationship with gravity, momentum, inertia of motion, and friction. We work with ease and natural tone in our tissues and neurology. We explore rolling, falling, and flying in CI with the freedom of mats as our floor.
The slow and subtle brings us to the big and enthusiastic, and vice versa. Centering, perception, integrated body, solo/follow/lead/3rd entity, reflexes, experiments, readiness, rigor, heart, awareness, and enlivening will all be in the mix.
JAM
The jam will be open space to play and practice — with some music and possible structure/warm-up.
For those experienced and new to CI, honoring different abilities.
Please read Health safety agreements (www.patrickcrowley.net/health-safety).
Emphasis will be given to those coming to both class & jam. Please arrive a little early.
WHAT is Contact Improvisation?
https://patrickcrowley.net/whatiscontactimprovisation
WHERE: Aikido Dojo, 30 N Maple St, #14, Florence, MA 01062
(Park in parking lot to right of building. Come in entrance in parking lot. Go in and upstairs to the right.)
REGISTRATION & PAYMENT
https://patrickcrowleybodyworkdanceyogasomatics.as.me/events
or text 617-320-9792
Class & Jam (3:00–6:00 pm): $35–$30–$25
Just Class (3:00) or just Jam (4:30): $25–$20–$15
(sliding scale: abundant–regular–low)
If unemployed, student, or wanting to do work/exchange, please contact Patrick.
INFO & QUESTIONS: (617) 320-9792 (text/phone)
Patrick Crowley has been engaged with Contact Improvisation and dance improvisation since 1983. He has taught at numerous dance centers, festivals, and universities both nationally and internationally, including Yale University, Boston University, Argentina Contact Festival, Freiburg Festival, Earthdance, among others. He is a coordinator of the Global Underscore. He worked with Nancy Stark Smith closely until her death in 2020, and studied or performed with many prominent teachers in CI including: Andrew Harwood, Kirstie Simson, K.J. Holmes, Daniel Lepkoff, Nina Little, Alan Ptashek, and others. Patrick has a background in modern and contemporary dance, Body-Mind Centering®, bodywork, yoga, theatre (Playback Theatre, Action Theater), contemplative practices, expressive arts, and martial arts. He has performed with various dance and theatre companies, including the Underscore +/- Group, Zany Angels, Six and 1/2 Project, and Boston's Access to Theater. He was certified in bodywork by Sensei Toshiko Phipps and Nationally Certified in 1993 and also teaches Playback Theatre, Yoga, and somatics.
https://patrickcrowley.net/contact-dojo
Also check out other Workshops in Florence, Arts events in Florence, Health & Wellness events in Florence.
