BODY that CAN - study of attention and action - Residency with Ekaterina Basalaeva, Koh Phangan 2025

Towards CI53 Spring Program, part 1: 𝗕𝗢𝗗𝗬 𝘁𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝗖𝗔𝗡 study of attention and action In-depth research Residency with 𝗘𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗲𝘃𝗮 21 March - 8 April, 2025 Koh Phangan, Thailand The program consists of three parts, each lasting six days. In each part, three days will be dedicated to studying with Ekaterina, followed by three days of an open laboratory where participants can freely explore and research the proposed material within the same group. The third and final part will be open only to those who have attended one of the previous parts. However, if there are available slots, it may be possible for those who have studied with Ekaterina before. 𝗗𝗲𝘀𝗰𝗿𝗶𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 I am glad that contact improvisation can still be a living exploration. That we can continue to pose questions within this practice, propose and test different hypotheses, make discoveries - and thus develop both the practice and ourselves in it. What if we look not just at what has been and what is, but also glimpse what it could become? What else can contact improvisation be? I’m interested in exploring this direction: - Contact as coherence, wholeness, and consistency in the entire system engaged in action. - Improvisation as the ability to create and manage forms, flows of forces, space, and time. How do we reach that place of consciousness and body where forms arise? How do we become that source? From the infinite possibilities, what do I want to be manifested right now? What do I choose to embody, support, and sustain? Is there free will, or is everything predetermined? What is freedom? Is it chaos? Flow? Choice? Agency? And what to do with the accumulated baggage of patterns, ideas, and beliefs when they do not serve well our new tasks and challenges at hand? In the first part, we’ll devote ample time to fine-tuning the body/mind system in solo and in simple forms of contact (touch). How do we “glue” the mind to the body? What does it mean to be in one place… one time… one action? How do I create here/there, this/other, me/not me? How soon do I notice changes when one thing becomes another? How can I stay at the source, the very beginning of change, without missing the moment when unified action is possible-before everything splits apart? What form, place, strength, and stability of attention are suitable for this? We’ll begin to revisit our experience related to the concepts of weight, center, boundary, stillness, and movement in space. From there, the material will evolve from one part to the next towards more active movement and interaction. The exact shape of this process will depend on the group, on participants’ current interests, goals, and capabilities. I welcome everyone who is ready to dive into this experience. Not an experience of searching for themselves or for the dance, but an experience of creation of both. Changes may not come immediately, but we will plant seeds that can eventually sprout. 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗲𝗱𝘂𝗹𝗲: 21 March - 8 April Part one: 21, 22, 23 study with Ekaterina 16:00-21:00 24, 25, 26 open laboratory group research. 16:00-21:00 Part two: 27, 28, 29 study with Ekaterina 16:00-21:00 30, 31, 1 open laboratory group research. 16:00-21:00 Part three: 2, 3, 4 study with Ekaterina 16:00-21:00 5, 6, 7 open laboratory group research. 16:00-21:00 8 final meeting(optional) with Ekaterina. 16:00-21:00 The duration of the study session and open lab will be 5 hours. Exact timetable coming soon. 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲 This residency program is not open for complete beginners. Full commitment and punctual attendance are required for each session with Ekaterina. The open laboratory sessions are optional, and won't be facilitated by Ekaterina, yet she might be attending some of them. 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 18000THB - whole program, 20 places. 6000THB - single part, 10 places. 𝗡𝗼𝘁𝗲 The third and final part will be open only to those who have attended one of the previous parts. However, if there are available slots, it may be possible for those who have studied with Ekaterina before. 𝗥𝗲𝗴𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 https://forms.gle/HdJbk43hAXKk9yXYA 𝗦𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗹𝗮𝗿𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽 𝗽𝗿𝗼𝗴𝗿𝗮𝗺 https://forms.gle/d8fXWckGHfDgCEmg6 5 places available. (Priority will be given to those who have not previously received a towards scholarship). DEADLINE FOR BOTH APPLICATIONS 1st March 𝗩𝗲𝗻𝘂𝗲 Study sessions with Ekaterina and Open labs will take place in a studio located in the Chaloklum area. Upon registration, you will receive all the necessary information. 𝗘𝗸𝗮𝘁𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗮 𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗮𝗹𝗮𝗲𝘃𝗮 Contact Improvisation dancer, performer, teacher, researcher. She has 25 years of experience in CI, contemporary dance, physical theater and performance. Short biography: 1998-2006 she was one of the founders and participants of "Wampeter" dance theater. As part of the theater, she participated in dance festivals and creative laboratories in different countries (Russia, Ukraine, UK, USA, Sweden). Since 2001, she has been the organizer of the educational and creative project "Art of Contact" in Novosibirsk (master classes, lectures, creative projects). Since 2007 - organizer and participant of the performance project "System of Units" (performances, video art, joint multimedia projects). Since 2009, the organizer of the annual International Contact Improvisation Festival in Altai. She also, as a guest teacher, took part in many CI festivals in different countries (Georgia, Moldova, Russia, Ukraine, Israel, Thailand, Germany, Spain). "In recent years, in CI practice I like to balance on the edge of physics and metaphysics. Here my dancing experience meets with an interest in philosophy, somatic research and the practice of presence. I like to put not answers, but questions in the center of practice. Questions concerning basic things: what is matter, mind, movement, perception, attention, time, space, me, other… And I watch time after time how the search for answers to these questions changes the mind, body, dance". 𝗕𝗢𝗗𝗬 𝗧𝗛𝗔𝗧 𝗖𝗔𝗡 Residency is a part of spring program of Towards - An Open Institute of Embodied Arts and Transformative Learning - https://towards.contact If you have any questions - please write to: [email protected]