Boulder - ReWilding Contact Improvisation w Nita & Ezra

ReWilding Contact Improvisation Relational Intelligence & ReWinding the Body With Nita Little & Ezra LeBank Boulder, CO Boulder Circus Center October 19-22, 2023 Thursday 1 - 9pm (break: 5:30-7:30pm) Friday 10am - 9pm (breaks: 1:30-3pm & 5-7pm) Saturday 1 - 9pm (break: 5-7pm) Sunday 2 - 5pm Registration: https://forms.gle/UrGLu6SJQAM17sa87 Early Bird By September 1st Description When bodies meet, intelligence is found in the quality of touch, the organization of physical forms, the ability to share the physics of motion, timing, and the giving and receiving of weight – but it is also, and particularly, in our ability to communicate. In this workshop we will study tonal states in order to enhance a dancer’s ability to inform one another through embodiments that are both winding and unwinding. From the foundation of our DNA, we will investigate the spiraling nature of our limbs and center to locate ourselves as human animals in a state of wildness that can safely and cooperatively navigate unfamiliar terrain on the ground and in flight. This distinctly physical work will dis- and re-orient as move toward communion with one another. Speaking in the language of presence, we will learn to cast physical attention into and through different spaces of being and within one another’s flesh. Working in duets and ensembles, our CI includes modes for building tactile attentional networks enabling these skills to appear in ensemble forms. We will emphasize communication within actions of touch, kinesthetic logic, and embodied attention. Diving into the metaphors that arise when we move well together we can extract personal wisdom from our time dancing. Expect training in specific skills, movement meditation, and trance practices to enhance learning, research scores, personal feedback, and ensemble performances. Who Is This For This work is for dancers whose Contact Improvisation practice is beyond the beginning levels - those familiar with inversions, weight exchange, and changing states. Space is strictly limited to 30 students. Prompt registration is encouraged as the intensives are expected to fill quickly. Prices and registration details on the registration form. Biographies Nita Little (US) is an activist for relational intelligence through improvisational dance practices that began with the emergence and development of Contact Improvisation (CI). A dancer, teacher, choreographer, and dance theorist, her work with Steve Paxton was generative of CI in 1972. Little received her PhD in Performance Studies in 2014. She tours worldwide on a regular basis working for dance companies, at festivals, conferences and universities teaching, lecturing, and choreographing. Her writing investigates ecological actions of attention and the creative potentials present in entangled relations. She initiated the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication (the ISSC) in 2016 with dance research ensembles (which all share CI in common) participating from around the globe. www.nitalittle.com Ezra LeBank (US) is a Professor of Movement at California State University Long Beach. Meditation, Aikido, and acrobatics work their way into his curiosity of CI. His approach is inspired by many wonderful teachers including Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Ishmael Houston Jones, Martin Keogh, and Nita Little. He has been invited as a teacher at International Contact Festival Freiburg, West Coast Contact Improv Jam, Seattle Festival for Dance Improvisation, Poland Contact Festival, and this summer will teach at CI@50 in Oberlin, Ohio. His research asks the question if we can fly and fall without noticing much. www.badgoatdance.com *Cover Image Drawing: Giulia Ravarotto Find info for Nita & Ezra's San Diego Intensive Sept 16-17 here: https://www.facebook.com/events/1002776151146411