Improvisation Series - Presence of Mind in Motion

Improvisation: the Presence of Mind in Motion with Helen Walkley Three class series: Feb 25 from 1-4PM Mar 4 from 1-4PM Mar 11 from 1-4PM A warm-up process will connect and mobilize our whole bodies developmentally from the ground into the air. Improvisational structures will follow to develop dynamic range and spatial relationships. We will create maps in space in relation to the forms in our bodies, each other and our location in the stage space. The expressive nature of space will blossom. We will mine our dynamic range, how and where it is sourced from within and outside ourselves. In turn, we will play with phrasing, how our movement “sentences” inform each other and communicate to a public. An attention to breath will cultivate the presence of our minds in motion. This workshop is intended for anyone who loves to move and is curious about the nature of improvisational dance, the possibility to create and relate movement in the moment. Registration: $135 early bird due Feb 11, $150 up to the event date. To register for the event please paypal or etransfer the registration fee to [email protected] and include your full name, email adress and the name of the event you are registering for in the notes. Bio Helen Walkley is an independent performer, choreographer, improviser and teacher based in Vancouver, BC. She has also lived and worked extensively in the Netherlands, Germany and the United States. Her work has been funded by the Canada Council, the BC Arts Council, the Canadian Embassy in Bonn and the Seattle and King County Arts Commissions. She has performed at the New York Improvisation Festival and Dance Theater Workshop/NY, the American Dance Festival, On the Boards/Seattle, Danceworks/Toronto, the Edge Festival and the Dance Centre/Vancouver, Tangente/Montreal, La Rotonde/Quebec City, New Dance Horizons/Regina, Dancers Studio West/Calgary, Danslab/Amsterdam and the Tanzfabrik/Berlin. Helen is also a certified Laban Movement Analyst and somatic movement educator and holds an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies from Simon Fraser University. She has taught at Simon Fraser University, the University of Calgary, Virginia CommonWealth University and the Laban Institute for Movement Studies/NY. She was on faculty at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam from 1991 - 94. From 1995 -2000 she was a core faculty member of the Main Dance Bridging Program in Vancouver. In 2002/03 she was an inaugural Artist in Residence at the Dance Centre in Vancouver and 03/04 she was an Artist in Residence at the Shadbolt Centre for the Arts in Burnaby. She completed and performed a larger solo work, How is Sleep Beautiful? as Artist in Residence at the Dance Centre in October 2010. The Zagreb Dance Centre (Zagrebački Plesni Centar) commissioned Helen to mount a work which premièred in the Zagreb Dance Festival in May 2011. Currently Helen is creating a work together with composer James Maxwell, actor Alex Ferguson, harpist Joy Yeh and dancers Olivia Shaffer and Josh Martin. http://www.helenwalkley.com/