In the Mouth of Gravity We Grow Feathers

A Contact Improvisation Dance Workshop with Allesandro Rivellino What if gravity were not just a force but a dance partner? What if the ground beneath us wasn’t just a surface but an invitation? We will explore the space between sky and earth, where our bodies become the pathway, where mass transforms into weight, and where movement emerges from the subtle play of grounding, balance, and direction. But improvisation shall includes a deep listening. We’ll refine our ability to tune in, not just to our own bodies but to the invisible currents around us. Can we sense what another is hearing? Can we inhabit a shared field of presence, where attention sharpens and movement becomes a present ongoing surprise? Through guided explorations, we’ll step into the realm of research, invention, and imagination—where stillness and motion reveal their natural rhythm. As we move, spirals may appear, vectors may shift, and the body, given space to explore, may surprise itself. Becoming soft but ready, to listen, to move, and to discover what emerges when we surrender to the practice in ways that the whole of a body can teaches us. ALESSANDRO RIVELLINO (Brasil) I have been living dance and contact improvisation in a surrendered way as a dancer for 21 years and as a teacher for 16. Had the opportunity to travel more than 33 countries, offering and having classes, intensive courses, workshops, residencies and Jams with different and experienced colleagues, which probably gave me a good “floor” to start with ‘not knowing with certain quality'... I have studied a little bit of: BMC, Feldenkrais, Alexander Technique, Antigimnastics, Muscular Chains GDS, Craneosacral Osteopathy, Modern Dance, Contemporary Dance, Anthropology, Philosophy, Choreography, Performance Studies, Sitespecific, Butoh, Authentic Movement, Zen Buddhism, Ancient Technologies of the Sacred; and a lot of Contact Improvisation. I am passioned by the Contact Improvisation practice and I am engaged in organising retreats for it to receive its depth, with different containers, either in silence or within a somatic approach, bodywork research or getting inspiration with nature, the biggest pleasure is to offer space and time to the practice in itself. I come from different dance schools at the somatic level and movement research, I have the luck of having a masters degree and different awards and nominations as a dancer and choreographer. Today I see that I have danced and taught for big part of my whole life and yet I feel that I have just started. In my practice I have been integrating various techniques and bringing the potential of dance to life. If I ask myself between my name and my body, the second one is the dearest, and if you ask about my deepest interest in dancing and teaching the answer would be around living questions related to dance itself, to the presence and to the Big Mystery. I hope through this illusion of you and I being separated, we can drop it, and go beyond our hanging names to explore the in-between field of existence to dance and be danced with and through the visible and invisible forces entangled at each single moment and find the way to be at the arch of beauty. TIMES Saturday 10am to 6pm Sunday 10am to 5pm LOCATION Readymade Studios, 1/247-257 Bulwara Rd, Ultimo NSW 2007 COST $200 $150 supported $250supporting REGISTRATION For further information please contact Eamonn O'Flaherty via Messenger or at [email protected]. ----- USEFUL LINKS The local Contact Improvisation Dance group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/3993588900725636 Sydney events page: https://eamonn-o-flaherty.github.io/Sydney-Contact-Improv-Dance-Community/