Little dance, Big dance. Feldenkrais, contact and improvisation

This workshop is an opportunity to use the somatic approach of the Feldenkrais Method as a way into CI. We first create a quiet space where we can listen to our own body and question how we organize movement in order to experiment with new functional alternatives. We will use specific movement patterns from Feldenkrais to underpin Contact Improvisation principals, practicing exercises that range from the simple and structural to the more complex and acrobatic. In the afternoons Duet dancing will expand into group improvisation with compositional awareness. Together we will create a space where trust and humor support vigorous dancing, practicing, processing, jamming, watching, body working, resting and discussion. The dance studio is open to the landscape and sits up on a hill. There is a breeze allowing for dance in the mornings and evenings and there is time for the beach in the middle of the day. The beautiful Ostuni is the closest town. Delicious food typical of the Apulian region. Accommodation is in traditional stone houses surrounded by olive trees, aromatic plants and red soil. Price: €360 before May 15, €390 after - price includes workshop, accommodation and meals Closest airport: Bari or Brindisi. Biography Simonetta Simonetta is Italian dance artist based in London. She teaches at Trinity Laban, and Goldsmiths University and London Contemporary Dance School. Her work is informed by more than 30 years of dancing, teaching and choreographing. Her choreography has been for dance companies, student pieces, large scale opera, improvised performance, site specific and movement direction for theatre. She taught for more than 20 years in Italy and kept Contact Improvisation alive in Roma for 10 years with her classes and jams. She has been a guest teacher in Germany, Colombia, UK, Norway, Israel, France, Switzerland, Italy, Spain and Taiwan. She obtained the Post Graduated Diploma in Choreography at London Contemporary Dance School, she is qualified teacher of the Feldenkrais Method and she holds the Teacher Certificate of the Royal Academy of Dance. Biography Rick After completing a degree in Biology, Rick Nodine went on to study Contact Improvisation with the pioneers of the form. He began a performing career in the early 90's, and has appeared in many dance contexts including theatre, dance theatre, digital media, television, mixed ability, site specific and pure dance. In 2001 Rick became a member of staff at London Contemporary Dance School where he teaches Composition and Improvisation. For the past 15 years he has collaborated with many dancers, actors and musicians to create improvised performance (Jovair Longo, Kate Brown, Gaby Agis, Lalitaraja, ESP, 5 men dancing, Jamie McCarthy and Neat Timothy). Since 1997 Rick has created is own work and his most recent program of choreography and improvisation will premier in the Spring Loaded festival in April 2010. MORE INFO ; Germana and Franco Phone: + 39. 348 66 44 073; + 39.348 8629254 E-mail: [email protected] www.casinasettarte.org