March CI workshop series with Shifu Ash and Catrin Kaitaro HELSINKI

MARCH 2024: Contact Improvisation workshops in Helsinki with Shifu Ash and Catrin Kaitaro Dance movement researcher and experienced CI teacher Shifu Ash is visiting Finland on his European tour for the first time! Shifu and Catrin have been working together since summer 2023, training and teaching together and co-producing the India Contact Festival. We are excited to bring this international collaboration to Helsinki! We offer two workshops: THURSDAYS 14.3. and 21.3. 18-20h: OPEN LEVEL (2 sessions, 4 hours in total) Place: Dance Makers, Aleksis Kiven katu 32-34, 00510 Helsinki These classes are for those who are new to contact improvisation or who want to revisit some fundamentals and be exposed to new ideas and tools with a gentle pace. We will build up the exercises gradually to dive fully in to this transformative practise. SUNDAY 24.3. 11.00-15.00: INTERMEDIATE/ADVANCED Place: Zodiak Studio B2, Kaapelitehdas This workshop is for those who have already some experience in contact improvisation and who want to challenge themselves, to be exposed to new ideas and gain new inspiration to their CI practise. About the content: CASCADING BODY: FALLING WITH PURPOSE The workshops offer a research-driven exploration into contact dance, addressing topics such as fall and recovery, tone modulation, tensegrity and sequencing movement. The material will be enriched by influences from the two teacher’s diverse backgrounds in various practices such as axis syllabus, combat dance and play-fight/liquid body-practises. Teaching will happen mainly in english but translation in finnish will be available. PRICING: sliding scale 40-60e/workshop REGISTRATION: Register by filling the form: https://forms.gle/E7bSiX7r24qM1FYx6 If you have questions, don’t hesitate to reach Catrin by messenger or instagram (@catrin.kaitaro) or mail workshops.catrinkaitaro(at)gmail.com. SHIFU ASH is a dance movement researcher, philosopher, choreographer & visual artist based in Mumbai, India. His expertise lies in movement practices such as Wing Chun, Aikido, Modern Contemporary Dance, Ballet and Contact Improvisation with an experience of 20 years. He is also a former member of CID-UNESCO Paris (International Dance Council) and the founding member & CEO of ProDancer (earlier known as Dance Council India). In 2021, he earned the title "The Saint Beast" from the International Martial Arts Federation. As a movement practitioner he has trained with number of masters like: Grandmaster IP Chun, Nancy Stark Smith, David Zambrano, Frey Faust, Sara Shelton Mann, Kira Kirsch, Andrew De Lotbinière Hardwood, Akram Khan, Desmond Richardson, Era Jouravlev, Stephanie Godino, Terence Lewis, Mia Michael, Sonya Tayeh, Anjelika Doniy, Danny Ezralow, Ohad Naharin… to name a few.Currently he's choreographing for an upcoming feature film in India and co-curating the Partner Dance International Festival & India Contact Festival. He has been invited to teach at some of the prestigious dance festivals & companies in India & abroad like ImPulsTanz Vienna International Dance Festival, Goa Contact Festival, Berlin Contact Festival, Contact Meets Contemporary Festival Goettingen, Tokyo Nomadic Residency, Chinchintalu Festival Dubai, Saint Petersburg Conservatory Dance, Terence Lewis Contemporary Dance Company and Institute Of Classical & Modern Dance India. Website: www.combat-dance.com Instagram: www.instagram/shifuash_combatdance CATRIN KAITARO is a dance artist currently based in Helsinki, Finland. She works as a freelancer moving between performing arts, pedagogy and filmmaking. In addition to her professional dance studies in Finland, she has trained in contemporary dance in France (Centre Chorégraphique James Carles) and Senegal (Ecole des Sables). She has also completed studies in dance pedagogy and cinematography, and at the moment she is learning about dance and movement therapy. Catrin works as a performer and facilitator in contemporary dance, improvisation and contact work in various contexts, from amateurs to professionals. At the moment, in addition to organizing and teaching workshops all around Finland, she also leads a community dance project with the elderly people in care homes and leads hiking retreats in nature. Thanks to her Axis Syllabus studies, training as a sports massage therapist and years of studying pilates, she has a solid understanding of the anatomical and biomechanical starting points to guide students to move in a sustainable and efficient way. Recent years, she has also been strongly influenced by play-fight/liquid body (Bruno Caverna) -practices, martial arts and other eastern practices such as Qigong and yoga. The contact improvisation teachers that have marked her the most have been Katja Mustonen, Anya Cloud and Nita Little.