The Way of Change: Tai Chi and Contact Improv

THE WAY OF CHANGE: TAI CHI AND CONTACT IMPROV with Daniel Bear Davis and Claire Turner Reid March 17th & 18th 2018 Centre for Indigenous Theatre - 180 Shaw Street Suite 209 2:00pm - 6:00pm both days This workshop will invite you to listen with your body, move with others, meet and negotiate forces, and welcome change. We will explore Tai Chi Push Hands (Tuishou) as a playful entry point into improvised partner dancing. Tuishou is a two-person Taijiquan practice that offers tools for self-defense and alignment in a context of deep listening. We will expand the focus from martial application to dance collaboration, offering riffs on Tai Chi applications into pathways for dancing, offering support, and sharing weight. Participants will be offered tools for cultivating sensitivity and power within their own structure and through/with the structure of another. We invite you to join us as we share our curiosity and joy in discovering how two moving systems link and communicate to become one interwoven and dynamic intelligence. $60 for one day $110 for both days $90 register in full for both days by March 4th With questions or to register contact: [email protected] About your instructors: DANIEL BEAR DAVIS Daniel is an interdisciplinary performance maker and movement educator. He has a creative practice driven by awe and wonder for humanity and curiosity and respect for the more-than-human world. He has taught Contact Improvisation and Axis Syllabus internationally in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and throughout North America. Whether teaching physical skills or compositional practices, his intention is to foster tools for informed choice and increased possibility. He has been blessed with opportunities to perform with Guillermo Gomez Peña, Nita Little, Nancy Stark Smith, Pipaluk Supernova/Live Art Installations, Felix Ruckert, Kira Kirsch, Erika Tsimbrovsky, Scott Wells, Cid Pearlman, and many other inspiring body/minds. Daniel’s recent performance work focuses on creating new communities through collaboration with marginalized populations engaging with personal story. He has worked with veterans and non-veterans in collaboration with Krista DeNio and EchoTheaterSuitcase project, and with inmates in San Quentin with Amie Dowling and The Artistic Ensemble. His most recent work explored intersections between the experiences of his students at St. Mary’s College of Maryland and the experiences of oppression expressed in interviews he conducted with Palestinians in the West Bank.www.danielbeardavis.com CLAIRE TURNER REID Claire is a dancer, internal martial artist, teacher, and movement coach. She has a B.F.A. in Acting from the University of Windsor and extensive study and performance experience in dance, theatre, and movement arts. Her current focus is a study of Traditional Chinese Medicine at the Ontario College of Traditional Chinese Medicine (OCTCM) as well as a passion for human design and movement facilitated by her engagement with the Axis Syllabus International Research Community (ASIRC). Claire is a certified Qigong and Taijiquan instructor, a teacher candidate with the ASIRC and a faculty member at OCTCM where she teaches Qigong. Drawing on her diverse experience in movement, performance, and healing arts, Claire continues to explore new ways of moving, being, and learning. She uses movement and healing practices as a way to deepen awareness, honour the integrity of the body, and enrich inter-relational possibilities.