Underscore

Open to CI dancers that have practiced the Underscore previously. If you have no previous experience of the Underscore or limited CI experience, please get in-touch. As this is a contained group practice, doors close at 7:00pm sharp and there is no entry after this time or leaving before the group finishes (unless of course there's an emergency). Please ensure you arrive with plenty of time to settle in and get changed etc. Where: ACAC – Annandale, 81 Johnston Street Annandale. Fee: Cost of venue hire split among participants - please bring cash. What is the Underscore? From Nancy Stark-Smith: " The Underscore is a long-form dance improvisation structure developed by Nancy Stark Smith. It has been evolving since 1990 and is practiced all over the globe. The Underscore is a vehicle for incorporating Contact Improvisation into a broader arena of improvisational dance practice; for developing greater ease dancing in spherical space—alone and with others; and for integrating kinesthetic and compositional concerns while improvising. It allows for a full spectrum of energetic and physical expressions, embodying a range of forms and changing states. Its practice is familiar yet unpredictable. The practice—usually 3 to 4 hours in length—progresses through a broad range of dynamic states, including long periods of very small, private, and quiet internal activity and other times of higher energy and interactive dancing. There are 20+ phases of the score—each with a name and a graphic symbol—which create a general map for the dancers. Within that frame, dancers are free to create their own movements, dynamics, and relationships—with themselves, each other, the group, the music, and the environment. Each Underscore is unique, providing rich and often inspiring experiences of the human and artistic phenomena of dance improvisation.” The link below is a video of Nancy Stark Smith, the creator of the Underscore talking about and explaining the practice. It's well worth the watch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gzG609NWp1Y