The Fourth Annual Capital Jam
Monday MLK Day, Jan. 16, 2012
Dance Exchange
7117 Maple Avenue
Takoma Park, Maryland 20912
Cost:
$55
*Includes MLK day activities plus admission to Satellite Events
Schedule:
10-1pm Workshop with Nicole Bindler (description and bio below)
1-2:30pm Lunch (will be provided)
2:30-5:30pm Jam
5:30-6pm Closing Circle
Satellite Events:
Thursday Jan. 12, 2012: Capital Jam Improv Lab l 7-9pm l Dance Exchange
Saturday Jan.14, 2012: Sonic Circuits l 7:30pm l Bethel World Outreach Church
Sunday Jan. 15, 2012: The Improv Menu l 7-9pm l Dance Exchange
About the Workshop:
Somatic Aesthetics: Contact Improvisation and composing from within
How can we use somatic practices to inspire our artistry? How does our embodiment inform our compositional choices and aesthetic values? From what part of our nervous system do we create form and are those choices determined by innate or acquired aesthetic values? How can we integrate the skills of Contact Improvisation (the dance of the reflexes) within our solo practice and ensemble dancing towards a more gutsy, intuitive dance?
In this workshop we’ll move with facility between our inner and outer worlds. We’ll begin with a personal practice inspired by my studies of Body-Mind Centering, specifically the embodied anatomy of the nervous system. We’ll explore the nervous system in contact improvisation duets and then broaden our awareness into ensemble dancing. We’ll use the eyes as sensory organs, the sensation of our vision to inspire kinesthetic impulses. We’ll compose dances from a place of sensual, kinesthetic and proprioceptive desire as opposed to preplanned aesthetic choices. In this lab-like environment, we’ll discover when our embodied impulses create spatial harmony and when they create dissonance. Most importantly, we’ll dance together in the spontaneous community that forms among participants.
Movers of all levels and backgrounds are welcome to participate. Only a willingness to improvise, work in contact with others and ask questions is required.
Nicole Bindler is a body-based performing artist, inspired by her studies of new dance, dance-theater, contact improvisation, and butoh. She is also a bodyworker and uses somatic practices, such as Body-Mind Centering, Yoga and Feldenkrais as a source of creativity, inspiration and physical training. Her work has been shown throughout the U.S., Canada, Argentina, Berlin, Tokyo, Beirut and Quito, Ecuador. She has taught Somatics for dancers at the University of the Arts; Therapeutic Bodywork at the Massage Arts Center of Philadelphia; Anatomy for Yoga Alliance certified Yoga Teacher Trainings throughout Philadelphia; many workshops in Contact Improvisation, Yoga and Experiential Anatomy throughout the U.S., Argentina and at International Contact Festival Freiburg, Germany. Recent activities include co-organizing the FALLS BRIDGE: new movement, improvisation and performance festival with Curt Haworth; participating in Deborah Hay’s Solo Performance Commissioning Project in Findhorn Scotland; Co-creating “I made this for you.” (2011 finalist for the A.W.A.R.D. Show!) with Gabrielle Revlock. http://www.nicolebindler.com/