Contemporary Technique Class

Classes begin with supine exercises based on the Klein technique to warm up the spine and develop awareness of the structure of the pelvis and legs. We will perform floor phrases starting with the limbs, head, spine or pelvis, actively using the floor for support.

We will explore paths that go from lying to standing and that cross space in such a way that our bodies, the ground and the space are integrated and accessible to us. A focus of the class is the integration of physical weight and flow with direction through space and the integration of the visual, auditory and kinaesthetic senses. 

Drawing inspiration from the Alexander technique and other approaches, we will look for ways to release unnecessary tension while we dance and how to bring more of ourselves into the present. This can lead to having more choices, which brings qualities of focus and expansion to our dancing technique and choreography.

The music features artists such as Coldplay, Francis Harris, Guenter Haas, Moby, Stone Roses, Ashley Beedle, Logic and Dua Lipa.

90 – 180 minutes

Technique, Presence, Choix – Micadanses, Paris

Compositional Scores

And So I would Ask,  Come As You Are,  EarBody EyeBody,  Earth Eyes, Intention Sensation Presence,  Living Timepiece,  Nine Star Ki,  Signature Movement,  Action Fantasy, Tuning Scores, Authentic Movement, Material for the Spine, Curious Luxurious, Self Describe, Move and Scribe. Soul of the Beast, In Living Memory, Sukinature

SOIS – (So-Is)

SOIS is a movement practice which has its starting place in perceiving and responding to information from three sources: auditory, visual and kinaesthetic – sound, sight and sensation.

It’s about responding to simultaneous, non-hierarchical fields of attention whilst moving and dancing.

SOIS is a process and a practice which explores in detail and depth the ways in which a person and dancer responds to – and embodies – sound, sight and sensation and how each of these perceptions inform the dancer’s movement choices in each moment.

This process reveals an infinite and ever changing variety of possibilities and relationships for the dancer, with a quality of timelessness, specificity, range and abundance of possibilities.

The dancer and their body exist in relationship to their environment and each perceptual system supports and interfaces with the other.

Playing within each field can open and broaden a range of possibilities of embodiment, movement, composition and performance, depending on how the dancer wants to apply this skill.

SOIS can be practiced in a range of different situations: solo, in partners, ensembles, at different speeds, tempos, placements in space and within pre-set and real time compositional movement, phrases and choreography, as well as within simple, every day movement.

Practising this can reveal where predictive or memorised/habitual/unconscious mode replaces active presence and active choice-making in moving and dancing.

Dancers can learn how to notice the different modes and how to employ choice in relation to each moment with the possibility of different outcomes.

Once the dancer has become practiced and confident at doing this with simple movements, they can apply it to more advanced movement and dance practices in technique class and in performance modes.

Zoom and the Porous Body

In this workshop, Juliet will introduce dancers to principles of the Alexander technique which they can employ whilst moving and dancing. The Alexander technique principles can facilitate fluidity, the spreading and stretching of perceptions and oscillates our range mentally and physically. Dancers become more available for sensory information and for experiencing more support from their environment in our dancing.

Taking the act of dancing as a starting place, as a foundation for relationship and for observation of our experience, we practice the use of our eyes, our ears, our minds and bodies whilst we dance solo, ensemble and in a duet, using different vocabularies, and in different contexts, technique class, compositional work and performance.

Juliet Shelley

Juliet is a dance performer and teacher who has been working in the dance industry professionally since 1987 as a teacher and a performer. She has worked in the UK, Italy, the Netherlands, France, the USA, Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand. She graduated with a B.A Hons in Dance Theatre from the Laban Centre at London Goldsmiths University, England and attended the SNDO – Centre for New Dance Development – in Amsterdam, Netherlands. She has worked alongside theatre and dance artists in performance with Nancy Stark Smith, Katie Duck, Michael Schumacher, Lucia Walker, Steve Batts, Andy Solway, Jos Houben, Rosemary Lee, Kirstie Simson, Claire O’Neil, Jonathan Sinatra, Andrew Marcus, Annabel Reader, Alyx Duncan, Kristian Larsen among others.  She has created, performed and co-produced solo and ensemble dance pieces for festivals, galleries, studios, schools, fashion shows and theatres in England, France, Italy, the Netherlands, Australia and New Zealand.  Alongside working as a freelance performer, choreographer and teacher, she has worked as a producer for twenty years and produced nineteen shows showcasing her own work and the work of other dancers and musicians.