/’Contact improvisations are spontaneous physical dialogues that range from stillness to highly energetic exchanges. Alertness is developed in order to work in an energetic state of physical disorientation, trusting in one’s basic survival instincts. It is a free play with balance, self-correcting the wrong moves and reinforcing the right ones, bringing forth a physical/emotional truth about a shared moment of movement that leaves the participants informed, centered and enlivened.’ Steve Paxton 1970s from CQ Vol. 5:1, Fall 1979
“Every part of me feels very alive—turned on, awake, present, ready, both comfortable and on my edge, sharpened and softened, deepened and extended, challenged and soothed, and physically and energetically tuned to myself and others.” Nancy Stark Smith
Learn classical techniques and exercises to dance Contact Improvisation with another person as taught by the originators of the form. In these classes you’ll learn movement vocabularies and tools that form the building blocks of the physical language of Contact Improvisation. You’ll learn ways to expand and spread your attention to both internal and external sources of information simultaneously and learn to navigate the three dimensional moving pathways between your own body, the floor, space and other people in a myriad of different ways in real time.
Class is comprised of one and a half hours of technique, followed by 30 minutes jamming and integration of exercises into dancing. All levels welcome including beginners.
FREE try out class of Contact Improvisation on Thursday February 11th from 6.30pm to 8.30pm.
Entry to all classes is by pre- booking only.
Juliet Shelley has taught Contact Improvisation in the UK, Europe, the USA and Australasia. Her teachers include Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Chris Aiken and Kirstie Simson. She has taught Contact Improvisation at the New Zealand School of Dance, at UNITEC Institute of Technology, at California State University, USA and for London Contact Improvisation. She is a dance artist and a teacher of the Alexander Technique and Pilates.
