The Sierra Contact Festival is continuing into its 5th itteration this year, 2012. Leslie Hauabauten is taking the helm as lead organizer, with the help of David Russel and others. Exact dates have not been set, yet. Expect there to be a moderate restructuring, but with the same spirit and much of the same format. If you want to be kept on the mailing list for this or other Body Research events, write to info@bodyresearch.org.
The fourth annual
Sierra
A peer-oriented contact festival geared towards experienced dancers
August 17-21, 2011
at Sierra Hot Springs, Sierraville, California
arrive on evening of Tuesday the 16th to set up your tents, soak and relax, and have opening jam... opening circle and presentations on morning of the 17th.
formal closing circle early Sunday evening... informal jam that evening and break down camp on Monday the 22nd
3.5 hours east of San Francisco, CA, 1 hour west of Reno, NV
(Partial attendance possible. see "Registration" below for details)
Leslie Hauabauten, Zack Bernstein, Ophra Wolf, Karl Frost, Brandon Gonzalez, Taja Will, Kristen Greco , Mihyun Lee, Kevin Dockery, and Miriam Wolodarski
- 2 studios (one indoor, one outdoor), hot springs and saunas, plus miles of hiking trails through mountain forests.
- 5 days of exploration in Contact Improvisation geared towards experienced contactors, familiar with fundamental skills and investigations of CI ...
- 50 dancers coming together to create a festival oriented around sharing work in and emerging out of the practice of Contact Improvisation.
New for 2011
While both the performative and the experiential wings of the contact world are intended to be represented at the festival, the unifying principle will be an invitation to those invested in the artistic and intellectual exploration of contact, regardless of perspective.
The Festival is organized as a 5 day laboratory with presentations, skill and theory sharing, discussion, jams, and performances. Outside of the official morning presentation times, the distinction between presenter/teacher and other participants disappears, creating an environment where all are encouraged to pursue the path of their own curiousities.
- morning presentations of ongoing research
- afternoon Laboratory time emerging out of the curioisities of the participant body, where participants propose research topics and divide out into subgroups based on affinities of interest
- evening space for Jams (structured and open) and Performance
Participants are expected to already have experience in contact. The festival is not meant as an "intro to contact".
The aim is for a contact festival which is geared to the desires of experienced and professional contactors and in which there is a high degree of dialogue, active physical and intellectual investigation, and autonomous pursuit of curiosity around the possibiliities presented by contact improvisation..
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More Details...
The Schedule: for a downloadable pdf of the 2011 schedule, click here on SCHEDULE
PRESENTATIONS
Instead of classes, we have morning peer oriented Presentations. The presenter assumes experience with contact explorations, self motivation, and a basic skill base amongst the participants and is sharing specific research they have been pursuing.
Presentations are selected by committee through criteria based on an interest in expanding or deepening the world of contact explorations, and presenters are usually a mix of veteran and newer contactors. For a detailed descriotiono of presentations, click on SCHEDULE.
Experience requirements:
All participants will be expected to be experienced contactors... intermediate to advanced contactors who have a solid grasp of contact fundamentals. Those coming should have basic understanding of classic contact concepts like rolling point of contact, weight sharing, use of alignment and structure for support, physical listening. While considerations will be made for alternately able-bodied dancers, all participants should otherwise have basic working skills with the aforementioned concepts plus moving in and out of the floor with weight and readiness to take care of oneself generally and coming in and out of lifts. Feel free to write with any questions about what we are asking of participants, as there are multiple ways of framing the same basic concepts and we aren't attached to any one. Generally speaking, we just want to make sure that everyone who is coming already has an investment in contact exploration and some time under their belt in skill development.
The Hot Springs
The Sierra Hot Springs retreat center is a moderately rustic hot springs retreat center bordering on the Tahoe National Forest in the Sierra Nevadas, just outside of the small town of Sierraville, CA. the grounds are expansive with plenty of space for camping. The primary hot springs include a large warm pool appropriate for (quiet) watsu/water dance, a smaller hot pool and cold plunges, plus a sauna. On the other end ofthe property is the smaller Meditation pool, for silent soaking. The general atmosphere of the place is quiet, with rules of no alchohol and no pets. children are welcome with "appropriate guidance" for a quiet atmposphere. We will have use of their studio/workshop room and will also be setting up our own outdoor dance studios, usingthe infrastructure from Contact Camp at Burning Man. For more information on the hot springs, visit their site at www.sierrahotsprings.org . Also, please do read over the Guest Agreements before registering.
The Dance Spaces
outdoors -- 60 foot diameter parachute tent with floors of recycled vinyl billboard over carpet (the effect is of a lightly padded marly). indoors - a 700 sq ft studio with similar floor of vinyl over carpet. plus the warm pool for water dancing and all the forest land you could want for nature explorations.
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| Fees for full attendance | Very Early Registration deposit by June 23 |
Early Registration deposit by July 26 |
Regular Registration deposit by August 15 |
"at the door" |
| Hot Springs Fees | 140 | 140 | 140 | 140 |
Food (covers breakfast and dinners... take care of your own snacks and lunch) |
40 | 40 | 40 | 50 |
Festival Fee sliding scale - pay what you choose in the range... |
160-260 | 190 - 290 | 220 - 320 | 250 - 350 |
| Total | $340 - $440 | $370 - $470 | $400 - $500 | $440 - $540 |
As of August 1, registration for partial attendance IS possible. We would ask for somewhere between simple prorated fees and full fees. please contact info@bodyresearch.org for specifics of partial attendance.
Note, earlier registration is most appreciated so that Lizzie has a chance to do our food shopping and prep work with plenty of lead time. This is one of the reasons why last minute registration is more expensive... it costs more to organize.
For more registration information, click on Registration.
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To be kept informed about the Sierra Contact Festival, write to info@bodyresearch.org and ask to be put on the mailing list.