Core Explorations

 
  • 21-22 October 2023
    • Saturday 10h -18h, Sunday 10h – 17h
  • An open level technical workshop in CIUntitled-1
  • With Karl Frost
  • Leipzig, Germany
  • (housing available for those traveling from out of town)
  • on facebook

While Contact Improvisation is an open-ended investigation without strict definition, there is a core body of techniques and explorations which characterize the “classic” contact improvisation of the 1980s. In this workshop, we’ll work on

  • Supporting, Giving, and Sharing  weight
  • 3-dimensional movement while connected through shared off-balance and mutual support
  • Skills for movement into and out of the floor (falling, rolling, sliding, etc)
  • Physical/proprioceptive listening skills
  • Use of alignment and off-balance for ease in support.
  • Lift and weight sharing movement vocabulary
  • Following a rolling/sticking  contact
  • Inversion and dynamic use of off-balance
  • Surrendering control and moving your partner through space
  • Jumping, catching, and comfort in going higher with lifts
  • … and falling comfortably out of lifts through rolls and shock absorption
  • comfort with sensing and falling into the back space
  • maintaining readiness for incoming weight and direction shifts

For those less practiced in these skills, this will be a fast paced introduction.  For those more experienced, nuance will be explored.  Most advanced techniques in CI are nothing more than deepening of the basics and patience with holding focus on fundamental principles is what is required to achieve more dynamic and fluid dancing.

The workshop will also include an introduction to the Passive Sequencing work… a system for cultivating soft power and sensitivity in movement with another.

Mind work
Body work
And a fair bit of sweat

Logistics

Fees: Sliding scale 120-200 e,  sliding scale: Pay higher if you can.  Pay lower if you need to...
No One Turned Away For Lack of Funds – If you can’t afford the lower end of the sliding scale, write and usually can work something out!

to register,

  • send payment via bank transfer to Karl Frost (IBAN DE03860700240162275200)  and
  • send an e-mail to info@bodyresearch.org
  • For refund policy, click here

Workshop in English

Housing is available for visitors from out of town.

Click here for information on what is meant here by the fundamentals of contact improvisation and here for a breakdown of skill levels for technical aspects of contact improvisation.
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Bio: Karl Frost has been practicing, performing, and teaching contact improvisation and interdisciplinary, dance-based performance since the mid 1980’s in California. His work has been showcased over the last 3 decades across 5 continents, both in established institutions/universities and in independent studios and theaters. Known internationally for his dynamic movement style and for the edge-pushing nature of his work, physically and psychologically, both in process and performance, his performances take the body and emotionally and physically felt experience as their reference points.  He is known for his articulate teaching and the depth of the material that he accessibly offers. He began his movement explorations in martial arts as a teenager, before expanding his studies to contemporary dance, contact improvisation, physical theater and a variety of somatic practices. His performance work, via his company, Body Research Physical Theater (www.bodyresearch.org), explores postdramatic works rooted in somatic psychology and paratheatrical exploration, alternating between stage productions and highly interactive performance happenings exploring audience agency and personal meaning. A base of his movement practice and teaching is the Passive Sequencing work which he has developed, cultivating ease and presence in motion, soft power through movement intelligence, and the pleasure of finer moment-to-moment awareness of self and partner in motion. He has a BA in Physics, an MFA in Dramatic Arts, and a PhD in Ecology.  Currently, he has a position at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology, Department of Human Behavior, Ecology, and Culture in Leipzig, Germany. His CI and dance/theater work can be found at www.bodyresearch.org, while some of his visual anthropology work can be found at www.culturalvariant.org