Leipzig Contact Improvisation workshop June 2021

a weekend with Karl Frost exploring the kinesthetic possibilities of bodies moving through physical contact
… a mixture of technical exploration of body mechanics and lift vocabulary with more open frames of investigation and play

When: 25 -27 June 2021 (19h-22h Friday, 10h – 18h Saturday/Sunday)
Where: Fudoshin Aikido Dojo Josephstraße 45 in Leipzig (a convivial, focus-inspiring space with a padded floor)
on Facebook

The Workshop is FULL.

If you have not registered but would like to come, send an e-mail and you can be put on a waiting list. Often, there are last second changes of plan which allow a spot or two to open up.

Contact Improvisation is a 38 year old open-ended practice exploring the physical possibilities of bodies moving through contact, shared balance, and interacting structures. It is like a “non-martial martial art”, mixing fluidly practices from contemporary dance, somatics, partner acrobatics, bodywork, meditation, and soft-form martial arts. It is simultaneously an art practice and a friendly, convivial space of shared exploration of bodies. We touch, lean in or away, flow with each other, guide/follow/resist, support or be supported and fall together through space, in and out of the floor, and through lifts. It is sometimes quiet and meditative, sometimes explosive and acrobatic, following the curiosities of those meeting. It is used in contemporary dance as training and creative source practice as well as explored as a kind of post-modern social dance and shared body-practice in “contact jams”.

This workshop will wander the range of manifestations of CI in a friendly and mutually encouraging space of investigation.

Friday, we ease in with a series of open investigations of basic principles and foci of sensation, where we trust and work what our bodies already know how to do. Saturday and Sunday we continue, going back and forth between working on technique and more open frames of investigation.

Technique explorations include movement and lift vocabulary, physical awareness and sensitivity training, balance and off-balance, good body-use for supporting and being supported, safe (and fun) movement into and out of the floor with and without a partner.

More open frames include: play of mechanical interdependence, mutual following of rolling contact, moving together as mutual bodywork, manipulation/surrender/resistance, and sensory foci of skin/muscle/bone, articulation of pelvis, slow vs faster movement, mutual off-balance, body tone, etc…

The workshop will be taught to multiple levels: a wide-ranging intro for beginners and more fine details to focus on for the more experienced. Advanced skills in CI are mostly a diving deeper into the fundamentals

A lot of body work
Some mind work
and a fair bit of sweat!

This is an open level workshop. All are expected to be excited to work hard enough to break a sweat and times and to be comfortable moving with sensitivity with another body. If you have questions if the workshop is appropriate, feel free to write with questions to info@bodyresearch.org
A group of movers have been working with Karl for the last months, meeting privately in living spaces and zooming together for practice and research. Many will be at both the workshop and Long Jam, so there will be many fun bodies with whom to explore!
Space is limited to 24, so early registration is recommended.

Registration and Fees

Fees

Before 14 June: 80-200 euros sliding scale
June 14 and after: 100-200 euros sliding scale
“no one turned away for lack of funds”. This means pay what you can in the sliding scale range, and if you can’t afford it, write a note and we can work something out.

Registration

to register, write to info@bodyresearch.org and send payment. to send payment you can either…

- - bank transfer to “Karl Frost”, IBAN: DE03860700240162275200, BIC DEUTDEDBLEG
  - paypal to karl_frost@eva.mpg.de

Re Corona: Of course, the workshop assumes that we will be allowed at this point to meet for the workshop. The word from the Sachsen government is for a general opening June 14, so this is most likely so. If there is a forced cancelation, all will be refunded.

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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 post-dramatic 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.
He has relocated to Leipzig for his work as a researcher 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