Physical Poetics
A Contact Improvisation workshop
with Karl Frost
27-28 June 2026
Lviv, Ukraine
100% of Karl’s profit from teaching in Ukraine goes to drone defense!
As with most Body Research events, this workshop is “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 the lower end, write a note and we can work something out.
This workshop focuses on CI as experiential art practice and research in biomechanical poetics. We hold a frame of CI explorations as body and physics-based explorations of bodies moving in physical contact. We explore the gross and subtle physics but in the spirit of “biomechanical poetics”, we use articulate explorations of physics to support the experience of the ineffable.
Technical work develops functional awareness of self and partner, weight, structure, and mechanical flow, drawing on the Passive Sequencing technique, a release-based approach to CI and proprioceptive awareness. We cultivate an inner calm that allows us to sense more deeply from a place of relaxed presence, which curiously allows us to be more moment-to-moment adaptive.
Poetic exploration focuses on the felt experience, sensation, curiosity, imagination, and ineffable meaning in motion. Using “poetry” as a metaphor for creativity in improvisation, we look at diving into and shaping physical narratives, where the “meaning” may be found in the play of physics, the imaginal world, or both. The aim is refined artistry grounded in the joy and curiosity of the body. We play with getting lost in the moment and the play of physics and sensationThe workshop is grounded in training exercises from the physically interactive performance work and paratheatrical practices of Body Research Physical Theater.
Body Work
Mind Work
And some sweat.
Logistics
An open level workshop for the physically curious.
Registration and Fees
100% of Karl’s profit from teaching in Ukraine is going to support drone defense
For information on registration and fees, write to Lilia Rainivska: liliarainivska@gmail.com
As with most Body Research events, this workshop is “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 the lower end, write a note and we can work something out!
bio: Karl Frost has been teaching and performing contact and related work in body-based creative process since the late 1980s. He is known internationally for his dynamic and articulate movement style, rigor in physical research and teaching, and for the edge-pushing nature of his work in both practice and performance. His work, influenced by studies in contemporary release technique, Alexander technique, and martial arts, has been showcased across the US, Canada, Europe, and South America. His performances, via Body Research Physical Theater, take the body and emotionally and physically felt experience as their reference points, often in highly audience interactive frameworks.
Karl holds a PhD in Ecology (emphasis in Human Ecology and Cultural Evolution Theory), and MFA in Dramatic Arts, and a BA in Physics. He is currently a research scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Evolutionary Anthropology (Leipzig, Germany).