Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood
Being Ready

Contact Improvisation - Being Ready An intermediate course in Contact Improvisation and Instantenous Composition Because of the challenging nature of this workshop, this intensive is geared towards dancers, performers, creators and improvisers with a solid grasp of contact fundamentals and compositional improvisation. What does it mean to be ready to dance at any time, with anyone, anywhere ? There are no set formulas, or specific manners to achieving this state of readiness. There is, however, an attitude and a state of body-mind that can be cultivated which can help bring us to that place of total alertness. Being completely attentive and always prepared on all levels, will enable us to go beyond thinking our way through the dance, and help us be attuned to what is actually taking place. This full presence also allows us to be freed of the mental chatter, planning ahead, and judgement, which so often override the body’s ability to make appropriate split-second choices. In this way the improvisations can be entirely physical, playful, passionate, surprising and enjoyable. We will practice instant inventiveness, refine our sensing skills and develop various compositional strategies, which in turn will become the framework for in-house performances that we will view and discuss. Explored themes and material will include: ki work, spatial design, various states of being, use of variable speeds, utilisation of direct action and initiation, resistance, disappearance, subtle and surprising ways of moving weight, flowing through unfamiliar circumstances, extending our personal range of movement, and integrating our imagination and our heart.