Contact Improvisation workshop with Karen Nelson
Dancing People Company is proud to host "Navigating The Forces" A Contact Improvisation Workshop with Karen Nelson. Saturday & Sunday January 28 & 29 2-6PM $100 DPC’s 310 Studio, 310 Oak Street, Ashland, OR. Contact info@dancingpeople.com to register.
Karen says: “Contact Improvisation is a moving, “meditation in action” form of dance. Movers focus on direct experience of the physical forces we relate to as humans on earth: gravity, momentum, kinesthesia, the stuff of physics. In this workshop we will review some essential images of Contact, such as the small dance of skeletal balance as introduced by Steve Paxton. We will practice various rolls and puzzles and embody these navigation tools to enhance our solo and partner dancing. We will study some practical safety movements to help our muscle memory kick-in when we need it-- during complex partnering that occurs in a freely improvised contact duet. Class is open to all levels; dancing with mixed levels will be encouraged.”
Karen Nelson has been dancing Contact Improvisation since 1976 although it feels like now in 2012 she is ready to train seriously as a dancer. She has toured, teaching and performing in many places worldwide and has collaborated with many wonderful artists. Her work with Steve Paxton and his system “Material for the Spine” has a tremendous influence in her Contact teaching and dancing. Along with Alito Alessi in the 1980’s, she started the Breitenbush Jam and DanceAbility in Oregon; and with others later in the 90’s, Diverse Dance Research Retreat held on Vashon Island, WA. For the last 2 decades or so, composition within improvisation has been a passion; working with Lisa Nelson and her approach of Tuning Scores is a constant source of inspiration and investigation.
