Stretching the form: A-tension.

Contact Improvisation Meeting

How is it possible to widen one’s territory?

A question we find very often while thinking in movement.

It is a query that points to the domain of the physical, it is indeed about the issues of space. Yet equally a matter of attention and perception related to my body’s ability and possibilities to prolong itself in space through attention. It is the intercorporeality of a-tension that constitutes to the ‘rolling point of contact’ that I would like to research together and want to share in this series of explorations. Our tool for research will be the practice of contact improvisation, a movable ‘laboratory’ for intersubjective research, in which (sometimes, miraculously) there is not vis-à-vis, an opposition between subject and object, but the constitution of a third entity: neither you, neither me, neither us, but at the interstice between these three pronouns, a third-included.

Practically, in the studio, this looks like us focusing on weight-sharing, falling and sharing/MAKING questions, and group discussions. During the weekend of course, we will dance a lot, we will dance big and also small. I will share (pre-digested) tools and containers for collective artistic exploration (exercises, dancing scores, sharing words, solo and in groups explorations, watching and listening to different materials) that I have found useful in my dance practice, training, and teaching. Inevitably, mutual sharing of weight is a way of being in the unknowable, we will also find ourselves working and engaging with the unpredictable, placing oneself in the in-between, and meeting the ‘speed of our attention’ in dancing.

- This is open for all levels of experience, beginners, especially for those with curiosity to make questions and to both affect and be affected by (or through?) weight sharing and falling.

- Pedagogical endnote: Together, our experiment is to navigate the graceful comfort of working with pre-digested material and I facilitate, while also (co)creating the beautiful discomfort of the research laboratory spirit in (contact) improvisation.

BIO:
Joaquín Alfei (Argentinian)

Existing in the practices of (contact) improvisation, experimental psychology, and philosophy, Joaquín has been obsessed in ‘ways of knowing’ and ‘gestures’ of research in dance improvisation and science. Challenging classical divergences between subject/object, in both his dancing explorations and academic work.

Joaquín has grown (in Belgium) thinking in movement with the ideas and collaboration of/with Asaf Bachrach, Florencia Campise, and Otto Akkanen. The people who have most nourished him with their material about improvisation and that he has studied with are R. Chung, D. Lepkof, N. Little, C. Morrisey, J. Hamilton, S. Smith, and K. Nelson, among others.

Viewing (contact) improvisation as multi-faceted, he is presently absorbed in the physical aspects of the study, but too theory, conversation, written and artistic creation. Upon meeting (contact) improvisation many years ago, he found himself centred around the form, dancing internationally between labs, workshops, teaching, residencies, jams, performances, collective and personal projects. Joaquín is also actively engaged in the realms and practice of Experimental Psychology and Neuroscience, holding a Ph.D. (KU Leuven, BEL).

Vimeo I https://vimeo.com/user154670378

| SCHEDULE |

Fri 24/05

6pm – 8.30 pm JAM with intro

8.30 pm – Dinner

Sat 25/05

10am – 5pm workshop *1h 15m lunch break

5pm – 7 pm JAM

Sun 26/05

10 am - 2 pm workshop *1h 15m lunch break

3:30pm – 6pm Score into Jam.

| PRACTICAL INFOS |

- Arrival is scheduled for the afternoon of Friday, the 24th, with departure before dinner on the 26th. Additionally, there is an option to extend your stay by one night, including dinner and breakfast (on the 27th), specifically tailored for those traveling from afar (15 euro extra)

- The workshop will be held in English. If needed, there will be informal translation available in Italian or Spanish - meaning, there won't be a hired translator, but we'll self-organize to facilitate translation and help among ourselves.

SLEEPING

Option A: floor mats in a shared big room, bring your sleeping bag (only 9 spots!!! be fast)

Option B: bunk beds in shared rooms, pillows, sheets and blankets provide

FOOD

Fully vegetarian. Let us know if there are allergies or intolerances.

| REGISTRATION |

Option A in Early bird 160 euros until April 22th

Option A Regular 190 euros

Option B in Early bird 180 euros until April 22th

Option B Regular 210 euros

Deposit: 80 euros *

Places are limited to 25 participants!

Included in the price are the workshop, accommodation, and delicious vegetarian meals and breakfasts prepared by a skilled culinary team. It's a true privilege - allowing us to immerse fully in dance and study without any distractions.

* Once you register, due to organizational reasons, the deposit is not refundable.

To register please write to libralinda@libero.it

| LOCATION |

Cascina Martelli - Reano - TURIN (northern Italy)

Some pictures here https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipN05wDqHtuYuhfiO_kve_BiEqkds172y2FQ_A90YBcUEREHHTk3uwLGbIeipLJ_fg?key=VEFjZEVJdzlYOHl5bV9WY2NvaE9OZFRLcW9ITlJn

If you'll travel by train we can come to pick you on Rosta Train Station (Friday afternoon by 5pm)

Link google maps here https://maps.app.goo.gl/w6ezBzYW4rTyYCck6

| MORE INFO |

libralinda@libero.it