THURSDAYS | FOUNDATIONS IN CONTACT
Thursdays | 7 - 8:30pm
6-week series, weekly on Thursday evenings:
Series 1 w Francesca Frewer — begins Sept 5
Series 2 w Hayley Gawthrop — begins Oct 17
Series 3 w Arash Khakpour — begins Nov 28
This class is beginner-friendly (around 1 to 3 years of experience) and will focus on Contact basics. All levels are welcome to join, supporting our ongoing research of CI skills. We will practice listening with our many senses, while working with presence and possibility in our dancing.
Each teacher will lead a 6-week series shaped by their current interests and curiosities within CI. You are welcome to drop-in for any class. While the series are not specifically designed to be progressive, material from previous weeks may be drawn upon in class. Read our teacher’s bios below.
Class format: Class begins with a facilitated warm-up, moving into CI skills and techniques in the form of individual, partnered, and/or group exercises. We may explore a variety of fundamental CI principles including rolling point of contact, sloughing (sliding), meeting pressure (continuity of connection), weight sharing, and under-dancing (offering mobile support). We typically close with a round-robin or score; an opportunity to put our skills into practice and dance together.
There is space to shape your experience within the class; you may participate at your own comfort level in as much or as little as you like. Witnessing is an active form of participation and a welcomed learning method.
Questions about attending? Please contact us at info@edamdance.org.
Drop-ins and Class Cards welcome.
Register here:
https://checkout.square.site/buy/ZZHM4QBZ3GQOFURDEMXCXSSD
EDAM (an acronym for Experimental Dance and Music) is both a physical space, and a dance Company. It was formed in 1982 by seven independent artists: Peter Bingham, Jay Hirabayashi, Lola MacLaughlin, Jennifer Mascall, Peter Ryan, Barbara Bourget and Ahmed Hassan. In 1989, Peter Bingham became EDAM's sole Artistic Director and the Company has flourished under his guidance since then.
Bingham began performing in 1977 and is a pioneer of Contact Improvisation, a dance form that emphasizes flow and the cooperative exchange of weight between partners. Peter has created over 100 choreographed works and performed in hundreds of improvised performances in theatres, dance festivals and universities across Canada, the United States, Europe and Asia. He is also the central figure in the book "The Man Next Door Dances: The Art of Peter Bingham" by Kaija Pepper published in 2008. Now, a mature artist, Bingham continues to position the Company within the changing ecology of the form and finds innovative ways to foster opportunities for community.
EDAM’s mission is to provide a stable and fertile environment for the development of contemporary dance through teaching, training, as well as the creation and production of choreography and the art of contact improvisation. We value collaboration, artistic dialogue, community engagement, integration and continuity. The Company has three key programming objectives:
· Creating, producing and disseminating the choreography, improvisations and collaborations of Artistic Director Peter Bingham
· supporting the creation and production of works by local, national and international choreographers and improvisers
· training dancers in Contact Improvisation, improvisation and complementary techniques