Biophany

with Swan Alyon

Biophany is an exploration of ordinary existence in light of expanded states of consciousness. The core of the practice is as simple as it is powerful. We first let the body take over the mind, sensing rather than speaking and receiving rather than reacting. We then let ourselves become empty vessels moved by the subtle energies, impulses, and forces that flow through us. We thus cultivate an attitude of creative surrender, finding effortlessness and spontaneity. This practice draws on paratheatre and Butoh and springs from modes of non-action found in Daoist Wu Wei or in Zazen Shikantaza, or Qigong. We come together to bear witness and take part in the play of creation as both actors and spectators of life.

I think life is sexy because it is real. It matters. The matter.

It is the constant curiosity to come to know more. To understand better.

It is the wonder that keeps me walking. At times it turns into a dance. Sometimes a song.

It is about being present and attentive to the creation itself, expressing, through you, & around you.

It is raw.  The kind of sitting naked next to the sea with a knife cutting off rotten flesh in-between vertebrae disks of a whale bone swept upon the shore, kind of raw.

Always with respect and appreciation, for life, and death, and all in-between what makes life beautiful.

Softening into the pleasure of existence.  Surrendering into the sacred chamber of your heart, the fluid wisdom at the core of your spine.

There will be complex manipulation of the corpus and simple cosy moments of sipping tea in the afternoon sun,  sharing a story or two, from the big sea, of how and what I became and give some humble hints of where we are heading.

This is a true opportunity to sink into the silence of your bones and express the wisdom of your blood. To put you in alignment with your ancestors. To water the roots of the family tree.

Longing and belonging.  There is no reason or time to waste to explain who you are or why you love what you love.

Triangles – Strongest shape of insecurity

Laci Sárkány & Eszter  Sarkadi

Mathematically speaking triangles are the strongest shapes while in contact improvisation maybe it is the most challenging setup. In a duo if you are not super active your partner still keeps on dancing with you (until they get bored of course). While in a trio you can easily find yourself left behind while the other two roll on.

In this workshop we will play with the trio format. We will try ourselves in different roles, experiment with different intentions. We can simply enjoy the playfulness of this exciting form of contact improvisation but we can also dive deeper to experience our connection patterns.

Restricted into freedom – Playing with scores

Laci Sárkány & Eszter  Sarkadi

Scores in contact improvisation can be interpreted as an attention focus or a restriction that we add as an extra to our dance. Anything can be a score: we keep eye contact or we never touch the floor with our hands or we only use our nose as a contact point etc.

They seem to narrow our possibilities but at the same time these scores force us to let go our patterns and find new ways we may never tried before. This is how they give us more freedom. Just like haikus or sonnets in poetry, the fixed form boosts our creativity

In this workshop we will play with endless possibilities of scores also enjoying the surprises we present to ourselves.

Pathways to Pleasure ~ A Somatic Exploration of Consensual Touch

with Donal Gannon

A series of practices to awaken our hands (and bodies) to experience more pleasure more directly; and to relearn how to truly go for what we want, while respecting the limits of others.

Gradually and sensitively increasing the stretch of our comfort zone; building trust of our fellow explorers and our own internal navigation of what we do and don’t want; safely contained surrender; loads of exquisite and respectful touch… and blindfolds!

This is an experiential exploration of the Take-Allow dynamic of the Wheel of Consent® as developed by Dr. Betty Martin. Donal has trained with the School of Consent, and in process to become a certified facilitator.

Restoring Collective Soma ~ Cultivating practical skills to support groups to thrive

with Donal Gannon

It is becoming more and more apparent that effective and sustainable change of any kind requires us to come together, to group. Unfortunately, despite our best intentions, we severely lack skills in how to function effectively in groups.

In this session, we learn many of these skills and embrace the opportunity to practice them in a live learning laboratory. We can explore various types of group process and/or methods to increase functionality of groups like clarifying shared purpose and co-creating effective systems and practices for mutual support, collaborative decision making, conflict transformation, communication, information flow and feedback.

Music Soundscape for Contact Jam and Rituals

with Riki Parenti

My style as a musician is minimalist and meditative mixing voice and singing from different styles and registers as well as loops, acoustic guitar and organic sound effects (small and medium percussion). I really enjoy finding the correspondences between music and dance, actively practicing both roles (musician and dancer) for years. My eyes are most of the time looking at the dance floor to stay in continuous connection with the floor, emphasizing that the silences are strong and alive, to remember all the time that music and sounds (and creativity in general ) arise from a fertile void….

Music Soundscape for

Journey through Voice

with Riki Parenti

Journey through the Voice” is a group vocal exploration workshop through differents voice&singing practices as singing in a circle, body percussion, movement and improvisation as well as the practice of songs and musical games from different ethnic traditions. This workshop is designed for all people who want to discover, in a playful and creative way, the limitless potential of their voice beyond the traditional criteria of “good singing”. Our guiding thread will be the search for a present and available state of the body and voice, as well as connecting again and again with the pleasure of collective creation in real time.

Embodied videography

with Marina Tsartsara