SOMATICS IMPROVISATION AND THE POETICS OF DANCE

Participants will discover, explore, separate, integrate and improvise with physical systems and patterns to make visible physiological rhythms of support and creativity. We will explore anatomy and physiology to better understand the mechanics of movement. Through exposing contradictions in the body and engaging with our imaginations, we will widen choice, create discernment and practice embodiment and composition.

 The course, designed for dancers and  performers in dance  will bring forth skills, tools and practical experience of somatic studies and improvisation, to become more tuned to physical centres and subtleties of touch, direction and intention. It will explore how to use these discoveries to tune the physical instrument of body and mind, and as a source for creative practice and the poetics of the human being through dancing, voicing, writing and reading.

The workshop is a collaberation between Dansalliansen, Cullberg and PIS - Plattform för Improvisation och Somatik.

K.J. Holmes is an independent dance artist, singer, poet, actor and teacher based in Brooklyn, New York.  Her training began as a child with ballet and musical theater as well as judo and fencing. This blend of approaches is a basis for her consistent expression and art making.  Her dance studies at the New School for Social Research and with Andre Bernard (1979 -81) led her to improvisation and new dance techniques that were being explored at that time.  K.J. has helped to define, first as a student and now as a teacher and performer, many contemporary improvisational and somatic practices, collaborating with forerunners Simone Forti, Lisa Nelson and Image Lab, and Steve Paxton.  She continues to push into new frontiers of dance and theater with her love of research and experience.   Her dance/theater pieces have been presented in NYC at the Chocolate Factory Theater,  Danspace Project, The Kitchen, P.S. 122, Movement Research at the Judson Church, D.T.W., Dixon Place, University Settlement, Warren Street Performance Loft, The Present Company, The Thalia Theater at Symphony Space, the Joyce Soho and the Vision Jazz Festival, as well as nationally and internationally.

K.J. attended the certificate program of The School for Body-Mind Centering with Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen (1995-1999); is a graduate of Satya Yoga, studying with yogi Sondra Loring (2007), the 2 year Sanford Meisner acting training at the Esper Studio NYC studying with master teacher Terry Knickerbocker (2009), and has an Ayurvedic certification training under the mentorship of Dr. Naina Marballi.  The play between these studies is essential to her current practices.