Tanzfabrik
Berlin
School
School
School
School
Kreuzberg 1
Möckernstr. 68
10965 Berlin
School
School
Photo: Harry Jordan

W-08 / What moves us (fully booked)

Workshop with Kirstie Simson
In the frame of Winter Tanz 2018/19

An opportunity to engage with Kirstie and her passionate interest in the liberating experience of dance improvisation and the exploration of freedom. Imagine what our relationship would be to dancing if we had no prior notion about what the moving body should look or feel like. Participants work beyond culturally conditioned expectations and other limitations. Celebrating movement by using practices that Kirstie has developed over thirty-five years of teaching dance improvisation. Kirstie draws her from her knowledge of Contact Improvisation, dance techniques, the Alexander Technique, Aikido, Meditation and her extensive experience of improvisation in performance. Her work explores the huge potential of the body’s response to the primal urge to move, inspired by the energy released through human interaction, physical challenge and a daring to go beyond inherent ideas of limitation. There is deep inspiration and rigor in a practice of improvisation that posits vulnerability at its heart. Developing the skills to be able to care for, engage, respect and respond to that state of vulnerability in oneself and others gives life to improvisation that is powerful and transformative. This is the work that Kirstie engenders through facilitated exercises, open time for play and exploration, movement scores, observations and discussion. Much of the work is experienced through partnering and connection with others, balanced with solo time for processing and reflection. Kirstie’s art form is her life practice, and she shares insights gleaned from many years experience of loving and living dance improvisation.

Kirstie Simson

Kirstie Simson is renowned as an excellent teacher, a captivating performer and a leading light in the field of Dance Improvisation. For the past thirteen years she has been a tenured professor in the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois. In August 2020 Kirstie returned to her home base in Wales with plans to continue sharing her work though with curtailed international travel. She is excited to be starting an involvement with the Black Mountains College, a local college where a curriculum of planet-centric education will be launched in 2021 for building a better future. www.kirstiesimson.com

Level: Movement experience
In English
Not barrier-free