The Performance Jam Contact Ensemble.
5 Day Intensive Workshop by Scott Wells from San Francisco

WHEN: November 2-6, 2009, 12:00-18:00
WHERE: Schwelle 7 Studio, Berlin / Germany
WEB: http://www.schwelle7.de/Scott%20Wells.html
REGISTRATION: xs4jan (at) gmx.de
PRICE: 200 EUR
SLEEPING: We can host up workshop participants in our special sleeping cocoons. The cost is 10 EUR a night per person.

The Performance Jam Contact Ensemble.

I'd like to create an atmosphere that has more intention and group focus than a jam, but less stringent than a formal performance. We'll develop our ensemble work and gain performance skills and resources. Contact Improvisation will be an element of our practice, an element to mix with soloing, ensemble and compositional work.

We will take single elements (e.g. a flying skill) into scores.
We will use this progression:

1) Connecting with yourself, using body sensations or images as they come up or the stories in your head. Noticing impulses to move—being able to feel your impulses, and pick which ones to follow.

2) Connecting with others (Ensemble), Awareness of others in the group. For example, f your working with levels, can you track the others’ levels as you move. Mirroring or copying others is one of our skills for this.

3) What is interesting to watch? Connecting with the watchers (audience). Do you sense what is interesting for them to see? Do you sense what place onstage will be psychologically dynamic OR make the picture of what is happening see-able. This is composition.

Scott Wells will support this score through teaching contemporary dance technique, improvisation, contact and partnering:

Contact Improvisation – Basic Skills and Thrills
With trust + skill, pleasure + technique we will venture into the realms of contact. We will go for the pure contact moment and there will be lots of practical work for jumping, catching, landing, a variety of handstands and acrobatics. This skills based class is meant as preparation for jamming, choreography and to give you the tools to have your dance.

Contact Improvisation – Flying ≠ Jumping
Lose your head to fly contact improvisation: Flight patterns, Fluid Acrobatics and Pure Contact
We will work for clear, satisfying contact improvisation in which pleasure is the first teacher. We will practice flying, catching, landing, fluid acrobatics, deft maneuvers. For the acrobatics in particular everyone will work at their own level and will learn best by building group safety and trust—I think everyone will do something they never expected. We will practice integrating the flying and acrobatics into the contact flow. That is: aerial interactions that increase the contact. Jumping ≠ Flying because jumping is is a muscular action, whereas flying is a joint nervous system based and is affected greatly by emotions and attitude.

Wrestling with Affection
We start with seeking the softest connective contact. Then we venture into wrestling accessing a wide range of feelings, play, and sensuality. Introduction to techniques for safe and aggressive contact including soft takedowns, resistance and collaboration. Safety, listening, ease and quick reflexes are emphasized for this style of contact improvisation.

Partnering – Physics of empathy
We will learn partnering from Scott Wells’ repertory. This will be contemporary partnering grounded in contact and air-born in dreams of flight. We will use improvisational tuning exercises to get in sync and learn set phrases that combine solo dancing, flying lifts, and fluid acrobatics. I will breakdown some ambitious lifts into workable steps. And approach flying and acrobatics as exercises in emotion and orientation and so give support to each as you expand your abilities. We go for honest moments of impact and desire; to articulate the delicious, perform the intimate, understand when to use force, where to soften, how to be empty and why we dance with each other.

Material developed in the workshop will be presented to the public in an informal showing at the end of the week, Friday, 6 at 8:30 pm

CV Scott Wells

In 1981 Scott he discovered the pleasure of contact improvisation shortly after becoming obsessed with the struggles of modern dance. He stuck with both and currently directs a company in San Francisco and tours annually to Europe. In 2005 Scott received the San Francisco Award for Outstanding Choreography. and was selected by Dance Magazine as “one of the 25 To Watch in 2005”. He is highly regarded contact improvisor. “an electrifying style of contact” SF WEEKLY. Scott has trained extensively in contemporary dance and the Alexander technique. and has an MFA in dance (the highest academic degree for dance). He has taught at festivals in Turkey, Canada, Seattle (SFADI), Vienna (Impustanz), Romania (Trans-Contact), and Germany (Freiburg Contact Festival as a main teacher) and will teach this year at the Budapest Kontact Festival and the Barcelona Contact Improvisation Festival.

Scott’s style of contact is athletic and emphasizes freedom of movement, flying, fluid acrobatics (easy to advanced), safety, precision, pleasure and technique. What students often like best in Scott's classes is the variance between the meditative, listening, slow and sensual dancing and the fun, playful, very physical dancing. And students appreciate how the scary or advanced moves are safe, relaxed and made possible.

Schwelle 7
Uferstraße 6, HH 1. OG
13357 Berlin/Germany
Phone: +49 (0) 30-4736 3500
http://www.schwelle7.de
Email: info (at) felixruckert.de
TRAFFIC LINK: UB Nauener Platz, Pankstr, Osloer Str, SB Gesundbrunnen