Our physical tools are only as good as our mental ones and in the making of dances these must work together. The realms of mind available to us determine, along with physical capabilities, the range and potential for an improvisational artist; it defines our palette of possibilities as well as our performance clarity. In this class, I will teach students how to deeply sense both the body and the mind, how to be present and wide awake enough to balance mind in relationship to body so that creative freedom is at its optimum. We will learn about directing energy flow, touching space, changing size and using our senses in multiple ways in order to develop the experience of boundlessness. It is often said that imagination is limitless, yet as dancers, we are body bound…until mind and creative experience are fully present in the body.

Through improvisational exercises, scores and a weaving of open movement with Contact Improvisation, dancers will learn improvisational tools in context with the material.