>DANCE AND RESEARCH
, as part of the "ontemporaneo" (Contemporary Dance and Research) program
Twice-weekly training
CLASS STRUCTUREEach class begins with a warm-up focused on listening, breathing, and preparing the body. Depending on the lesson, the work unfolds in three main directions:
-Contemporary technique and floorwork, a training system that integrates technique and choreographic exploration to develop a fluid and adaptable body in relation to space, through careful management of weight, effort, and kinetic energy.
-Improvisation and composition, to develop physical and mental awareness by deconstructing technique through exercises focused on tone, rhythm, and spatial awareness, in order to enhance expressiveness, stage presence, and collective interaction, all in support of communication, expression, and poetry in relation to the context.
-“Contact,” as a practice that integrates bodywork, partnering, and elements of contact improvisation, to dance—through touch—a relational body, developing greater sensitivity, the ability to listen, intention, and structure.
Much of the training is informed by the principles of the Axis Syllabus, an interdisciplinary framework that integrates physiology, biomechanics, anatomy, anthropology, neuroscience, and physics to support efficient and sustainable movement.
The field of contemporary dance is vast. Here, the intention is to engage with the body in all its complexity—in an accessible, structured, and enjoyable way—fostering a vocabulary that integrates contemporary technique, floorwork, instant composition, bodywork, somatic practices, presence exercises, contact improvisation, partnering, and choreographic composition. This approach seeks to cherish the preciousness of the joy of movement and to preserve the body’s physical structures in a functional and integrated way—that is, in a manner that fulfills the intentions driving dance while maintaining awareness of and respect for the body. Applying the principlesof the Axis Syllabus© to movement significantly supports the realization of these intentions, while the quality of perception and presence in relation to other bodies and space also draws upon principles from the fields of Craniosacral Biodynamics, Biodynamic Mindfulness, and Somatics. Training in the management of weight and points of support in relation to kinetic potential, in the relationship with rhythm and space, in coordination, and in physical contact facilitates the goal of moving efficiently. We could define “efficient movement” as skill, alertness, responsiveness, adaptability, listening, observation, the ability to make intuitive choices that support the effectiveness of actions and relationships, and an intimate and ever-changing dialogue between the internal and the external. It is on this foundation that the conscious, honest, and organic construction of movement takes shape in its technical, creative, and performative aspects.
Improvisation and composition
The art of improvisation is a language driven by invisible intentions, one that requires dedication and care. Mastering the tools that underlie and drive events determines the effectiveness of the gesture, the action, and the relationships at play. The communicative, expressive, and poetic act is driven by an internal logic composed of principles and (boundless) boundaries. While a body that improvises can signify many things, in this context we refer to a body that is intentionally present within the perceived space, driven by the desire to be there in a way that is receptively active and actively receptive. An attitude of non-judgment and curiosity accompanies the process. The principles, which stem from experience, originate from various fields such as Instant Composition, Dance Theater, Somatics, the Axis Syllabus archive, Wisdom Practices, and Biodynamic Presence.
Contact Improvisation
Contact improvisation is an ever-evolving practice that expresses itself in relationship with the earth that supports us, with open space in all directions, with us, with other bodies. It investigates physical laws such as gravity, momentum, inertia and how these laws can be applied to one or multiple masses (bodies) mutually in contact during movement. It is a dance of communication, listening, risk, research and surprise. A dance of contact improvisation, always different and always unique, inhabiting and generating from subtle sensations.
Axis Syllabus
The Axis Syllabus (AS) is a repository of information regarding the use, preparation, treatment, structure, function, limitations and potential of the human body in motion. It is a refined and accessible reference system, an orientation map in the vast territory of the body. Often confused with a dance method or technique, AS is actually a set of principles and applications that have efficient movement as their goal. The archive integrates information from a variety of fields such as biomechanics, anatomy, physiology, anthropology, neuroscience, physics, and relates incessantly to empirical experience. Such information is cyclically compared, reworked, updated, is conveyed with careful terminological care, and can be applied to any technique or method, as well as to everyday life.
AS was consolidated in the late 1990s through the careful and passionate work of choreographer, dancer, pedagogue Frey
Faust and to the contributions of an international network of artists, therapists, scientists, and movement practitioners who over time have gathered around Frey and continue to nurture the research. AS has over time become a vast international network and platform for research and movement for ASIRN, Axis Syllabus International Research Network.
Sensitive Dance®
Elements of Sensitive Dance® is a movement practice that expresses the organic organization and presence of the body-mind system. Through the search for a renewed sense of grounding, guidance through touch, and connection with the breath, it allows for greater clarity in the directions that guide the body in space, greater awareness of what manifests in the body moment by moment, leading to the transposition of dance expression into the space of relationship. It was developed by dancer Claude Coldy and osteopaths Jean Louis and Marie Dupuy.
