Eszter Gál is a dancer, teacher, working at the University of Theater and Film Arts in Budapest, co-directs the program of the Kontakt Budapest Studio and works as a project manager for the EU project LEAP (Learn Exchange Apply Practice). She has been organizing the annual International Improvisation Festival in Budapest since 2002 (www.kontaktbudapest.hu). She is a certified Skinner Releasing Technique teacher at the Introductory and Ongoing level and has been practicing, studying and teaching releasing work and improvisation including CI for 20 years. She is a member of Co. Tánceánia, a Hungarian mixed ability group, setting up performances, creating dance works and organizing events for the company. From year 2011, she has been part of EU funded International projects on documentation of Contemporary Dance Education, IDOCDE (www.idocde.net), creating and developing a website for sharing, discussing and archiving our work. As a dance teacher and improvisation performer she is grateful to have met and studied with many unique artists / teachers and thankful for being able to study the moving self and be inspired by: Gyula Berger, Eva Karczag, Lisa Kraus, Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith, Danny Lepkoff, Mark Tompkins, Lisa Nelson, Stephanie Skura, Joan Skinner, Keith Hennessy, Martin Keogh, Peter Pleyer, Nina Martin, Nita Little.

Unfolding presence

I am interested in researching CI from listening to detailed inner impulses; being taken by high energetic and disorienting dances to contact performance dialogues. Performance has been at the heart of its practice since the beginning. Although the practice and development of CI has been going through many phases, (re)investigating it from the aspect of being seen can recharge the lived dancing moments. Staying open for the physical dialogue with an open state of mind while being watched and taking a leap towards composing will be our main focus in this workshop. The classes will begin with fine tuning into the whole self with releasing work and image guided movement explorations that can prepare us for the unknown. For supporting safety we will practice CI basics, such as being off the vertical as a home to be, “feeding” into the touch, support and give weight while moving in and out of the floor. We will practice being witnessed, playing with simple scores and following the emerging compositions.