Juha Viitamäki is an improviser from Helsinki with a passion for contact improv since 17 years. He loves the squeeze, the float, the cutting into the space, the yielding to no-mind foolishness and flow. Initially his contact was influenced by aikido, capoeira, and contemporary dance, in this order. During the past two years Juha has fallen in love with couple-dancing, especially with Brazilian Zouk.

Capoeira-influenced Contact

Capoeira-influenced Contact is a melting and weaving together of two movement forms, until all there is left is an in-and-out breathing dance: all the depth, sensitivity and juicy weight transfer of good Contact Improv with some playfully spicy and friendly aggression from Capoeira. This dance embraces in itself a gentle version of Capoeira with added softness, listening, and an expanded, fully relaxed floor support.

During the class we will progress as a group from gentle floor awareness to the sublime moments of two spirals tasting the space, then flowing into each other. First spiraling around one another (out-of-contact) in an easy-going leg-spinning dance, then zooming in and sticking on to the spirals of others for some nourishing and lush CI. The zooming in is facilitated by a subtle slowdown and expansion beginning just before the dancers re-engage in contact.