LANGUAGE OF SENSATION
“We’re all alone in this together” – Steve Paxton from a class in 1995

We always move in relation to the earth (ground), from which we get support, and to the air (space) which invites us to move through it.
When we dance alone, we receive the support of the earth mostly directly through the floor.
CI offers the the additional possibility to play with the support of the earth as it presents itself to us through other living bodies.
In this sense, CI can be considered as a solo practice. I experience myself having a dance, a solo, with the earth (ground) and the air (space) however they present themselves. I dance in, and offer my dancing body to, an environment which includes other moving human bodies.

A workshop for those who love to dance contact improvisation and are interested in exploring somatic approaches to expand the possibilities of their dancing. We will move between exercises aiming to clarify the sensations which lie at the heart of CI and exploring scores that point towards different types of CI vocabulary.

The idea of this approach is to minimise the teaching of set material (moves, tricks, etc) and instead to maximise the opportunities of participants to discover material for themselves through their own research and exploration.

Very simply, I set up calm and simple experiments in which we can experience a range of sensations without any demand to move very much. And then we dance a lot. Often there are unusual rules for the dances. Sometimes there are none and you can improvise freely.

While the workshop aims to support the development of our CI movement vocabulary, it does so through enriching the sensory skills that enable us to improvise with each other.

Malcom Manning

As a teacher, I share my inquiry of what it is to be a thinking, feeling, moving subject in this world. I do that through setting up a dialogue with ourselves and our environment in which we are empowered to be our own experts. I specialise in teaching the application of somatic approaches to contemporary dance practices. I’m also interested in how this work can be applied wider society.

I am certified to teach the Feldenkrais Method® and the Body And Earth work developed by Andrea Olsen and Caryn McHose. I studied for two years at SNDO Amsterdam and have an MA in Dance Pedagogy. I’ve also made extensive studies of Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, Movement Shiatsu, Body Mind Centering and experiential anatomy. More info at www.movetolearn.com