Alicia Grayson has been passionately involved with dancing, teaching and performing CI for the past 37 years. She has taught contact improvisation as an adjunct faculty at George Washington University, University of Denver, Naropa University and Shenandoah University. She teaches CI, yoga and pilates classes in Boulder, Colorado and regularly travels nationally and internationally to teach.
Her long time practices of authentic movement, yoga and pilates, and her love of nature are important influences on her dancing and teaching. She is a certified Hakomi therapist, certified perinatal somatic attachment therapist and certified
Women’s Centered Transformational Coach and Facilitator. She delights in exploring and discovering new depths to contact improvisation and related disciplines and is particularly interested in the intersection of physics and expression and the mind/body relationship.
Somatic into Contact Improvisation - Intensive
CONNECTION AND CHOICE THROUGH SYSTEM OF SUPPORT
In this intensive we will research 4 body systems: skeletal, respiratory, fascial and digestive, and how attention to each one can support more connection and choice in our dancing. Each day we will highlight one of the body systems through solo
and hands on research that will evolve into contact improvisation. In addition to investigating each of the body systems we will explore the interconnectivity of the systems and how as we dance our attention can flow between systems to weave a beautiful tapestry of interconnectivity and creative choices.
Themes we will explore:
Skeletal: ground and rebound, accuracy in alignment through the bones and joints, whole skeleton organization to earth and space through the point of contact. Respiratory: pathway of breath from the tip of the nostrils to the pelvic floor,
lightness, space, inner/outer, offering/receiving, yes/and/improvisation Fascial: the largest sensory system, nuanced communication about weight, direction and tempo with ourselves and our partners through different layers of
fascial touch(skin, superficial, deep, periosteum).
Digestive: relationship of mouth/jaw to the belly and the pelvic floor, receiving nourishment/offering expression, differentiating areas of contrasting tone in the body