Action and Emptiness / CI Workshop Helsinki / Francisco Borges & Reimar Wen Shen

Name: Action and Emptiness / CI Workshop Helsinki / Francisco Borges & Reimar Wen Shen
Start: 2026-04-03T17:30:00+03:00
Location: Kaapelitehdas

Schedule

Fri, 03 Apr, 2026 at 05:30 pm

UTC+03:00

Location

Kaapelitehdas | Helsinki, ES

𝗔 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸𝗲𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 — 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗯𝗲𝗰𝗼𝗺𝗲𝘀 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱.

𝗔𝗖𝗧𝗜𝗢𝗡 & 𝗘𝗠𝗣𝗧𝗜𝗡𝗘𝗦𝗦 — HELSINKI
Action & Emptiness is an exploration of consciousness, perception, the body, creation, and shared action — 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒕𝒐𝒓𝒚 𝒐𝒇 𝒅𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒆 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒅𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏.
During the workshop, we study how form — what becomes visible in Contact Improvisation — is born from the formless: the subtle, invisible field of perception, and the movements of attention, intention, and physical action.
The work moves from solo movement meditations to partnered and ensemble work, ranging from stillness to dynamic contact improvisation.
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ABOUT THE WORKSHOP
Our practice draws inspiration from Eastern contemplative and martial traditions: Aikido, the study of universal energy (Ki); Vipassana meditation, the practice of seeing and being with what is; and Daoism, with its understanding of emptiness, the unity of polarities, and the wholeness of body–mind.
These practices come together in Contact Improvisation through a unique framework that allows for a precise study of shared perception, timing, and agency — and how movement emerges from them.
Improvisation connects us directly to our creative power as human beings — an invitation to wake up from pattern-based existence into wakeful participation in the conversation, the dance of life.
𝗔𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 & 𝗘𝗺𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗲𝘀𝘀 𝗯𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴𝘀 𝗺𝗲𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗰𝗹𝗮𝗿𝗶𝘁𝘆 𝗶𝗻𝘁𝗼 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗵𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘁 𝗼𝗳 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝘁𝗮𝗰𝘁 𝗜𝗺𝗽𝗿𝗼𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗮𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻, 𝗲𝘅𝗽𝗹𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗵𝗼𝘄 𝗽𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗰𝗲𝗽𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗴𝗶𝘃𝗲𝘀 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗲 𝘁𝗼 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗿𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻.
We examine the Yin–Yang dynamic within any given interaction, balancing receptive stillness and active engagement. We believe that holding both aspects within ourselves, and within any given dance, is the ground for rich and alive dancing (with any body).
We are also interested in the Daoist principle of Wu-Wei — effortless effort, doing non-doing, often referred to as a flow state — where perception, decision, and action are no longer experienced as separate.
Inspired by Steve Paxton’s “third entity” concept, we explore moments where boundaries blur and a common body emerges in a shared, co-creative state of dance.
“It is the state of agreement between the two of you that neither one is leading… the two of you are leading.”
— Steve Paxton
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SCHEDULE
Friday | 18.00–21.00
Embodied consciousness — arriving in a common, safe space — the ground of being
A preparation for our nervous systems to feel safe in ourselves and with each other, allowing the depth of the work to unfold over the coming days.
Saturday | 10.00–14.00, 16.00–20.00
Emptiness and releasing the habitual body — peripheral awareness — the energy that moves (Ki) — subtle body
A discovery of principles that support readiness and availability while tuning into deeper, invisible layers of the dance.
Sunday | 10.00–13.00, 16.00–18.00
19.00–21.00 — Open Jam
Common body — backspace — shared emptiness & shared action
A movement from solo to that which is common. Moving and being moved from a shared perception, birthing shared action.
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LEVEL
The workshop is an open-level space. The material is accessible to beginners, and those with experience — even with years-long practice of Contact Improvisation — will continue to discover subtler and deeper aspects of their dance, much as we do when we practice our own material.
Slowness, not-knowing, and pausing are welcomed as part of the practice.
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PRICE
The event is organised and supported by Kontakti Improvisaatio Helsinki Ry. (Helsinki Contact Improvisation Association)
Price
Whole weekend: 45€ Members / 65€ Non Members

Please message us if you have financial difficulties and would like to participate. We appreciate those with heartfelt devotion to the practice and want to enable you to join the work.

REGISTER HERE
https://forms.gle/CYUGmiSjZBnzNcz19

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ABOUT THE FACILITATORS
Francisco & Reimar share a deep bond — a path that began with Francisco as Reimar’s first Contact Improvisation teacher and quickly grew into a friendship centred around shared practice and dance as a way of life. They have spent years researching together — in studios, nature, deep water, and in holding retreat and workshop spaces.
They have collaborated in formats such as Vipassana in Contact, OceanDance, Contemplative Contact Retreat, Vipassana & Embodied Insight, and Action & Emptiness. They are long-term students of Sasha & Dolores (towards.contact), Katya Basalaeva, Sasha Bezrodnova, Bari Kim, No An, and the Human Garden.
Today, they live together at Quinta Ten Chi in Portugal, on a shared journey of fatherhood and the creation of ASSEMBLY — a home for embodied inquiry and collaborative action.

REIMAR WEN SHEN
Reimar’s approach to dance is deeply shaped by his experience in meditation and martial arts. As a dedicated Vipassana practitioner and founder of vipassanaathome.org, Contact Improvisation is his embodied, relational, and action-centred laboratory for awareness — a practice of deep listening.
With a background in Taekwondo (1st Dan) and Aikido, which he practiced in Japan, he continues to explore effortless action and the state of being deeply relaxed, available, powerful, and precise in movement. As a Butō performer, he integrates the transpersonal and other dimensions of experience into his dance.

FRANCISCO BORGES
Francisco’s approach to dance is deeply shaped by his love for LOVE. He believes it is the strongest, most magnetic force capable of transforming lives and the world itself. His dance is courageous and daring.
Half mystic, poet, musician, and a secret admirer of the Beloved, he sees dance as a way to remember Spirit, reconnect, and re-ignite the fire of the heart.
Dancing with him, one never ceases to be surprised, overjoyed, humoured, and deeply understood. His path has taken him through Buddhism, Taoism, Aikido, secret doorways within himself, and now fatherhood. He ceaselessly creates containers for embodied inquiry, rediscovering meaning and connection to the secret place nobody can name — in community and practice.

LOCATION
Kaapelitehdas, studio C 4 / B2
Kaapeliaukio 3, 00180 Helsinki

(In the inner courtyard of Kaapelitehdas, in the back there is C-staircase. Come to the 4th floor. Studio C4 is right in front of you when you enter from stairs to hallway.)