Spirit and Technique of Contact Improvisation ~ 11 Week Series with Toni Craige
Schedule
Wed Feb 08 2023 at 07:00 pm to 09:00 pm
Location
Shared Visions Retreat Center - Murphey School | Durham, NC
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ELEVEN-WEEK OPEN-LEVEL CI SERIES WITH TONI CRAIGEWednesday Nights
February 8th-April 26th, no class March 1st
7-9pm
Shared Visions Retreat Center
3717 Murphy School Road, Durham, NC
This series provides an immersive dive into the fundamental skills, concepts, and techniques of Contact Improvisation practice, providing a solid foundation for a lifetime of play and practice. It is a great opportunity to get your CI practice started for the first time or to deepen your engagement with the form. An incredible group of humans will come together to dance, grow, and learn together over 3 months!
We will start from the ground up building awareness, listening, trust, and safety. By the end of the series you’ll be playing freely in solo, duet, and group improvisations, and finding your flow with weight sharing, momentum, and lifts. Over the course of the 11 weeks you’ll gain the skills you need to:
* Navigate emotional safety, boundaries, and consent in touch-based dancing.
* Share weight safely.
* Move with more efficiency, ease, and creative expression.
*Finding many doorways into a dance - working with the elements, body systems, and imagination to find fresh states and pathways.
* Developing dances slowly from a place of listening through bodywork and specific practices of attention.
* CI as a social form - bringing our whole selves to the practice and discovering the play, rest, and vitality that the form can bring.
THE MONDAY/WEDNESDAY ECOSYSTEM:
This series is happening in parallel with an eleven-week Master Class Series on Monday nights in the downtown LAC space geared towards dancers at at least the intermediate level of their practice. This Wednesday series is open to dancers of all levels (including beginners!). Some dancers might take both classes, and others will choose one or the other depending on their availability and experience level.
MONDAY NIGHT FB EVENT LINK: https://fb.me/e/37BKEaDRB
There is a 15% discount available for those who register for both series. Register for each class separately and use the same discount for each class: 15%MONWEDCI
An additional 15% of is available to those who register by January 16th: 15%EARLYFEBCI
You can get 30% off of each class by registering for both classes early: 30%BOTHEARLYFEB
See full CI offerings at LAC here: https://www.livingartscollective.com/contact-improvisation/
See Toni’s full season of offerings here: https://www.tonicraige.com/currentclasses
ABOUT CONTACT IMPROVISATION:
Contact Improvisation is an improvisational art-sport with technique focused on touch, weight-sharing, momentum, and an ethic of experimentation with both physical forces and relational dynamics. It’s also a container to research perceptual flexibility, state-shifting, intimacy, mutuality, community, and embodied poetics. While duets are often the most known or visible aspect of CI practice, we practice partnering with physical forces, several people at once, the entire group, imagery, and the space around us. Professional dancers train in the form to improve their partnering skills and generate new material. Amateurs find community, strength, softness, agility, expression, and body-mind-spirit growth and integration. While anyone can touch and improvise without taking a class, the techniques presented in this class will open the doors to more connected and athletic dances, give you basic fluency in a language of interaction shared by practitioners all over the world, and build the groundwork for a community of deep practice here in the Triangle.
DETAILS:
* Please arrive 5-10 minutes early to be ready to begin at 7:00.
* No experience necessary. All body types, ages, and abilities are invited to participate. We will be rolling and moving on the floor and transitioning up and down off of the floor. If you have concerns about the physicality of the class, email Toni to ask if it seems like a good fit for you. [email protected]
* Wear comfortable clothing that covers your shoulders and knees (a t-shirt plus sweats or pajama pants is ideal). Layers are also nice since activities will range from quiet and meditative to vigorous.
* Knee pads will be helpful for the class– there will be some for sale for $18/pair, or you can purchase here. https://dancekneepads.com/products/natural-kneepads-pair
PRICING/REGISTRATION:
* Class is $220/330/440 sliding scale for the 11 classes. $330 is the suggested amount, $220 is for those with less access to resources, and $440 is for those with more access to resources. Please pay the highest amount you can comfortably afford. If you’d like to come but cannot afford the lowest price tier, please reach out for a further discount.
* Generally speaking, you must register for the full series in order to participate-- we've found that having a stable group builds safety and depth. More advanced movers can drop in on a case-by-case basis. Email Toni to inquire - [email protected]
* There is a 15% discount available for those who register for both the Monday and Wednesday series. Register for each class separately and use the same discount for each class: 15%MONWEDCI
* An additional 15% of is available to those who register by January 16th: 15%EARLYFEBCI
* You can get 30% off of each class by registering for both classes early: 30%BOTHEARLYFEB
* Register here to secure your spot - the class is capped at 24 and will likely fill up! https://livingartscollective.as.me/contactimprovisation
COVID-19 PRECAUTIONS:
Humans of all vaccination statuses are welcome. Masking is optional. Please follow CDC guidelines in the case of symptoms, exposure, and recovery.
https://www.cdc.gov/coro.../2019-ncov/your-health/index.html
ABOUT THE TEACHER:
Toni is a bodyworker, counselor, dancer, and passionate explorer of embodied healing working in Durham, NC.
She works with clients 1:1 with touch and movement through her BODYWORK PRACTICE and remotely with somatic and creative inquiry through her MENTAL HEALTH COUNSELING PRACTICE. As a DANCE TEACHER, she works to build individual and community resilience through group movement classes. Her background as a CHOREOGRAPHER AND PERFORMER infuses all of her work with an appreciation for beauty, imagination, deep feeling, and creativity. Tonicraige.com
Toni has been practicing Contact Improvisation since 2006 and has had a regular teaching practice of the form in the Triangle area since 2012. She completed her Masters of the Fine Arts in Choreography and Performance at Smith College in Northampton, MA in 2020 and her BA in Dance at Wesleyan University in 2009.
COLLABORATION WITH LIVING ARTS COLLECTIVE:
The series is presented in collaboration with Living Arts Collective, a hub for creative community in Durham, NC.
Website here: https://www.livingartscollective.com/
CI events here: https://www.livingartscollective.com/contact-improvisation/
Photo credit - Kathleen Hunter
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Where is it happening?
Shared Visions Retreat Center - Murphey School, 3717 Murphy School Rd,Durham,NC,United StatesEvent Location & Nearby Stays:
