humdance

samiamaman and gang performing 'a real femme battle' at Theatre 466

2011-05-02T04:01:00.001-07:00

top photo by christina houghton

bottom photo by elspeth fougere

community of touch: Discomfort Lab, Nov 21st

2010-11-17T13:31:00.000-08:00

looking at what makes us personally uncomfortable physically and psychologically in contact improvisation dances

exploring new ways of working with discomfort in the dance

challenging our own assumptions about what should be happening in the dance and personal patterns of response

Sunday, Nov 21st,
class 11am-12.30pm ($10)
jam 12.30-2.30pm (gold coin/s donation)

Old Folks Coronation Hall, Gundry St, Auckland

class facilitated by Val Smith
inquiries: 027 480 6614
thiswillalsochange@gmail.com

somatics and performance and study group

2010-11-11T03:08:00.000-08:00

somatics and performance study group is a coming together of independent dance performance practitioners interested in performance practice that engages with somatic embodiment processes. it is an experiment in community building around dance research into the relationship of/between somatics and performance. the intention is to share current research interests, experiment with ideas, dance with each other, talk about stuff and practice performing.

monday nights at pitt st methodist church basement space, auckland, 6-8.30pm ish

see facebook group for more details and notes from previous sessions.

Community of Touch Project

2010-08-29T19:26:00.000-07:00

Community of Touch Project aims to develop community around the expression and experience of touch; working experimentally, relationally, and creatively.

updates on this project will be added as posts

WCCIF 2010 teaching

2010-07-19T11:23:00.000-07:00

I led the following 3 sessions at WCCIF 2010

1. 'Relational Embodiment' - class

Long duet and trio explorations into the relational field of CI. Working with entering into awareness, listening, and ‘letting go’ into what emerges between us in the dance. We will be attending to the quality of how we manage our sense of self and each other in the dance, addressing our emerging judgments, assumptions, and ‘issues’ that arise.

2. 'Gender and CI' - Lab

Interested in the artificiality of traditional gender roles and how this affects our dance interactions in Contact Improvisation?
This lab will play with deconstructing presumptions about gender in order to transgress the bounds.

3. 'Touch/Response/Release' - Somatics series

Embodied Activism workshop sunday may 16th

2010-05-13T14:07:00.000-07:00

i'm giving a Contact Improv workshop as part of the Beyond Patriarchy conference at the U of O, Eugene, OR, this Sunday, called Embodied Activism (description below)
may 16th
1.10pm -2.40pm
its free, you are all welcome, its open to whoever
where: the workshop will be somewhere in the EMU building, go in the main doors and head straight to the Beyond Patriarchy Desk, right in front of you, they have programs which should list where the workshop is, i havnt heard yet where it will be.

The Beyond Patriarchy conference has some great presentations happening, you should check it out http://beyondpatriarchyconference.wordpress.com/

EMBODIED ACTIVISM: We will workshop what political activism means at the subjective level, through processes of embodiment. Using improvisation and movement exploration, we will investigate the field of inter-relational research. This workshop looks to draw out unrealized experiences around beliefs about our gendered bodies. How do we experience our self in relationship and proximity to others through the lens of gender identity? What can we learn about ourselves by being with others, and what are the implications of this? Embodied Activism is a way into confronting assumptions and judgments around social codes, and playing with new possibilities of behavior and ways of being.

manila endings

2010-04-22T14:26:00.000-07:00

performing poetics

2010-04-22T14:16:00.000-07:00

manila startings

the horizon is sparsely dotted with fishing boats
as evenly as these holes.
O O O O

to the right, a burgeoning grey and thick event, clouds being sucked to a triangular point.
to the left, god-rays from the suns and dog-walkers.
to the left, sunrays from the gods, and dogs walking.

the waves roll inwards and upwards, inwards and upwards
and as the water approaches land the wind pushes it backwards.
the wind pushes it backwards. and as the water approaches land the wind pushes it back, pushes it back.

and birds. and birds.

dog. dog. dogs. Dird (bird). Bog (dog).

dunewards, frogs and birds.

there are spaces
and
names of spaces

lines are perfectly placed for you
(humming a melody in the shape of these words)

the roof delineates love from lines
speaking truths
and shakespears

and lines and holes
are seams and joins
lines and holes
are dust and pages

(optional insert or delete in the moment)

the beginning of a story

holes in the sand, indentations of rain.

interstitial space between dunes and shore
a shore line, line, line, , ____ , …..

line. notes about

line. clam diggers

(line) barking
(line) nervous sniffing
(lie) ways of moving
a fly, a poo, stick, frog songs, sand, wood, rain (neil).

When flying there is air.

(delete any or all of this)

reflections on relational art-ing after "appointments"

2010-04-20T14:07:00.000-07:00

I’m interested in
Social contexts, and the expectations that we have of and in social settings,

Possibly
Spaces to see your self, like mirrors of memes

a context of ‘appointment room’
am i
Bodyworker, Minister/Shaman, Doctor, Counsellor….Teacher?
Or
What is art?
Is this art?
community art
Community dance
Relational dance art

Names are spaces
and spaces are names

Outside of spaces and names are aces and ames

An appointment card with questions and choices and spaces for.
Does this set up certain kinds of expectations (of).
Expectations of these contexts not met?
Not attended to, by Me, ME. Who?

What is your experience of yourself, of me?
In a moment of expectation – what arises for you – attending to this material
Attending to what patterns in ourselves are being triggered, behavioral (?) – awkward, excitement, anger, pulling, desire for, abandonment, relief, nervous.

Where (in ourselves) do we occupy ourselves in an uncomfortable situation, - how do we embody ourselves and experience ourselves ?
Appointment with self.

note: everything is appropriate here.

A study of self – and an experiment with allowing other ways of being.
to be present – outside of social expectations, just being with what is, and being with the unknown, as it is knowing itself. through
What possibilities lie in this space, together, with.

Divining the divide
Feeling into the between space, the space between us,
What comes up here, now. Between us.
Being with that.
What is this divide – tuning, (forks) til harmonious resonating
So as communication can take place
At the level of energetic flow/pathways
Or perhaps somewhere else if not tapping,
Eyes seeing, and feeling what is.
It feels right to do this….or to do that….or nothing/all.

Divine (discover, deduce – infer, reason, figure out, work out, realize)

feeling into you,
is this into, or onto, my projections and assumptions and meaning/making/mind always activating itself.
divining ; Tarot, palms
Splitting the deck, and dividing, to lay down, some sparking

IMBUE

Expectations of social contexts,

How do you experience yourself in this context/did you, in this moment?

Identities.

Bridges. Separation/s. (?)

Interstitial spaces
- the fluidity of meetings, connections, spaces.

How to Map Distance
- the space between.
measurements between you and i.
measuring feelings of awkwardness and ease,

Reports are; diagrams, compositions, paintings, voices.

Mapping intimacy – landmarks of connections.
How do we build connections with one another, building friendships, and new communities.
How do we deal with intimacy in the context of this, or that?
Communing with. with you, how do I know you and in what ways.

Dance art
Moving. With and within all of this.
I am moving me and I am moving you. We are moving space, worlds, and ways of ideas.
And this also.

appointments installation

2010-04-20T13:35:00.000-07:00

A Performance Installation for the Form/No Form Arts Alive Installation event at Synapsis Warehouse, Eureka, CA. Feb 6th 2010 6-10pm.

"Appointments"
set in a small room, upstairs in the warehouse,

sign up for an appointment of 15 minutes
with val smith

below is the writing component of the installation;

:Preparations for appointments

Arranging things in places,
Drawers to capture isolations, separations, of pens and papers in piles, possible gifts for those who come to feel
Themselves
Possibly
Spaces to see yourself, like mirrors of memes

Puddles with indentations of rain, dispersing, dispersing,
Settling in to performance ‘preparation’
This way of being, gently

Meg is at the library, both ways
I see the puddle grow, swell

Spacing out flyers for past and present events – full moon open house, drag pageant and threads/adrift.
This is called (Wolves, nighttime & the purpose of life
Sat 6th feb 2010, 7-10pm
At synapsis
47a, W 3rd, Eureka
Between A and commercial

Details, that spark neurosis, a piece of fluff that demarcates the clean desk top
It is picked and hidden behind, where they will not see,
Dirt and mistakes

I empty more thoughts, til the space says less, not empty but less,
a context of appointment room
Expectations of this contexts not met? Not attended to, by Me, ME.
What is your experience of yourself, me? In this moment of uncontextualised expectation.

Bodyworker, Minister/Shaman, Doctor, Counsellor….Teacher?
Or
Already known of, or quickly known of the openness to be, to play, of the game of this. Two people being together.
What is art?
Is this art?
Social community art.
Community dance art
other

Divining the divide
Feeling into the between space, the space between us,
What comes up here, now. Between us.
Being with that.
What is this divide – tuning, (forks) til harmonious resonating
So as communication can take place
At the level of energetic flow
Or perhaps somewhere else if this world cannot be tapped,
Eyes seeing, and feeling what is.
It feels right to do this….or to do that….or nothing/all.
.
.
feeling into you,
is this into, or onto, my projections and assumptions and meaning/making/mind always activating itself.
divining ; Tarot cards
Splitting the deck, and dividing, to lay down, some sparking

IMBUE

Expectations of social contexts,

11.
Meg. 6.20pm

The shadow of sound, the shadow side of hearing, shadow sounds,
The dark side of the auditory system
Dark side hearing
Swiveling, Tipping, head to hear sounds in shadow form, spiraling left to right, tipping off, staying right side, cos it feels right,
Hoping
For divinity to land,
This is it
Feeling eye hole emergings,
Smiling because of happiness emerging, and falling through into something guttural, through my intestines, the smile irrevealing, irrelevant, slipping out of focus, from surface to central axis, belly bulb,
We sit across from each other, face on, cushions underneath, seeing, being seen, eyes, noses, mouths, words, and soup, nesting next to and into the lamp, with the laced petticoat.

2.
Gingko. 7.10pm

Eyes, adrenalized walk, and heightened experience of self, awareness, clipping shoes and strut.
Enter and sit.
Its good, fine.
Little niggling glitches and separations, averting eyes, and diversions, from seeing/seen, dark eyes, no end or bottom to the sinking into, black holes,
Mouths, many variations on a ‘smile’,
Doors slamming
Heads quickly turning,
And testing self to see how long one can stay looking not blinking, holding breath as if under water,
I end this, \ after sips of water to segment time, and uncomfortable niches,
Who wins,
I read your cards, three, left, right centre, and look at you, meaning/making/mind without words or images, knowing, feeling, connections without
downstairs, questions, about “What does that do?”, “looking”
I wonder also, but avert.
Softly, kindly, this is knowing,

3.
Report 1.
I dance a report briefly of meg and gingko, to get a feel, I am of this essence,
A mapping,
Softly mapping, spaces, feelings, sights, assumptions.
Meanings, of relating,
How am I in this,
Where do I go with you?
Divining this divide

4.
Laura. 7.30/40
Wild animals and eyes, easy to see U/you, to see you, you have so much life inside, I enjoy you, you say you have a drawing for me, but that you forgot to bring it, heart opening, gift giving, delightful, receiving that thoughtfulness, and sparking space to give you pencil and card to draw, you begin to draw, me, it is a somehow strange moment of recurring the life modeling scene, I have a realization of my uncomfort with this attention to me, and it opens a streaming of energy in you, through your arms, out your fingers, like your concentrated energy starts to move, and this feels like an opening so I dance a little for/of you, I had also before also, a few depictions of the feeling of you in my own body, directions of moving inside you, towards centre, a drawing in, a diminishing, , I am touching my eye, there is something in this, you draw a third eye, on me,

5.
Bev. 7.40/50
Smile, smiles, smiling, heart, bloom, what is connection, and this is it, fasting heart, a familiar knowing,
sippingwater and each time
I desire
our glasses
to
clink, a toast,
celebrating this, us, now.
You wear a hat, an orange hat with a star in the centre , I want to touch, it, you. You hand it to me, I hand/le it and, and and, try it on, I’m not sure if you are laughing at me or with me, I am happy, joy, celebrating being with, now. Cheers. Eyes seeing. Falling deeper into,
I offer my seat to you,
you pour tea
and we sip again,
cheers,
its funny, but deeper than that.
'the event' is holding your wrists and falling deeply into feeling,
there are some jerks jerking that erupt energetically, a feeling of nervous system awakening, or being over stimulated? Just being with and enjoying.
You ask to feel my hair/head as i/we emerge from wrist/doors, I offer my head to you, laying my forehead down with a clunk to fully immerse in it, delightful, I wonder if flakes of skin have fallen, or hands are slimy from oils, but only after looking up to see your eyes and realizing how relaxed I had become and let go so much, so quickly, you are delighting, thanks. Happy. more.

6.
Meg. 7.50/8
Fastemergenceintoself,
like a billowing cloud,
billl looow iiiiing
for you I am me, this me, thankyou, ‘thankgod’, fast billowing inwardly, circles puffing outwardly, becoming.
Two eyes with variations, a continuation of the previous session, and this time I can go much deeper, quicker, touching next to your left eye and along to your temple, sure.
What is deeper? And why does it feel right to say so, in relation to shallow, the feeling/being of this is deeper inside of me closer to my ‘axis’ centre.
Touch belly, sternum, clavicle trace, billowing out, a triangle calling for sternum, placement of dots, to form a triangle, more circles, or bubbles emerging, then strongly a tearingheartfeeling, not wanting you to leave, a strong desire to cling, don’t go,
beeeee here allllwayssssssssssss
quickly between your two skins together, hand between knees – a link to stu, and also a place of comfort, tightly held, supporting me/self. Thankyou. Crying quickly deeply , heart breaks open, then billowing out of it, cloudly, emerging, to soft comfort and happiness. Time moves quickly with you.

7.
Report 2.
Downstairs
Washing cups and updates with Gingko.
I see snacks and people, variations on hellos.
To enter the space
Christopher playing kindly on the edges and leslie’s crowd of little people
Little star
Lots of littles.>

Set up a corner to reflect and replay, represent (?) the appointments
My little maps are hindrances for me to connect, little naps.

What of this moment in this space, what of it?

Removing robe and aligning report cards in a little semi circle facing me
Stories becoming life.

I remember, in bev, a big beautiful heart, and falling in love.
crying with meg, leaving, this is heavy,
Dancing gingko is interesting, a long line with strong inserts, dynamic explosions,
I wonder about the composition of the appointment, the overall picture, perhaps it can read more compositionally…?
Dancing is fleeing.
Moving is a representatatatata-tation of a memory, inaccurately describing a moment that was evolving then, emerging.
Residual feelings in the moment of the report perhaps more relevant, joyful connections emerging, heart connections

8.
Caroline 9:00
Averting eyes.
And not, I don’t feel comfortable, I am struggling to stay with, I want to know you. There is a calm strength, and unsureness loosely draped across.
I use this piece of string for you to hold one end, and me the other, towards your heart and mine,
A strong direction. Is this a ritual, it’s been a long time. >?
I sound/s through the string, a line into you. A telephone cable. It calls for energizing a strongly positioned position in the centre of the length of string, I hOm strongly into that, chigong, ring that bell, strongly energizing centre, energy needed here. Moments of Eyes shifting away from looking, hard to develop connecting, to feeling, feeling anyways, sending into, de-spite, as I finish sounding I lower the string at micro speed, it coils down, laying itself out I Chingly, see sees into it, meaning –making ( ) ?, I wonder of her process. See says thankyou and leaves. I think I dismissed the seeing of the coiled ending.
I wonder of this. Of you. Who are you?
Next time I’ll just ask.

9.
Renee 9.10
Happy to be seeing you.
Sitting together on cushions, pouring warm water and sipping sipping, see space, to lie down, there is some shuffling to get the pillows comfortable and cushioning her, behind knees, squeezing hand up to shoulder and knees and thighlegs, hands onto sternum and below ribcage, a pulsing begins, slight, and some hOming into her tissues, I feel safe and want to value her. With words.
The truth is you are.
I tell her I am really gladdd she is part of the project. Hold hand when leaving.
Me.
Get well soon.
Everyone.

10.
Ishan & T/Ero
My most ‘difficult’ appointment feeling perhaps, arching unknowns of tense metal structures.
with child who wants to exit and leave for pastures of loose fun, downstairs, with the party
a leaving, a pulling, a following, an anxiety, a worry, an asking, a question, a leaving, a following.
So following initially into the hallway and down to the stairs then back into the room, trying sitting on cushions with papers and pencils, to draw, then leaving and feeling “ok” about that, much permission to leave, he asks “ what am I (me/i?) feeling?” he asks “ I didn’t know what to expect so…?” , he asks. I am crossing the divide to enter into the stream of energetics. There is a strong pull towards the child and a settling, or an emerging into settling, such a strong pull away from here, I say it takes time to get familiar, and to meet him, one of the film people, glad about that. Some feeling of seeing and being seen. “in order to feel myself my self of this self”, then I see your eyes finally behind glasses, thickening, still not knowing much, but glimpsing. Static tension. Power lines, strickening.
A longer appointment? Half an hour? a day? A year?
Lets make a film about eyewear. And the dance behind the lens.

11.
Report 3.
Final report, a culmination.
Allowing the space to inform me but still sticking mostly to the format of reporting back on the appointments, in order of how they were, so as to feel the progression? Am I overwriting leslie, it feels fine I think..
didn’t say any names this time, nor times of appointments, irrelevant? that drew me out last time, wanting to, staying in, throughout, more, looking at cards draws me out of flowing energetics. Staying with that format though, referring to cards, the maps aren’t very useful, for this way, it’s better if I just be with the moment of mapping feelings, now feelings, rather than markers of then, so as not to fall into representing the past, it can be more of a tracking the ‘present past’, how I am now with the lingering traces of the past still inside me, moving, evolving, changing, dissolving, hardening..
Front and Center, standing
This time is this time,
This is the report, the others were warm ups, discarding my previous perfections, a humanity glitching,
more certainty and how and what occurs, and how to craft that.
People gather fullfledgingly, to the apex of the doorway, some woman nervous about entering the space, screaming and curling, I will walk across to here and hold her tight,
I-energy with meg fully, the intensity of that sadness, streaming, and gingko a little blast/blasted, reaching over her back when she is othering, and touching her back, light, as she reaches the other way, like a game,
Bev letter, arching golden rainbows streaming warming, easily playing strongly, chest breaking open fully joyglee-fully, like a child, shrieking.
Renee is Here.
More.
Til-ing end, seaming edges, the end touches my fingertips, there is stu, present, led zep and gumboots. Ending feel me, touches, sweeping up, and clean. Easy exit.

not you, nor i, but both - a relational dance performance event

2009-11-09T17:51:00.000-08:00

After a summer and fall of continuing studio collaborations together, movement researchers and Contact Improvisational dance artists from Portland, Eugene and afar come together to present dance performance works of a “relational” nature.

The dance artists involved are Eugene’s Humdance (Val Smith & Stuart Phillips; somatic research, performance and practice), Portland’s TouchMonkey (Carolyn Stuart & Patrick Gracewood; researching Contact Improvisation for over 20 years), and guest artist, Megan Ransmeier (invitational artist, www.meetingmore.org/). Collectively the artists have extensive backgrounds in Modern and Post-Modern dance, somatic movement and meditation, Performance Art, writing, Contact Improvisation, Yoga, Sculpture, and body-work and healing.

The show consists of 5 new dance works and is described as a ‘relational dance performance event’ where the focus of the works is on the artists’ perspectives on the relationship between the performers. With various arrangements – a solo, a duet, a trio, and group pieces – each dance work explores a subjective understanding on how the performers are relating.

‘not you, nor I, but both’ is produced and curated by Val Smith and Stuart Phillips of Humdance.

"Me" duet SFDI 2009 with val and stu

2009-09-17T23:28:00.000-07:00

Excerpt of recent performance work:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mWOtAlijTt8

Excerpt from performance duet for "Off The Cuff" Student Performance Shows in SFDI (Seattle Festival of Dance and Improvisation) 2009

Performers: Val Smith and Stu Phillips

Falling into Feeling II: Contact and the Feeling Body

2009-09-17T23:19:00.000-07:00

Val and Jo at Moab Jam 2009, photo by Lindsay Sworski.

Falling into Feeling II: Contact and the Feeling Body

***Thursday class***
7.30-8.30pm, $8-10 sliding scale
7th Heaven Yoga Center
2820 7th St, Berkeley

this class precedes Thursday Jam:

*** Thursday Jam ***
8:30-11pm, by donation
7th Heaven Yoga Center
2820 7th St, Berkeley
http://thursdayjam.org

Class description:

Guided into a feeling state that contains and transforms the whole environment, 'Falling into Feeling II' is a CI class suitable for all levels of experience.
A falling into focus, into presence, into an alert and relaxed physicality – inside a feeling body we experience a fuller awareness of what is. This class will attend to the nuance of human exchange using touch and energetic communication. We move beyond our expectations, ambitions, and insecurities around CI into the unknown aspects of ourselves and of the dance.
This class will be extending upon the material Val presented at the WCCI-Festival earlier this year where we were exploring unacknowledged feeling contained in the experience of our relationship to touch. There will be space given for what the body wants to communicate intuitively and a labbing approach to questioning touch/react/respond.

Registration and Inquiries
to val directly on:
email: thiswillalsochange@gmail.com
ph: 541 255 3660

Variations on the Circle: examining our judgments as material for the dance

2009-09-17T23:18:00.000-07:00

laura and stu at breitenbush spring jam 2009

11am - 3pm
Saturday October 17th
@ Wild Cat Studio
Sawtooth Building,
2525 8th Street (at Dwight Way) Berkeley, CA

$35-$50 sliding scale

--a workshop for those with some or more experience of contact improvisation--

Variations on the Circle:
is a social experiment to shed light on how we have come to behave in the context of Contact Improvisation settings.

questioning how CI is passed on and exploring the boundaries of what CI can become. it draws on the frameworks of labbing/performance/theater of the oppressed/reality TV and CI classes. giving space for expanding possibilities of expression,behavior and ways of being in CI contexts.

...examining our judgments as material for the dance...
working with acknowledging, exploring, feeling, discussing, reflecting upon, and labbing around judgments of ourselves, and of our dance partners in Contact Improvisation (and in life).
what underlies the choices we make in our dances?
how do our belief systems about what is ok/not ok affect the way we are and what we choose to do in our dances?
looking at how a culture of shame (and blame) underlies the playing out of our relationships. and hopefully in the process letting go of some unnecessary judgment baggage to enable space for new possibilities, a broadening into freedom of the feeling realm, and perhaps some illuminated breakthroughs in our dancing?

the workshop will involve
- guided arriving and entering into your process of self-reflexive dance
- labbing judgment material
- 'trigger island' - facing our personal issues in art
- judgment and feeling performance lab
- sharing, discussion and other good stuff
- (emphasis on inquiry and liberty of the personal artistic)

Registration and Inquiries
to val directly on:
email: thiswillalsochange@gmail.com
ph: 541 255 3660

Bio:
Val Smith originates from NZ and is currently based in Eugene, OR. A devoted promoter and practitioner of Contact Improvisation, she initially came in contact with CI in 1998 as part of a Contemporary Dance degree program in NZ. Inspired by the intrinsic social politics of CI and the potential for human evolution contained in the form, Val started teaching CI in 2000 in NZ, later in Australia, and now West Coast, U.S. Her recent practice has involved playing with the interspace between feeling states in CI and energetic states in performance. From this research she has facilitated classes/labs in 2009 at WCCIF and Sierra CI Festival and presented improvisational performances in collaboration with other performers at various improvisation festivals including SFDI.
Val has a background in political street theatre, feminist performance art, contemporary dance, improvisation and physical theatre.

"zircon hc" 2007

2009-04-27T20:54:00.000-07:00

dancers: sarah gavina campus and adrian smith (in photo) also cat gwynne and alana yew
choreography: val smith
Herald Theatre, Auckland, NZ
part of Generation project
2007

'falling into feeling' contact improvisation workshops

2009-04-27T19:47:00.000-07:00

photo: Trans-Tasman Contact Collective 4-day Contact Improvisation workshop, Auckland, NZ, 2006. Dancers - Catherine Macgill and ?

Hum Dance presents
'Falling into Feeling'
Contact Improvisation Dance Workshops
@ WOW Hall: 291 W 8th Ave, Eugene

Falling into Feeling 1 (May 31st, Sunday 1-3pm)
A Beginners Workshop in Contact Improvisation. Exploring ways into dancing through the embodiment of physics and interrelationship. Weight sharing, listening skills, authentic presence, momentum, and awareness to the dynamics of communication through touch.

Falling into Feeling 2 (June 7th, Sunday 1-3pm)
Open level workshop for beginners through to experienced dancers.
Through opening into sensitivity and receptivity we expand possibilities in our dances and develop more acute subtlety of feeling and perception. ‘Falling into Feeling’ is a Contact Improvisation class that follows a feeling of freefall with gravity guiding. The possibility of surrender into the intelligence of your body is there, allowing its dance to unfurl - a falling into focus, into presence, into an alert and relaxed physicality – inside a feeling body we experience a fuller awareness of what is.

Workshop times:
Sunday May 31st, 1-3pm & Sunday June 7th, 1-3pm

More Info:
Registration - phone(541) 255 3660
or email:thiswillalsochange@gmail.com

Cost: $15/$10 sliding scale

Facilitator: Val Smith

Val Smith is a dance artist from New Zealand, working in the fields of dance education, research and performance. Val has been teaching Contact Improvisation for 10 years in NZ, Australia and the US. She also teaches and performs Choreography, Modern Dance, Yoga and Performance Improvisation.

Contact Improvisation
Contact Improvisation is a relational dance form, interacting through the dynamics of touch/contact, energetic exchange, and the physics of movement under the guidance of the laws of nature. Cultivating skills in listening and sensing allow movement and communication to shift and change in a creative and improvisational manner.

The form emerged in the early 70s with Steve Paxton and friends and continues to evolve today. There are as many definitions of Contact as there are people who choose to define it, but it can be said that some influences include Aikido, Meditation, Postmodern Dance, and Taichi amongst other movement practices. It is usually danced as a duet but also trios, group dance and solos naturally evolve out of the exploration. Physical communication develops between two or more people in a dynamic flow, open play practice may include rolling, falling, sharing weight, counterbalance, and suspension.

"CI is a complex but very open form with infinite possibilities"
Touchdown Dance (2002)

To find more information about Contact check out:
http://www.contactimprov.com/ or http://www.contactimprov.net/about.html

there's also lots of clips on youtube:
moab jam 2007 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVFNIMj1u2s
contact improvisation performance @WCCIF 2008 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKPyJYOM9d0

"skin window"

2009-04-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

"skin window"
solo choreography
for Dance Speak
Dunedin Fringe Festival
2008

'palace'

2009-04-27T17:42:00.000-07:00

'palace'
40 minute solo performance
collaborator - de novo - sound artist
dunedin fringe festival
2004
@none gallery basement

stuval - the bare episode

2009-04-27T17:07:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tWCkVWfJgTs&feature=channel_page

this youtube video in 3 parts is of a performance we did in 2006.

who do we become in performance?
how are we different with different people 'on stage'?
what is actually going on in performance? beneath the masks and lies and coverups

when i watch this clip now in retrospect it makes me realize how much i have learnt since then about my relationship to stu in performance.
i see ways of being in contrary to how i would ideally like to be in performance.
- ideals are problematic -
there is sense of following stu, of relying on him for imput into the composition of the duet,
there is a denial of self, like i have forgotten my ability to be free and expressive,
there is a reactive judgmental self, responding to what i think should happen in performance

i had previously talked alot with stu about energetic connection and what that means, i was experimenting on staying fully present to that energetic connection with him, but i had forgotten my own process, the one that intuitively guides me, the one i trust

i learn alot from performing. about my self, and my expectations.

it is not about composition with stu
it is not about form
it is energetic interrelationship, the dynamics of relationship, working things through,
he does not deviate
issues arising, as triggered, by his way, and either dealt with or not, in this case, resisted, blamed, and pushed away - both internally and externally.

Are we able to face the inner most patterns of our selves, when performing, can we allow the space for these patterns to arise and be played out?
is it too personal?
irrelevant?

what do we believe makes good performance?

so this performance , which my judgement/ego self thinks is one of my worst
is my best teacher of all of it so far

i learn again and often that to just be yourself in your fullest capacity is an ongoing performance practice.

stuval - the duet

2009-04-27T16:25:00.000-07:00

photo - stu and val, St. Leonards Wharf, Dunedin, NZ, 2006.

stu and i have been dancing together alot since December 2005, contact improvisational jamming mostly, also performing together - improvisation, and living and traveling around together living the dance also.

i've met alot of people who say their contact dancing has been really influenced by dancing with stu, me also. so this is an attempt to write about what goes on, for me, in a dance with stu, What am i doing? What am i researching? What am I perceiving?

stuval reflections 1. – some pieces from a flow of reflection.

'I am playing vastly'

vastly
lots of the unknown to yet discover and embody and become
-
I am playing with small unknowns,

I am playing with little flicks, little ways in & under this other body
this stu body
-
feeling out the tightness and the softness – where there are little dips, like soft nests
I cave my toes into the valleys
-
I am playing with angles, into him,
and the direction behind the arrowhead of the point that enters
him

her
present to gender

I am playing with throwing his arms with my legs – scooting along and across and into and out of the floor in different ways
opening the tissues around his folds
-
(private?)
-
I am playing with softening intentions & ambitions (ongoing)
and just letting things wash through me

not holding back.
instinct, desire, flow and impulse

recognize
I am playing with 'transformative dance', like with sarah.
I am playing with a memory.
-
I am playing with 'bodywork', like with alys.
I am playing with a memory.

I am interested in one aspect of this stu body – his ribcage
ambitions arise, to change
-
it dissipates
direct route – I am playing with where this leads.

a dance of humanity
it can be intense.
It feels interesting performatively
I play with ending
washing in and out until finally I am washed out
-
I play with anatomical shifts – intricacies – how whole sections are affected
a pulse, a repetition, a shaking of sorts
the possibilities keep broadening as boundaries loosen
-
I am thinking about choreography
I am ending
i remember my solo material
I remember maria
I get flustered

I am ended. It's a choice.
There are always issues