MELT—An Eco-Poetic Approach to Dance Improvisation and Performance

with Chris Aiken

January 15 – January 19, 2018

MON TUE WED THU FRI 1pm – 3pm

Studio G05 at Abrons Arts Center

$125

In this workshop, we will examine the delicate relationships between perception, action and the poetic imagination through improvised dance making. We will begin with the assumption that dancing and performing are shaped not only by physical and compositional skill but by our capacities to be in resonance with others and the nested worlds we live in. We will practice tuning ourselves and our actions in real time. The ecological approach includes personal, cultural, political and social contexts. Come ready to move, perform and imagine.

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Chris Aiken is recognized internationally for his work as a dance maker and teacher of dance improvisation, performance, and contact improvisation. His work has evolved through long-term collaborations with Angie Hauser, Andrew Harwood, Kirstie Simson, Ray Chung, Peter Bingham, Olivier Besson, and Patrick Scully, as well as collaborations with Steve Paxton, and Nancy Stark Smith. His training includes extensive research of ecological psychology, neurophysiology, poetics, design, performance, Alexander Technique, bodywork, and ideokinesis. He has received numerous awards for his work, including a Guggenheim Fellowship and has been presented by Movement Research, Dance Theater Workshop, the Bates Dance Festival, the Seattle Festival of Dance and Improvisation, the Florida Dance Festival, Impulstanz, among many others over the past three decades. He is an Associate Professor at Smith College and the Five College Dance Department.