Session Descriptions
Boldly Embodied—Fueling Knowledge and Research through our moving bodies
January 4-5, 2020
The Neurology of Learning facilitated by Lelis Brito
1/4/19 7-9pm
Learning is inherently enmeshed with our neurological system. Through games and creating large-scale models, we will investigate how nerves grow, myelinate, and associate in response to movement and touch.
Lelis Brito is a Venezuelan-American theater director, choreographer, educator, performer, and director of the Center for Moving Cultures. Brito has been teaching at the intersection of science, art, and play for over two decades. As director of CMC she advocates for tactile/kinaesthetic knowledge in education and cultural transmission. In the late 90’s, Brito began research focused on somatic approaches to Augusto Boal’s work and she continues to look for playful, experiential approaches to building social justice.
Moving Meditation with Hula Hoops facilitated by Jeanna Hensler
1/5/19 8:30am-10:15am
Just like a regular yoga practice, hula hooping can bring about peace and joy while still delivering a rigorous cardio workout if wanted. This session focuses on the practice of hoop dance with emphasis on posture, breathing, balance and rhythm. Expect big hoops, on-body hooping and blindfolds! This class is perfect for beginners with little to no experience and intermediate hoopers looking for a guided practice. Bring your hoop or use one of mine! Smiles guaranteed!
Picking up her first hoop in 2008, Jeanna instantly connected with the movement of hoop-dance. Her passion for her own hoop-dance practice paved a path to allow her to introduce hundreds of other curious, would-be hoopers to this joyful movement. Jeanna’s supportive & fun teaching style has developed over the past seven years and is largely inspired by HoopPath and the North Carolina meditation hoop community. Her workshops and classes teach the practice of hoop-dance and are accessible to beginner and intermediate hoopers thru her unique breakdown and appreciation of the fundamentals.
Embodied Grief: revolting towards collective improvisation facilitated by Chava Kokhleffel.
1/5/19 10:30am-12:15pm
The intention in this session is to investigate how grief can be held, processed and released by the bodymind in motion. We will explore embodied grief through a political inquiry: how are our individual pains interconnected with global suffering? This physical theater workshop is open to all people with interests in exploring improvisational movement, community-based performance, mindfulness, somatic healing and disability justice. The first half of the session will be dedicated to a solo exploration of 4 movement vocabularies (sitting/being, tapping, swaying and shaking). The second half of the session will scaffold exercises in collective improvisation, including games drawn from the Theater of the Oppressed. We will ground our improvisations in the dramaturgical questions of revolution: Can our performative grievingtangibly rebel against an oppressive state? Can we compassionately return our awareness to the sensations of our bodies? While incorporating skills learned in response to trauma, this workshop is based in creative response.
The Homeless Body facilitated by the zAmya Theatre Troupe.
1/5/19 2pm-3:45pm
Members of the zAmya Theater troupe, actors who've experienced homelessness, will lead exercises designed to build understanding about homelessness through embodied exercises including image-making and other tools from the arsenal of Theater of the Oppressed.
The Feldenkrais Method®: Awareness Through Movement® facilitated by Nick Strauss-Klein
1/5/19 4pm-5:45pm
The Feldenkrais Method® is a 50-year-old form of neuromuscular reeducation with applications similar to physical therapy, but it’s a more holistic approach. Participants lie on mats, experimenting with small gentle movement.
It’s for anyone seeking more comfortable, efficient, sustainable movement and greater self-awareness for purposes of pain reduction, performance enhancement (day-to-day/athletic/artistic), self-discovery, and quality of life improvement.
Nick Strauss-Klein, Guild Certified Feldenkrais Practitioner has studied and taught the method since 2000.He currently teaches the Feldenkrais Method full-time to students pursuing all types of improvement: people searching for relief from chronic pain, tension, and anxiety; people who are interested in making their day-to-day activities more effective and pleasant; people seeking to enhance their fitness training and athletic performance; musicians, dancers, and performing artists; people recovering from injuries or living with disease or disabilities; and children growing up facing developmental challenges.
For the last decade he has been the director of Twin Cities Feldenkrais, based in the Minneapolis-St. Paul metropolitan area in Minnesota, USA. Nick’s acclaimed online Feldenkrais audio lesson collection, The Feldenkrais Project, offers Feldenkrais study at no charge to thousands of people all around the world in the form of live recordings of his classes, edited with the home user in mind. The Feldenkrais Project is entirely supported by free-will, heartfelt donations from listeners.
Co-Creating Art and Performance; concluding activities.
1/5/19 7-9pm
Facilitated by guest directors, this is an evening of participatory performance where we watch and participate in performances developed as the evening continues.
During the last half-hour, we will host a final wrap-up discussion.