A contact improvisation workshop in which we will combine softness and strength. We will immerse ourselves in the changing, elusive network of fascia. We will learn to activate and utilize the semi-fluid system, woven throughout the body, the connective tissue that envelops and connects the body in all directions and can change its consistency depending on external and internal influences.
The work will lead to a clear awareness of the skeleton and its ability to provide clear and effective support. At the same time, we will discover how the structure of the skeleton is strengthened and tuned by the fascia, which connects and connects everything. We will experience how the fascia ensures wholeness and at the same time becomes a means of communication between body parts, the floor and partners. When we focus our attention on the fascia while dancing, we bring a new quality to the contact with our partner. This brings a dynamic balance between mutual exchange and somatic wisdom, and between creating and feeling movement, between receiving support and listening.
The elasticity of the fascia, its ability to transmit force, allows for a special quality of connection with a partner and joint movement in incredible positions and with amazing ease. It brings a feeling of permeability, both physical and emotional.
Fascia plays a crucial role in proprioception… For bodies that move in physical contact in contact improvisation, the network of fascia contains a sixth sense—sensing position, movement, tension, and pressure. Thanks to them, we can perceive our partner throughout our entire body and respond to them throughout our entire body.
We will explore the world of fascia in relation to other systems: bones, muscles, and skin. We will feel their interplay and discover new sources of inspiration.
Working with fascia transforms the relationship to inner and outer space and allows us to experience time in a new way.
Joe Stoller ( USA )
He has been passionately exploring movement, touch and improvisation since 1998. When he immersed himself in contact improvisation, it took him both in breadth and in depth. He spent a full year as a postgraduate in 13 countries performing, teaching and studying the differences between contact improvisation in different cultural contexts. He helped to create a contact improvisation community in Grenoble (France) and danced extensively with Tumblebones in Boulder ( USA ). He teaches contact improvisation, but is also a Feldenkrais Method teacher, and a professional bodyworker including shiatsu, massage and somatic teaching. His passion is to support the transmission and development of somatic wisdom and thus nourish the deepest roots of happiness. His approach to teaching encourages the process of transformation and learning while maintaining a deep respect for people who are finding their own path.
Zita Pavlištová
She is one of the few teachers of contact improvisation in the Czech Republic. She works in Prague and around the world (Spain, Germany, Poland, Taiwan) and her courses are attended by professional dancers and those who are attracted to this type of dance and want to explore unknown landscapes. A community of open, courageous people naturally forms in her circle, who explore the world through the body and let it lead them into situations that ordinary life does not offer. She teaches the art of movement, the basis of which is listening to the body – an organism with extraordinary intelligence and unexplored possibilities, which provides us with a connection with ourselves and the world. In her work, she seeks boundaries and loves extremes. She is as much a long, calm and conscious observation of inner movement as she is speed, loss of control and risk – situations where it is necessary to give the body unconditional trust.
The workshop is intensive: 9:30 AM – 5:30 PM , and is open to everyone, regardless of age or physical experience.
The workshop takes place in Prague and will be interpreted into Czech.
Price 2,230 CZK. To reserve a place, a deposit of 830 CZK is required.
Price 1,830 CZK when paying the deposit by November 10th.
Joe Stoller Sunshine Somatics 