Class description:

Dance in the Rainforest: the power of place

Why Come to the Rainforest to Dance?

The floor is not perfect, the walls transparent , the atmosphere alive. Suddenly the space is not empty needing to be filled by me, but dynamic and inviting me to engage, to participate, to become a part of it.
When I visited the rainforest at Lasuerte this summer, I stepped into it as a sponge--soaking up temperatures, humidity, images, sounds, textures and then gradually creating connections with it. I discovered:

• an incredible respect for its powerful presence
• a curiosity about the smells, and sounds and images which became a part of me
• a delight in its potential as a place of personal discovery and creative expression

In the process, I discovered the rainforest’s power to overwhelm me,to inspire me, to generate curiosity, to transfix me, to still me, and to create a wonderful delight in the possibilities in each new day.

I am fascinated with how the places where I dance---the perfect studio, the outdoor theater, the stone quarry, the old barn, or the lake shore, can amplify my perceptions, spark my movement imagination, and introduce me to unexplored parts of myself.

The rainforest is such a place. Lasuerte is such a place.

As humans we possess an exquisite capacity to pattern ourselves. This capacity is at once full of potential and full of dangers. The places we inhabit pattern us. We are quick to settle into our pattern, establish comfort levels, and get stuck there. As a dance artist I try to recognize this “stuckness” and move on, around,and through it into new pathways, new patterns of motion, of thought, of feeling/sensing, of imagining. The impulse of a new place can jump start this process with its uniqueness, its unfamiliarity, its power over us.

Such a place is the rainforest---is Lasuerte.

How We WIll Dance:

Each day will develop around a variety of practices to focus our awareness, build sensory skills, and inspire creative process. Each day will include:

• Daily movement practice: Incorporating rainforest walking, authentic movement, yoga, developmental movement patterning, movement improvisation, conscious moving
• Awareness practice: Embodying activities and exercises to deepen sensory attention and sensory response-- authentic movement, breath work, sound work, active listening, body/earth sourcing, energetic aligning
• Sourcing practice: Translating rainforest experiences into intentionally designed movement patterns and improvisational structures
• Creating practice: Generating movement vocabulary and movement patterns from an integration of the daily practices (movement, awareness, sourcing, reflecting) to create dance structures
• Reflecting practice: Writing, talking, drawing, painting, constructing, sounding---to integrate each day’s experiences

The Final Project:

The final project will be generated through an integration of the daily practices from the workshop. Each student will create a final movement piece either as a solo or in collaboration with other students. She/ he will define a conceptual base from which to create work ( a specific idea, image, sensation)--- then create a movement vocabulary and use it in building a movement study, OR create an improvisational structure to develop through an intentional movement vocabulary.

Those taking the class for credit, will assemble a portfolio of experiences during the workshop. These will draw upon the range of exercises and experiences included in each day’s agenda as they create the meaning this rainforest workshop has for them. The portfolio will represent in some way each of the practice areas and will include an integrative synthesis project.

The texts for this workshop:

Body and Earth by Andrea Olsen
The Spell of the Sensuous by David Abram

Optional: Small Wonder Essays by Barbara Kingsolver
Wild Earth ed. Tom Butler