Instant Instinct
entering the instinctive arena of the unknown

Each class will begin with a warm-up focusing on releasing and extending the body, awakening the senses and developing an awareness of inner/outer space. We then enter the rich and instinctive arena of the unknown with an open mind and a curious body. Simple directions and basic structures will help us harness our intuitive discoveries, share our current quests, and challenge our dancing's desires while we improvise alone/together. Throughout this practice, we will be encouraged to lower our expectations and accentuate our inventiveness. This will be a mixed level class, open to all levels of experience.



Contact Improvisation
Being ready

Being completely attentive and always prepared on all levels, will enable us to go beyond thinking our way through the dance, and help us be attuned to what is actually taking place. This total presence allows us to be freed of the mental chatter, planning ahead, and judgment, which so often override the body’s ability to make appropriate split second choices. In this way the improvisations can be entirely physical, playful, heartfelt, surprising and enjoyable. Explored themes will include: tumbling, flying, use of variable speeds, use of direct action and initiation, resistance, disappearance, subtle ways of moving weight, flowing through unfamiliar circumstances, extending our personal range of movement, and integrating our imagination.
This intensive is for those with a solid grasp of Contact fundamentals with at least three years of continuous ongoing practice. (The teacher reserves the right to transfer students to a lower level if need be).



Improvisation for Performers
practicing instant inventiveness

The core of this advanced workshop will focus on movement structures which will encourage performers of various backgrounds to redefine and expand their solo and duet vocabulary and allow for experimentation with small to large group dances. Through various forms of improvisation, spatial design, images, states, chance procedures, tasks and games, we will practice instant inventiveness, refine our sensing skills and develop various compositional strategies, which in turn will become the framework for in-house performances that we will view and discuss. This entire process relies on the dancers willingness to listen deeply to themselves and each other, to take risks, to call upon their confidence and to allow their skills as interpreters to come into focus. Emphasis will be placed upon collaboration and communication, personalized performing, clear intention, trust and instinct.



Andrew de L. Harwood
Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood is a leading international teacher, performer and creator in the field of instantaneous choreography and contact improvisation since 1975. He is the artistic director of AH HA Productions, a project oriented company based in Montreal. Andrew studied, taught and performed with Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith, founding members of Contact Improvisation. He also has extensive practice in gymnastics, Yoga, Modern Dance, Release Technique, Improvisation and Aikido. His work has been presented in numerous international festivals since 1980. Andrew danced for the companies of Fulcrum, Jo Lechay, Marie Chouinard and Jean-Pierre Perreault, and continues to collaborate with the Echo Case. He has also collaborated in performance with Peter Bingham, Marc Boivin, Chris Aiken, Kirstie Simson, Ray Chung, Lisa Nelson, Benôit Lachambre, Marc Thompkins, and Ginette Laurin among many others. He is the recipient of the Canada Council’s Jacqueline-Lemieux award for the year 2000.