Modern Ethnic Dance Beginner
creating new body energy

Creation is movement: and the sacred dance arises from the need to identify with the eternal round of the creative forces in the cosmos. In this class the traditional form of the circle is used to bring the students on contact with the energies of the group. It is a meeting point in which we celebrate dance and prepare different ideas and body movements. The foot contact with the ground in connection with the vibration of the pelvis and the extensions of arms unlocks the torso, making way for repetitive movements. With this repetition dancing intensifies awareness, allowing us to say the unspeakable and to get to know the unexplainable, simply from the fact of sharing a movement with the group. Playful exercises will allow to dive into a search of body memories making way to a renewal of our personal dance vocabulary.



Modern Ethnic Dance Intermediate
intensified awareness

Dance is a ritual: a sacred ritual, a social ritual. In the dance we find this double signification which is part of the origin of all human activity. Traditional forms of ethnic dance bring the students in contact with their own energy in relation with the other participants. Modern dance exercises are going to be applied to develop the consciousness of movement. Further on we are going to work on different sequences of movements and choreography. The aim is that the dancer understands how the universe is made up of infinite patterns of motion around a still centre and set himself to contact the others in a body dialog motion. When you start to turn, the universe moves with you.


IMPULSIVE BODY
Improvisation Class for Performers

This class is focused into differentiate between space within the reach of the body and the more general space surrounding it. The space within our reach, our “personal space” or kinesphere is a bubble and with the help of a hand size ball we are able to stretch out in all directions while standing in its centre or on one leg. If we move away to another part of the room our kinespheres will travel with us. It is a tool to encourage movement possibilities. This technique is guided by the hands with the body rolling on the floor, the ball rolling around the body or throwing, turning, falling and catching. The ball lying lightly in one or two hands, fingers relaxed. This class is not based on difficulties but on a discharge of movement impulses bringing the body from sitting, standing or walking positions. Other elements and objects will be introduced, in the character of DANCE INSTALLATION. Variations in the use of space will enable the students to explore body and gravity with the help of the ACROBATIC SILK-PERFORMANCE technique. The creation of movements off the ground enriches the performative technique skills. It is a class in which the performer researches and extends his/ her movement capabilities.


Modern Expressive Dance Beginner
expressing the mental and emotional dimensions of the body

How to work the body in a state of full concentration and relaxation? It is possible to connect the exercise with a mental image, giving the muscles and nerves elastic information.
This class uses the anatomical bases of the dance technique of Lester Horton in connection with release and contemporary dance exercises. Respecting the human anatomy, it helps to correct physical weaknesses, preparing a dancer for any type of dance. By researching the body's anatomical potential we will learn to discover and express its mental and emotional dimensions. Thus we will cultivate dancing with a sensitive and intelligent body.





Modern Expressive Dance Intermediate
technique as a pathway for free imagination

Movement is used for the research of the body's anatomical potential to enable a better understanding of its form and thus learn to discover and express its mental and emotional dimensions: dance for a sensitive and intelligent body. This class uses the anatomical basics of the dance technique of Lester Horton, in connection with release and contemporary dance exercises. Respecting the human anatomy, it helps to correct physical weaknesses. It introduces release to the torso and extension to the arms preparing a dancer for any type of dance. In choreographic phrases we will play with time, rhythm and movement quality exercising necessary skills for today's dancers. Special attention will be given to the dancers’ capacity to develop a convincing performing character with emotional skills. Thus technique is understood as a pathway for the creative process and a free imagination.




Ismael Ivo
Ismael Ivo, born 1955 in Sao Paulo/Brazil, was given the Trofeu Pirandello Sao Paulo, the prize for the best solo dancer already in 1983. A scholarship for Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York followed in 1983/84 before he moved to Berlin where he has been living since. Ismael created numerous solo pieces including PHOENIX (1985), UNDER THE SKIN (1986), DELIRIUM OF A CHILDHOOD (1989), DIE KREISRUNDEN RUINEN (1991) and APOCALYPSE (1992). He got internationally wellknown through the choreographies FRANCIS BACON (1993) and OTHELLO (1996), both productions directed by the German dance theater choreographer Johann Kresnik. He has cooperated closely with Johann Kresnik and the Japanese choreographer Ushio Amagatsu, who has been the director of the recognised "Sankai Juku"-Ensemble. These different experiences have merged with his Afro-Bazilian roots.


From 1996 to 2000 Ismael Ivo was heading the dance theater company at the Deutsches Nationaltheater Weimar where he choreographed eleven pieces. Particularly in the 90ies he cooperated with theater directors including George Tabori, for several groupworks. 1999 he started his artistic cooperation with Marcia Haydée. The duets TRISTAN UND ISOLDE (1999) and M.- WIE CALLAS (2002) were created as well as choreographies for Ankara, Rio de Janeiro and Vienna. 2006 the production DIE ZOFEN, created with Koffi Kôkô and Yoshi Oida in 2001 and based on the text of Jean Genet received the Time Out Live Award of London. Ismael Ivo has been the artistic director of ImPulsTanz Workshops since the beginning in 1984 until today. Since 2005 he is also the artistic director of the Biennale di Venezia Settore Danza.