Improvisational Composition
Gut, grit + wits

We will mine the materials of our bodies (anatomical, physical, mental, social, spiritual, relational, political) as a way to generate material for spontaneous composition. Together we will cultivate a vitality of presence, embodied intelligence, creativity and organisation to put guts in our dancing and our mind in our bodies. We will investigate the subtle state based materials embodied anatomy can offer to our performing practices. Together we will build scores for performing solo, duet and group dances.



Olive Bieringa
Olive Bieringa’s (Director, Performer, Video Artist) work is informed by her improvisational dance and somatic studies, martial arts and bodywork practices. She is a graduate of Dance from the European Dance Development Center in the Netherlands, a certified DanceAbility teacher, Shiatsu and Body-Mind Centering© practitioner.

Alongside nine solo works she has collaborated with numerous artists and has appeared in the work of Deborah Hay, Yoshiko Chuma, Sara Shelton Mann, Karen Nelson, Jennifer Monson, Eva Karczag and Stephanie Skura. As a co-director of the BodyCartography Project with Otto Ramstad, she has created numerous site based dance works, films and installations. Currently celebrating the Project’s ten-year anniversary, Otto and Olive were named Artists of the Year 2007 by the Minneapolis’s City Pages. Their work has toured across the USA, Canada, New Zealand, Japan, Europe, Russia and South America and is supported by the Jerome Foundation, the Archibald Bush Foundation, the Kyoto Arts Center, the Multi-Arts Production Fund of the Rockefeller Foundation and the Headlands Center for the Arts amongst others. Current projects include SEEDS Festival at Earthdance, performance and installation Half Life and Station/ Stationary for Cheshire Dance, UK. For more information www.bodycartography.org