Free Dance Technique Beginners
Get acquainted with principles of modern technique

In this workshop Kenji Takagi follows Rudolf von Laban’s Credo of the development of a “free dance technique” that is in the first place not connected to a certain dance style, but has the task of delivering a focused practice in basic principles that are essential to human movement in general. The participants are invited to develop a spirit of experimenting and to experience their body-consciousness in relation to different aspects of time, space, energy and flow.

The class starts with a warm up in the middle, followed by elementary to more complex exercises in space, possibly including short improvisational tasks. The goal is to feel the joy of movement and to gain an acquaintance with basic principles of contemporary dance technique.



Gaining momentum by getting pulled into space Advanced
Extending and breaking up of the traditional frame

In this workshop Kenji Takagi focuses on the most prominent features of his highly dynamic movement style that he developed by himself while collaborating with Pina Bausch. He carries a solid technical framework into new dimensions by breaking up traditional modern vocabulary and pulling some of its basic principles into extremes. Main elements are projection into space, reaching and pulling, play with resistances, off-balance moments and central impact.

The work demands willingness to go beyond one’s own equilibrium and concentrates on the important relation of motion and motivation that Kenji considers as an essential source and inevitable part of technical and creative movement research. Thus his teaching refers partly to a branch of German analytical as well as expressive tradition that stems from Rudolf von Laban and Kurt Jooss evolving into his own very individual contemporary movement work.



Kenji Takagi
After graduating from the Folkwang School Essen/Germany, Kenji Takagi was a member of the Pina Bausch Company from 2001 until 2008 where he continues to be a guest both as a dancer as well as a rehearsal assistant until now.
He has taught for various institutions such as ImPulsTanz, Movement Research New York, Folkwang University Essen/Germany, La Biennale di Venezia/Italy or for companys such as Tanztheater Bielefeld and Ballet Preljocaj.
In 2008 Kenji Takagi received the German Theatre Award Der Faust in the category "outstanding performance in dance" for his solo in Pina Bausch’s "Bamboo Blues."
In 2010 Kenji Takagi was engaged as a rehearsal assistent to the restaging of Pina Bauschs "Le Sacre du Printemps" at the Paris Opera.
At the moment Kenji Takagi is collaborating as a freelance dancer with the choreographer Caterina Sagna.