Sabine Parzer
Tonus Awareness – or how to be soft and clear in Improvisation

In Improvisation participants are faced with the challenges of dancing with a body that is responsive, reflexive and sends clear messages. They need a BodyMind that is awake and intuitive, and thrive on subtle and reflexive communication. In dancing we notice that we are most efficient at these challenges, when I am in a state of „released tonus – acute awareness“. This seemingly contradictory state plays an important role in the training of the healthy and powerful dancer I look to see on stage, in the workshop, in daily life. 

How to work within a soft tonus and articulate oneself in strong, clear movements and intentions? In times of high risk, but also in times of boredom or „in between states of unclarity“, one is asked to activate their potential of presence and intuitive knowledge of the body.

In this intensive participants investigate different approaches to achieve this state:

•    Conscious breath and its effectiveness on movement qualities
•    Touch qualities and how it relates to the tonus
•    Accessing fascia and extending it into movement and contact
•    Relating to the three-dimensional possibilities of the spine
•    Attending to the relationship between the pelvic and the shoulder girdle
•    Being in contact with partners through different states of attention
•    Extending ones range of motion and staying within ones boundaries
•    Taking risks and staying calm

Participants will work in solos, duets, trios and group formations.