Queer CI Lab & Jam
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https://www.earthdance.net/2020queerjamDescription
2020 Queer CI Lab & Jam (online edition)
With Kristin Horrigan & Paul Singh
May 30, 2020 - 12:00pm to May 31, 2020 - 3:00pm
Embodying queer solidarity in a time of pandemic
In this container, we create time and space for queer voices to be heard and for queer folks to explore movement and embodiment.
In two focused, online three-hour sessions (with ample breaks!) we’ll share:
Movement imaginations to create future landscapes for queer living/relating
Discussion about what it’s like to embody being queer in daily life and dancing
Time to connect with each other in solidarity, joy, and conversation
Glimpses into the work of queer theorists who can inspire our practice
And of course, dancing in our wild, beautiful, queer bodies!For anyone who identifies as Queer, Trans, Lesbian, Pansexual, Gay, Asexual, Nonbinary, Two-Spirit, Agender, etc. No experience with dance or Contact Improvisation necessary.
Detailed Schedule (all times in EDT on Zoom):
Here is a map of where we think we’ll travel this weekend. Of course, in the spirit of improvisation, we may make some changes along the way. We also invite you to dance through and around this schedule of offerings in whatever way suits you, just as you would at an in-person jam. XO — Kristin & Paul
Saturday, 12–3pm
Welcome, introductions, and setting the container for the weekend (30min) — including time for participants to share access needs
Movement Session: Feeling queer connection from a distance (20-25min)
Breakout Room Discussion: Dancing with other queer folx (10min)
BREAK (10min)
Movement Session: Pleasure in movement & Desire Lines (55min) — last 15min dancing in small groups in breakout rooms
BREAK (10min)
Envisioning Queer Futurity in CI (35min) — including 10min discussion in breakout rooms, 10min discussion as a large group, and 10min to either move or discuss further in breakout rooms
Wrap up (5min)
Sunday, 12–3pm
Arrival and orientation (10min)
Movement and Discussion: Layers (45min) — includes some freewriting, a 20min stretch of movement, and the last 10min will be spent in breakout room conversations
BREAK (10 min)
Movement Session: Polyattentiveness into Jamming (55min)
BREAK (15min)
Breakout Room Discussion: How does queerness inform our dancing? (20min)
Harvest and Farewells (15-20min) — includes some reflection and some group discussion
Kristin Horrigan has been questioning gender for more than 20 years and dancing Contact Improvisation for nearly as long. The two explorations have been deeply bound together. In recent years, Kristin has been creating workshops and events that help CI dancers unpack the conscious and unconscious ideas about gender that live in their bodies and come out to play in their dancing. Begun as an exploration of the queer potential of CI as a gender-fluid dance, her research unearths the habits and histories that limit us to gendered stories in our dancing and queers our potential for embodiment and expression in CI. Kristin has also been involved in creating CI spaces for queer-identified folks, as an alternative for those who feel unsafe or unwelcome in the atmosphere of heteronormativity present in some mainstream jams. A CI teacher since 2001, Kristin has taught and performed CI around the USA, as well as in various places in Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Japan, Australia, and Argentina. Kristin’s CI teaching explores pedagogy that preserves the accessibility of CI for people of all body types and abilities, the skill of being interested in the moment, and the relationships between play and composition in CI. A professor of Dance and Gender Studies at Marlboro College, Kristin directs a curriculum that is oriented towards social justice, creative process, critical thinking, and interdisciplinarity. Kristin also holds an MFA in Choreography from Ohio State University, and works as a community-based artist, drawing together untrained and trained dancers to collaborate around issues of mutual interest or concern.
Paul Singh is a dancer that lives and works in New York City. He earned his BFA degree in Dance from the University of Illinois, where he focused on a variety of dance techniques including Alexander Technique, Ballet, Modern, and Contact Improvisation. He began his studies in CI with Chris Aiken and since then has studied with Angela Dony, Yaniv Mintzer, Ray Chung, and others. He has traveled the world to all the CI festivals in Israel, Russia, India, Spain, Germany, Finland, Canada, etc. He has led intensives at many of these contact gatherings as well as assisted others in teaching fundamentals of falling, flying, failing, and laughing. As a student and teacher, he uses his understanding of Bartenieff Fundamentals as well as his innate sense of spatial awareness to explore more deeply the ideas of being grounded, becoming softer, and forgetting the difference between up and down. He is currently on faculty at The Juilliard School, Sarah Lawrence College, and Movement Research in NYC. He specializes in Contemporary Partnering, Floor Work, and CI.
(source: https://www.earthdance.net/2020queerjam)
photos © Kikuye Sugiyama, featuring Spirit Joseph (bottom)