Photo credit: Frédéric Arthur Chabot

CONTACT IMPROVISATION WORKSHOP: Connection and Spontaneity

with Jonathan Lilly

MAY 26 2019: 3-6PM

ALL LEVELS (beginners welcome)

Trinity Lutheran Church | 292 Orange St New Haven

$35

***REGISTER at elmcitydance@gmail.com***

CLASS DESCRIPTION: Connection and Spontaneity in Contact Improvisation

At the heart of contact improvisation is the connection between ourselves and our partner. When this connection is open and grounded yet sensitive and fluid, it becomes the starting point for the unfolding of spontaneity and surprise. Through games, exercises, and explorations, this workshop examines connection in contact improvisation and its role in unlocking a kaleidoscope of possibilities. From this foundation, we will work our way into lifts and descents with an emphasis on both safety and spontaneity. Dancers of all levels are welcome, including complete beginners.

Jonathan Lilly came to contact improvisation in 2013, after twenty years of training in aikido, a martial art that can be said to be a direct ancestor of this dance form. His movement and teaching styles are deeply informed by his experience with the Feldenkrais method of somatic education, as well as by a daily meditation practice in the Tibetian Buddhist tradition. He has taught workshops or classes in contact improvisation at a half-dozen locations in the US and Canada. In his day job, he studies ocean physics.