Zen Monkey Project :: Summer Intensive

Courses that will be offered at the Zen Monkey Project Summer Intensive 2005:
(For instructor biographies please visit the about ZMP page)

“The pioneers of Somatics introduced to the West an alternative vision of health and the body, which emphasizes an intimate integrity of movement, anatomical structure, intelligence and spiritual consciousness. These teachers encouraged respect for lived experience and the wisdom that can be found through "attending to" rather than "conquering" or "controlling" life processes.” - Don Hanlon Johnson

The material offered will be an integration of research into the interface between somatic modalities like Body-Mind Centering®, Alexander Technique®, and the Feldenkrais Method® with dancing practices.

The intention is to explore how awareness of flesh and understanding of function can help increase the fullness of experience in dancing and to open up ways of informing the creative process with kinesthetic impulses and a corporeal imagination.

Contact Improvisation is about becoming a conscious mover while creating partnerships with yourself, your environment, and others. Our time will be spent developing the basic principles of the form; with special attention to warming up into the dance, rolling in and out of the floor, following the point of contact, and weight sharing. We will also explore how our imagination and attention to qualitative imagery affects the nature of the contact dance.

How do we balance the internal focus of kinesthetic experience with a generous and fully aware sense of what is going on around us? Particular attention will be paid to the relationship between sensation and thought. We will draw from our experience gained through Somatics, Technique, and Contact Improvisation to inform our ability to make clear choices in relation to content, time, and space. What does the body/mind have to say at the juncture of decision making?

We will use several methods to create individual, original dancing languages, including: Authentic Movement, writing, recognition of content during improvising, building phrases, and using other media as source material. With these languages we will look at setting them into small vignettes as well as within the context of group work. This summer, particular attention will be paid to sourcing material from and with costumes and sculptural elements.

Thai massage could be described as a synthesis of shiatsu-like accupressure and assisted yoga. Originally developed in the Buddhist temples of Thailand to promote health and well being, it has become very popular around the world as an effective technique for improving flow, relaxation, and flexibility. Practiced on the floor, the recipient and the practitioner are involved in a meditative “dance” that first awakens energy meridians through palm and finger pressure and then deepens the effect through assisted stretching into yoga-like postures.

Students will have an opportunity to present work to the Charlottesville community made prior to or during the workshop on the final Friday in a "loft" style performance space with basic technical support. The purpose of the performances is to share our histories, embrace new possibilities, and deepen our understanding of the work done during the intensive.

Form, function, and the juicy body. Comprehensive warm-ups, phrases, and dynamic movement through space.