with Nita Little & Ezra LeBank

September 16 – 17

Location

Malashock Dance, Studio 200
Liberty Station

2690 Truxtun Rd, #200, San Diego, CA
Near the 5 and 8 Freeways

Schedule

• Saturday 12:30 – 7:30 pm (break from 4-5 pm)
• Sunday 10:30 – 5:30 pm (break from 2-3 pm)

Fee *

Early Discount by August 25th: ($40 discount)

• Regular $220
• Low Income $180 **
• Supporter $260

After August 25th: ($40 increase)

• Regular $260
• Low Income $220
• Supporter $300

* We aim to make this accessible to everyone regardless of financial circumstances. Please reach out to ask about other payment options.

** additional $30 discount on all fees for BIPOC participants

Registration is non-refundable. If you wish to transfer your ticket to someone else, please let us know their contact information.

Payment is accepted using Venmo, PayPal or Zelle. Please see details in the registration form (above)

About the Work

When bodies meet, intelligence is found in the quality of touch, the organization of physical forms, the ability to share the physics of motion, timing, and the giving and receiving of weight – but it is also, and particularly, in our ability to communicate. In this workshop, we will study tonal states in order to enhance a dancer’s ability to inform one another through embodiments that are both winding and unwinding.

From the foundation of our DNA, we will investigate the spiraling nature of our limbs and center to locate ourselves as human animals in a state of wildness that can safely and cooperatively navigate unfamiliar terrain on the ground and in flight. This distinctly physical work will dis- and re-orient as move toward communion with one another.

Speaking in the language of presence, we will learn to cast physical attention into and through different spaces of being and within one another’s flesh. Working in duets and ensembles, our CI includes modes for building tactile attentional networks enabling these skills to appear in ensemble forms. We will emphasize communication through actions of touch, kinesthetic logic, and embodied attention. Diving into the metaphors that arise when we move well together we can extract personal wisdom from our time dancing. Expect training in specific skills, movement meditation, and trance practices to enhance learning, research scores, personal feedback, and ensemble performances.

About your Instructors

Nita Little (US) is an activist for relational intelligence through improvisational dance practices that began with the emergence and development of Contact Improvisation (CI). A dancer, teacher, choreographer, and dance theorist, her work with Steve Paxton was generative of CI in 1972. Little received her Ph.D. in Performance Studies in 2014. She tours worldwide on a regular basis working for dance companies, at festivals, conferences, and universities teaching, lecturing, and choreographing. Her writing investigates ecological actions of attention and the creative potentials present in entangled relations. She initiated the Institute for the Study of Somatic Communication (ISSC) in 2016 with dance research ensembles (which all share CI in common) participating from around the globe. www.nitalittle.com

Ezra LeBank (US) is a Professor of Movement at California State University Long Beach. Meditation, Aikido, and acrobatics work their way into his curiosity of CI. His approach is inspired by many wonderful teachers including Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Ishmael Houston Jones, Martin Keogh, and Nita Little. He has been invited as a teacher at International Contact Festival Freiburg, West Coast Contact Improv Jam, Seattle Festival for Dance Improvisation, Poland Contact Festival, and this summer will teach at CI@50 in Oberlin, Ohio. His research asks the question if we can fly and fall without noticing much. www.badgoatdance.com