Julija Melnik (Vilnius-Berlin) – Master of Science in Education with 13 years experience in dance pedagogy (from hip-hop dance to argentine tango, from improvisation to sacred dances of the dervishes), teacher of Samara Yoga, instructor of Choreographic Samadeva and constellator by method of Idris Lahore. Since 2006 she has been developing and teaching contact improvisation (IC) in Baltic and in many other countries, including teaching at various CI festivals and other related conferences or events.
She also explores other forms of improvisation and performance, and her search for movement is also informed by practices of meditation, bodywork, dance therapy and other psycho-corporal techniques such as the Feldenkrais method.
Julija studied contact improvisation with CI pioneers – Steve Paxton and Nancy Stark Smith, as well as Nina Martin, Andrew Harwood, Angela Donii, Joerg Hassman, Charlie Morrissey, Adrian Russi and many others. Improvisation and performances she also studied with Julyen Hamilton, Daniel Lepkoff, Nita Little, Alexander Girshon, Keith Hennessy, David Zombrano and others.
Her teaching at CI includes projects with various educational and artistic institutions in Lithuania and abroad, as well as the Lithuanian Association of the Blind and Visually Impaired.
The Principles of CI – the conditions for structure, force, depth and evolution
Class on Saturday 10:30-14:00
The workshop is designed for all levels of experience in CI. The aim – to prepare or to strengthen foundations in CI, that will allow to enter into a mutually satisfying dance duet, depending on the level of each dancer and their relation quality.
Contact improvisation can become an ,,Art of Staying Connected”, that allows to maintain the contact in the dance with another, the continuity, fluidity and harmony of the movement with others. It is a wonderful instrument to experience what happens at the moment of contact, to approach the reality through touch and to engage into the path towards joy and freedom!
This movement-dance requires not only the physical technique, but also training of attention and cultivation of quality relationship with others. It’s a great way to see, expand and transcend our own limits.
I will be very happy to meet and investigate the dance with those, who want to enter into contact with themselves and the others through conscious movement and touch.
Masha Grudskaya (Moscow) – teacher of contact and dance/movement improvisation, somatic therapist, performer.
Has been dancing CI since 2003, teacher of Moscow Center of CI (contactimprovisation.ru), teaches in Russia and other countries.
Participates in performance projects in collaboration with dancers, musicians, painters, worked with TabulaDanza dance theater company, with choreographers Steve Batts (UK), Benno Voorham (Sweden) and others.
IBMT Somatic Therapist, graduated Institute of Intergative Bodywork and Movement Therapy Program (ISMETA-certified program directed by Linda Hartley, UK). IBMT includes Body-Mind Centering ®, Authentic Movement and Somatic Psychology (ibmt.co.uk). In her practice she also used elements of Bartenieff Fundamentals, Laban Analysis, Feldenkraiz Method. Coordinator of IBMT Russia ibmt-russia.ru.
Maria is an organizer and teacher of Russian and international CI festivals: Winter Festival in Moscow Region, Festival of CI and Water Dance in Thailand “Catch the Wave” (ci-thai.com), CI Festival on Ladoga Lake in Karelia (ladoga-dance.ru).
Lives at Tarusa Creative Farm “Bobry” (fermabobry.ru) – beautiful nature not far from Moscow.
Fascial Dance – everything connected to everything
Class on Sunday 10:30-12:30
I love to use body images and information about body systems to inspire my dance, we can direct the “flash light” anywhere in the body and find which quality of movement is activated, probably find new support, energy, desire for movement and contact.
In this class I invite you to fascia – connective tissue around bones, muscles, organs, vessels, cells etc. – everything in the body. This time we’ll focus more on bones and ligaments. From somatic images and hands-on we’ll come to movement and shared dance.
And here are some inspirations that you can try right now, you don’t even have to wait for the class :)!
– feel deep effortless connection between bones, how they talk to each other
– every movement in every direction in every place in the body is supported
– spiral ligaments connect spiral bones
– connective tissue like honey flows around all organs and muscles and bones
– connection between people – how do you feel the connective tissue of the group right now?
Maria Podolskai
a (Riga) has been dancing CI since 2010. She took part in many international and Russian CI festivals and workshops, as well as organized and facilitated classes, labs and performances. So far her dance practise has been influenced by dance and movement therapy. She visited various workshops led by Alexander Girshon in Vilnius and worldwide. Her main interests in dancing are dynamic, honesty and flow.
Emotional Dance.
Class on Saturday 15:30-17:30
We’ll dance with our basic emotions, express them in movement and contact through them. Joy, sadness, fear, anger, excitement and many more feelings make us alive and complex. We’ll integrate them into our solo and contact dance, finding a balance between them and giving life and fruitiness to our interactions. Class is based on dance and movement therapy, as well as on my own observations and research.