PHASE I

 

Chapter 1: Walk the beat - basic rhythmical understanding and coordination through walking mechanics

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Walking is a practice common to all human beings and cultures. Walking could therefore be thought of  as the matrix for all traditional dances.

This fundamental gesture, that has so profoundly shaped our species, allows us a trans-disciplinary access portal to the moving human body, to its cellular memory, it's individual and collective identity.

 

Walking is also a profoundly polyrhythmical action: the alternance of the shift of weight expressed by our feet, the offbeat pulse of our knees, the melody of the undulations of the spine and swing of  the arms, not to mention all the different accents and rhythmical colors that we can make while we walk according to our objectives and mood…

 

During the workshop we will use the anatomical and bio-mechanical tools offered by the Axis Syllabus as well as some basic rhythmical principles to analyze the body's subtle structural relationships.

Starting from a promenade, we will move into a dance that can expand these principles in time and space.

 

PHASE II 

 

Chapter 2 Contemporary traditions - The polyrhythmic body

 

Live Music: Lorenzo Gasperoni /Guest Star: Eric Acakpo ( Benin)

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In all ancient traditions, dance and music are vested with important spiritual and social roles, and are considered fundamental to the expression and guiding of both collective and individual dynamics.

Our research focuses on the characteristic intimacy between polyrhythm and the dancing body in the cultures of West Africa and the Diaspora. In these traditions, dance and music are inextricably linked, in continuous dialogue. Mirroring each other they come together in a single language that is in continuous metamorphosis.

During the work, we will discover the universal bio-mechanical and the subtle rhythmical principles on which many traditional motifs are built.

Merging the inherent wisdom of tradition and the latest studies in somatic practice, we aspire to facilitate a profound intimacy between live music and the moving body, suggest ways in which both can assist in the gathering of skill and awareness, as well as engender and enhance creative expression.

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PHASE IV

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YouSpace - Creative Lab

Facilitation/Moderation: Frey Faust, Baris Mihci, Francesca Pedulla

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This period in the NC is traditionally a moment to discover, practice, re elaborate and then share your own creative impulses or projects in a protected, informal performance context.

The Creative Lab is a space to explore tools reviewed or acquired during the NC, during your study of the Axis Syllabus or elsewhere. Your project can be performative or more installation oriented. Feel free to liberate your imagination.

If you decide to initiate or lead a project, you will be invited to develop a new idea, develop something you are already working on, or participate as an interpreter or outside eye for another participant’s project.

We will offer some cues or stimulus for generating material or supporting your process, and be on hand to offer technical assistance or counsel on composition.

There will be three “showings”. Tuesday, Thursday will be opportunities for supportive feedback, and Saturday to celebrate the NC, and share our creativity with a wider public.

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