Ruth Douthwright
WEEK 1
11.45 - 13.45
PULSE….up to go down, down to go up
In this workshop we will practice a wide range of rhythms, steps, gestures, movement qualities and spatial formations. We will explore movement relationships found in tri-axial motions through walking, skipping, bouncing and jumping. We will glide, slide, bounce, jiggle, walk, jump, float...touching on various subjects within Chronological Architecture; receptive - propulsive systems, landing and launching, kinetic rhythmic forces and dynamic patterns.
16.00 - 18.00
WAKING UP TO CONNECTIONS
This is a movement lab exploring our modes of bodying and moving in relation to site, the Berkshire hills. In this double practice, moving and the apparatus of movement are both interrogated, held accountable and examined. We will explore landing and launching, tone and tension, lead and lag, all movement practices in relation to our own bodies. While at the same time we will examine how our very movement, as nomadic dancers, is implicit in the flattening of the ground that allowed western dance as a colonial project to emerge. We ask: How can our dancing attend to the grooves of the particular terrain where it presents itself? How can dance making practices create deeper and wider narratives of living and learning in connection with others and with the land that the practices are situated on?
BIOGRAPHY
Ruth Douthwright - dance artist and movement educator. For over a decade Ruth has been a certified teacher of the Axis Syllabus offering individual and group movement therapy, dance classes and workshops, and as a guest teacher at international Teacher Trainings. Formative education in folk, sacred dance, storytelling and music has greatly influenced her work. Graduate from LADMMI - École de danse contemporaine de Montréal, continued studies: Continuum - Linda Rabin, Laban (UK), The Body Weather Farm and The Kyoto Arts Centre (Japan). Artistic highlights: PATRIA R. Murray Schafer, ABCDC Frey Faust 2003-2008, L’Inattendue Compagnie, (Belgium) 2006-2008, Dasein Dance Theatre (Canada) 2014-2016. Ongoing research and performance projects Ecological Bodying with Strange Strangers Collective Kevin O’Connor and Billy Douthwright. Ruth and family live in London Canada, she works as an Educator and Mentor with London Arts Council, Museum London, School Board and creates with PublicDisplaysArt.