Thursday — 8:00 p.m. to 9:30 p.m.
FALL: Sept. 14 to Dec. 14th, 2023
$20 per class
$126 for half the fall session (7 classes)
$210 full fall session (14 classes)
No one turned away for a lack of funds, please be in touch if you’re in a precarious financial position and we’ll find a solution for you to join us!
Payment by e-transfer: auroradiana@gmail.com
Class in English and French
TO REGISTER > auroradiana@gmail.com
Mask mandatory – please consult Studio 303’s COVID-19-Related Accessibility page for further information.
CONTENT
Strongly rooted in the healing arts and magical practices as much as it is informed by contemporary dance and somatic practices, sensing body is an exploration of the body through improvisational movement. Grounded through warmups informed by yoga, meditation, breathwork, and qi gong, participants are invited to find their own forms through exploratory movement scores that take various creative shapes. Attuning to our senses and sensations through the ever-shifting tides of the inner landscape, we will move together through a co-created space. The body as temperature-taker and weather, poet and language, guide and traveler.
All are welcome, come as you are. No previous dance or movement practice experience necessary, just an attitude of exploration and play.
ACCESSIBILITY
Every instruction is an invitation for students to meet their own bodies and experiences, desires and abilities. Movement is improvisational, oriented towards scores and not phrases, focused on the individual’s experience, within group energies. Partner or group exercises are sometimes proposed, but always optional, and choosing to participate otherwise is welcomed at all times. Improvisation and creativity are not only thematics of the classes but tools we employ together in order to meet the accessibility needs of everyone in the room, bearing in mind that these needs may change from week to week. Instructions are verbal with some demonstrations where appropriate. Questions and vocal participation from students are welcome throughout the class, though this form of participation is not required if not desired. The possibility of touch and the negotiation of physical boundaries are co-communicated in the room among participants, with modeling and guidance from the instructor. Responsibility is shared for maintaining an environment that is held with the intention of co-creating as safe a space as possible for all participants. Please note that all participants wear masks in order to render the class accessible to chronically ill/disabled/immunocompromised people. There will always be masks available in studio if you forget to bring one. Feel free to be in contact with me regarding any specific accessibility concerns and queries either before, during, or after attendance.
BIOGRAPHY
Aurora Prelević (she/elle) is a movement and performance artist, a teacher of somatics, a writer, and a practicing herbalist. Born in Tiotià:ke / Montréal, she is the first generation of her family born on this land and carries strong Yugoslav / Balkan roots. Her extensive background in yoga, meditation, contemporary improvisational dance, experimental movement practices, and other somatic forms informs her approach to movement as both ritual and performance, therapeutic and artistic. Beloved teachers and important influences include K.J. Holmes, Stephanie Maher, the late Kathleen Hermesdorf, the late Michael Stone, Sara Shelton Mann, Keith Hennessy, Marina Abramović, and Kelly Keenan.
Aurora has taught regular somatics classes and special workshops for over ten years in her many homes of Montréal, Vancouver, New York, and Belgrade, as well as in Italy and in Germany. She holds an interdisciplinary MA from the New School for Social Research in New York, situated somewhere at the intersection of memory, performance, and gender studies. Aurora lives with chronic pain and illness which informs her teaching style as one seeped in prioritizing accessibility, seeking to be inclusive of all bodies and abilities, encouraging students to find their own forms. Connecting with nature is one of her favourite things about being alive on this planet, and one of the ways she feels most at home here.
Evening classes are open to all levels, and it is recommended to register in advance for one or multiple classes.
Registration is done directly with the teachers, please contact them if you need additional information.