Wednesday — 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m.
WINTER : January 25 to April 26, 2023 (14 classes)
Contact Lara to register
Drop in: $15
7 Class Pack: $95
14 Class Pack: $185
Payment cash or e-transfer: lara.oundjian@gmail.com
Bilingual teacher // Students are invited to write in any language.
Mask required – please consult Studio 303’s COVID-19 Protocol for further information.
CONTENT //
In this class, we will practice movement improvisation and writing tasks as forms of invocation. Invocations come as ways to resist making sense and move towards intuitive knowing and spontaneous composition. We will practice dancing and writing through practices of attention, touch, and listening.
The class begins with warming up our proprioception and embodied awareness, borrowing tools from qi gong, body mind centering, contact improvisation, fighting monkey, aerobics and more. Then, I will guide us through scores and exercises that allow dances and writing to unfold, orienting us to ourselves, the others, and the space. We will work through witnessing one another, through direct touch, and through empathetic connection at a distance. Expect to sweat, discuss, and be both playful and serious!
Content will be partially generated by me and partially inspired by a certain dance lineage in improvisation and writing practices.
ACCESSIBILITY // The content of the class will vary on the scale from gentle and contemplative to energetic and physical. The gentle material involves deep listening to ones own internal movements, or to the movements of another participant. The energetic material may involve open form dancing to upbeat music, or aerobic movements such as jumping, rolling or lunging. Both deep introspection and dynamic exertion can be overstimulating to people based on their physical and emotional histories. Depending on health protocols, some exercises may involve touch. Participants can always opt out of and modify touch based exercises. Part of the interest of this class is for people to safely explore their physical, relational and creative limits. Therefore, participants are always encouraged to expand their limits whilst respecting their own boundaries and interests in relation to the proposals of the class. I can offer modifications for exercises, or participants can propose their own.
BIO // Lara Oundjian is an interdisciplinary dance artist based in Montréal/Tiotià:ke. She trained in contemporary dance, choreography, somatic practices and practiced-based theory in various contexts of Berlin, Stockholm and Montreal. She has presented her work in Montreal at the OFFTA, Tangente, and the Phenomena festival. Lara was a resident artist with the Third Floor at Usine C from 2019-2021 and at La Serre from 2020-2021. Her current solo and duo projects are collaborations in various constellations with Louise Michel Jackson, Nien Tzu Weng, and Maria Kefirova. Lara approaches dance as a practice of relationality, the body as dynamically entangled with its environment through attention and sensation. She researches practices of transmission between internal and external spaces.
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.