April 8th to 12th, 2024 – 1:00 pm to 3:00 pm (Mon.-Fri.)
Full week rate : $60
Drop-in class rate : $20 (available one month prior)
Language of instruction : English
Questions can also be asked in : French
Open to dancers, yogis, those who are curious, and anyone who likes to move!
The mask could be mandatory for some activities as an accessibility measure for our teachers or participants. For more information, click here.
CONTENT
VIVUS/movement is a class based on concepts from contemporary dance, yoga, voice, and stretching techniques that encourage each participant to awaken their body through new sensations. We will move intuitively, in our own personal way, applying weight, speed, and flow of energy. This experience is an invitation to move without judgement, at one’s own pace, no approach being either right or wrong, allowing our sensations to guide us. Above all we will seek pleasure, joy, and release. Come with an open mind. For dancers, yogis, those who are curious, and anyone who likes to move!
ACCESSIBILITY
Vivus/movement is a practice of guided improvisation. Through verbal cues we will focus on specific parts of the body to bring sensation and mobility. This can be accessed at different percentages or levels of engagement based on the individual participant.I encourage each participant to work at their own level and adapt as needed since no one is permitted to sit and observe the class. Throughout the class, I will maintain continual movement alongside the attendees. Therefore, if an artist has trouble following verbal cues, they are invited to follow my physical cues. Each participant is welcomed to interpret the information freely; providing space for creative exploration and working within one’s own physical capacities. Within this freedom I will introduce specific topics for each class and the participants will contribute to the spontaneous composition of my instruction. We will work with weight, texture, effort, speed, and intensity, and the workshop will require a certain level of mental and physical endurance since movement is sustained throughout. We will also work with our voice and our breath, as we connect to a joy of moving, especially in effort. We will try to move in and out of our comfort zones. Although no previous training is needed, curiosity of one’s body in motion is required.
BIOGRAPHY
James is a contemporary dance artist whose performance career spans over 25 years, most notably with Montreal’s Compagnie Marie Chouinard. Since graduating in both Musical Theatre and Dance Programs at Alberta’s Grant MacEwan University in 1998, James has enjoyed performing his own and others choreographic works for international audiences at festivals and theatres all over the world.In 2009, he and his fellow dancers were awarded a Gemini Award for Best Performance from the Academy of Canadian Cinema & Television for the Chouinard company’s film version of bODY_rEMIX/ les_vARIATIONS_gOLDBErg. In 2016, he was awarded funding from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Quebec (CALQ) to become a certified Gaga teacher and to study with the Batsheva Dance Company under the direction of Ohad Naharin in Tel Aviv, Israel. In addition to choreographing, collaborating, performing, and rehearsal directing for other artists across Canada, James travels frequently to share his passion of movement to students of all levels as a guest teacher in various dance institutions, schools, movement facilities and universities.
This workshop allowed me to cultivate my artistic practice due to the fact that this class is so open and so free, it allows me to be myself, dance as I want with a wonderful guidance.
– Diego Cervantes