Movement Practice: Presence in Motion (DAN4026.01)

Tal Shibi, MFA Teaching Fellow

In order to convey and share our movement effectively with an audience, presence is a key ingredient which carries the potential to transform the “space” around us.  The question arises: how do we tap into that power? What does presence mean to us, and can we translate it into meaningful dancing?

In this course, we will take a deep dive into performative presence from various angles and practices. We will move, dance, witness, and observe. Students will  take part in creating solos on the spot through uncovering strategies which can create ease in sharing our dance with the audience. We will uncover some of the potential blocks towards  “showing up,” both in our dance and hopefully… in our lives!

The class will include breath work, floor work, and various warm up practices inspired by Contact Improvisation, Gaga, Feldenkrais technique, and Body Mind Centering. The work will incorporate text, contact improvisation, and score making to create clear, engaging and rigorous solo sketches, duets and group scores.

This practice will enliven and inform our movement in surprising and immediate ways.


Learning Outcomes:
* Practicing giving and receiving skillful touch as an entry point to solo movement.
* Creating meaning and clarity in Improvisation and Choreography.
* Experiment with using scores and score making to create materials for movement and
self-expression.
* Develop skills for observing and articulating observations.


Delivery Method: Fully in-person
Prerequisites:
Permission of Instructor. Some form of previous dance/movement/ improvisational experience, as well as a basic comfort level of utilizing intentional touch as part of movement exploration. Please contact Tal Shibi via e-mail (talshibi@bennington.edu) prior to registration.
Corequisites: Dance or Drama Lab Assignment if students are registered for 4 or more credits in Dance.

Course Level: 4000-level
Credits: 2
T/F 10:30AM - 12:20PM (Full-term)
Maximum Enrollment: 16
Course Frequency: One time only

Categories: All courses , Dance , Fully In-Person , Updates
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