1

Ingo Reulecke (Berlin)

"Contemporary Dance and Instant Composition"

I’ d like to teach in different directions and take an entrance in a multi directional and available body/ mind.
We’ll deal with simple tasks and exercices out of the alexander technique and susan klein work.
In the process of digging into the body and mind connection we’ll become an idea of momentum grounding and graphity.
These ingredients will help to clarify a more strong sense of time and space.
The dynamic/ effort in a moving body will be a very good possibility to get in touch with a change of energy. We can learn to channel these energy flow as an compositional ingredient.
Further i’ll work with different performance tasks to open up the senses and help to softening patterns.
This should help to build up a trust in finding ideas out of the blue. This ideas will help a lot to prepare the participants to enjoy the evening performances.
Therefore the work will prepare the awakening for the moment and to take every possibility to create. To find in the awake moment a sensation to expand every single moment.
We’ll try to expand the borders in each second. Here we’ll reach the possibility to become transparent for ourself and our partners in time and space. Out of these impulses we can start to become endless in our creative potential.

Ingo Reulecke studied choreography at the college of the art "Ernst Busch" Berlin after completing his training in contemporary dance. 1994 and 97 study grants from the Berlin Senate for New York City. Guest lecturer at the collage the art "Ernst Busch" in Berlin and at the Palucca Hochschule in Dresden since 1995. 1998/99 DAAD scholarship for a year in NYC. 1998 German Tanzplattform in Munich with “Eklipse”. International Dance Festival NRW with “Sheik Yerbouti”. Artist in Residence of the Tanzfabrik Berlin since 1999. International Beckett-Festival Berlin with “Gesellschaft 1”, Stardust Festival Stockholm. 2001 commissioned choreography “DRONE” for the festival “Meeting Neuer Tanz NRW”. Artist in Residence in Fylkingen, Stockholm, collaboration with Helena Franzén for “Make it double”. 2002 Artist in Residency at the Choreographic Centre Essen for “gleich.gültig 2”.
2003 invitation for 25 year jubelee of tanzfabrik berlin to do choreography „28 minutes sculptures“in sophiensaele. In 2004 a collaboration with Lukas matthaei for „winterreisen“ and in autumn 2004 the collaboration with Katarina Eriksson in Stockholm ( moderna dansteatern ) for 16 performer.
2005 in cooperation with the dramaturge annett hardegen for hau 3 „distanz 1:02“.
2006 first price in the theatre festival "vorort" Muenster with "diminuendo 2".
2007 co-production with the director Lukas Matthaei for Forum Freies Theater in Duesseldorf, " unsere Tage wie Schatten".
Since 2005 I. Reulecke has a professorship in choreography and is leading the dance departement in the college of the arts "Ernst Busch" Berlin.
2006 he started the directorship in the co-operative dance education centre berlin.

2

Danya Elraz (ISRAEL)

"Interactive Performance Work"

This workshop will focus on using voice, movement, closed eyes and blindfolds in human interaction. We will question what it means to JOIN another person, to be in SERVICE of the other dancers, how to give PRESENTS, and how to create a WHOLE space. After understanding the possibilities or rules of the game, we will explore working in a participatory performance setting, moving the audience, touching them, lifting them, giving them space, or singing. Can the darkness be a womb for transformation, allowing us to be different from whom we normally are?

Then, on the last day, we will create an official 2- hour participatory event, inviting the other groups to take part.

This intensive is based on events I have directed in Israel over the last two years, and is influenced by the work of Karl Frost, USA.

Danya Elraz - Danya is a performer, teacher and dancer, and one of the leading figures in the Contact Improvisation community in Israel. She graduated from the School of Visual Theater, is a certified Somatic Educator and has a B.A. in Arts and Education. Danya has recieved various prizes for her work, and has taught and performed in Israel, Europe and North America. She combines dance and theater with a deep curiosity how it connects to our personal development and presence in the world.

3

David Lakein (USA, Berlin)

"INTO THE JUNGLE,
Adventures in Presence"

What is presence?

Is there such a thing as a neutral body?

What happens to our body consciousness in front of an audience?

How to avoid lapses in awareness arriving into and departing from a form-action-state?

What causes us to disconnect from our surroundings and be uprooted from the present moment?

INTO THE JUNGLE is a laboratory for adventurers who want to probe their beliefs about the performing body and question their assumptions about the performance moment.

We will experiment with varying approaches to locating a physical attitude and placing a specific intention in body and voice.

We will examine roles we embody—functional-experiential-narrative—and discover whether one ever occupies a primary position.

All in order to uncover what motivates-inspires-drives us to communicate emotions-thoughts-states to the world.

Is anyone really watching? Why should they?

*You will be asked to complete some tasks prior to the festival and prepare some material. All simply difficult and thoroughly enjoyable stuff!

David Lakein (USA/Berlin) is a Director-Choreographer, Performer, and Faciliator. He studied History, Philosophy, Literature, and Acting in the United States and Improvisation, Release-Technique, Composition, Body-Mind-Centering and Contact in Berlin and at the School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam.

Lakein’s work inhabits the borders between theater, dance, cabaret and performance art. He believes deeply in the collaborative process, and works with other theater makers, performers, composers, musicians, visual and video artists, light- and set-designers.

Current performance ventures include: “Planet Hope” – a research-performance project about the role of hope/Hope in different facets of life; “Café Urgency” – a community happening about the Urgency in people’s lives: the pressing ideas, compelling needs, and burning desires that fill a day & span a lifetime; “The Breath Series” – an improvisation solo about {abandoning} responsibility, {embracing} failure, and {muddling} meaning & mystery.

Lakein is in the organizing team of the Ponderosa TanzLand Festival, held each July in Stolzenhagen, Germany (close to Berlin).

4

Mirva Mäkinen (Finland)

"Dancing Contact ­ ...behind the dance"

with instrumental support by

Viola Einsiedel

Nothing needs to be done, nothing is happening but possibilities are opening ­ this is the best state of awareness, relaxation and readiness, when I dance contact. Force of gravity and momentum is to dance with a sense of humor and humility ­ so that we can communicate and meet the other person through dance. My aim is to find spirit of contact improvisation in classes.
Not just exercises but more about finding the way of playing with different tones and senses from your body. Listening yourself and your partner can introduce skin and touch can lead to dancing. From light contact and softness we move towards more weight and intensity ­ working with skin, muscle and bones and using this knowledge as a structure to build dance but also to build connection to the other person.

We try to find safe and effective strategies of moving into and out of the floor; flying low and flying high.

There is lots of knowledge in the center of the body ­ not only for contracting and tensing but also for releasing your center when needed. We will move from the center of the body towards the extremities. We will do exercises of reaching, folding and spiraling to find a natural and organic
sense of movement. We will play with how to use balance and off-balance by recognizing body weight and momentum.

Through all these beautiful physical knowledge and skills I would like to reach the energy behind everything. I have lately been working with masculine and feminine energy in dance. Being aware, that both of these energies exist in me, has brought more spice in to my dance. I would love
to share and play with this during this intensive.

Mirva Mäkinen: I am 33 years old professional dancer, choreographer and teacher from Finland. My friends from contact improvisation scene call me "White rabbit",
which was my first CI name, after that I have been called "Jääkarhu" (polar bear) and latest one is "Mirvana".

I enjoy moving and I love to dance contact!

I have studied movement in different places. I have Masters degree in Art of Dance (Theatre Academy of Helsinki, Finland) and before that I made Masters of Physical Education (University of Jyväskylä, Finland). I have learned CI, dance and movement by studying, teaching, performing and practicing. I love to explore my body and I am curious for all the movement possibilities. I
find other inspiration from contemporary dance (release technique), astanga yoga, meditation, aerial dance and acrobatics. I work as a dance teacher in Kallio high school which is special school for performing arts in Helsinki, Finland. I also work as a freelance dancer and choreographer. My most important teachers has been my dancepartners. Thank you for playful Helsinki dancecommunity!

Viola Einsiedel plays the Violin, viola, nyckelharpa and she will inspire the people with indian percussion instruments, kalimba, tamboura, recorder and her own voice.
Music and Dance is a complete unity- developing a new creation in space.
Her instrumental improvisation is created through inner personal dance, the visible and invisible impulse in the dancing space, the people, which are offering their personal universe with open minds and hearts, dancing bodies and their spirit and a invisible, divine energy which is playing a certain role in all of it.

Viola Einsiedel- Musician, dancer, teacher.
Performer in various dance and theatre projects in Cologne, Freiburg and Munich.
Yoga and chanting mantras, related with indian spirit, exploring the connection between music and meditation and their use as tools to understand our true nature.
Inspired by the work of Orly and Shai (göttiner improfestival 07) she dedicated this year for making music at various contactimprovisations festivals: Freiburg, Glarisegg, Köln, Ammersee , Konstanz and Munich.