C.I.N.N.

The Furniture of the Earth
improvising the surfaces of contact
(Tokyo)
　
Inspired by JJ Gibson’s ideas of ecological perception, these classes will approach improvising in, with, and through contact from the perspective of the surface. We will examine the creation, dissolution, and operation of surfaces that arise between the floor, us, and our partners. Beginning with solo material drawn from developmental movement, Paxton’s Material for the Spine, and my own research, we will attune to our sensations in the moment. We will then widen our attention and action outwards, investigating conceptual triads to structure methods of creating, dissolving,　and operating the surfaces of contact in duet constellations. Widening further still, we will play with how the duet processes work in an ensemble.

ダンサーであり研究者でもあるアンドリュー・ワスは、経験に基づいた問いかけと具体化した経験の境界を曖昧にさせます。UC サンディエゴ校で生化学を学び、テキサス女子大学でダンスの博士号を取得しているワスは、哲学、認知科学、そしてプロセス重視のダンスパフォーマンスが交わるところに彼の問いかけを位置付けています。20年以上に渡り、ヨーロッパ、アジア、米国でコンテンポラリーテクニック、コンタクト・インプロヴィゼーション、アンサンブル・シンキングを探求し指導して来ました。ムーブメントを、分析手法と生きた感覚の境界を溶解する、探求対象であると同時に生成媒体と位置付けています。JJ.カーティス、R.チャン、N.S.スミス、N.マーティン、K.シムソン、K.ルスラー、C.アイケンといった著名ダンサーや振付家と共演してきました。共同制作にも熱心である彼は米国テキサス州マルファに拠点を置くローワー・レフト・パフォーマンス・コレクティブのメンバーでもあり、アンサンブル・シンキングのトレーナー資格を取得しています。彼のパフォーマンス作品はアメリカやヨーロッパの多数の都市の多様な劇場、美術館、博物館などで上演されています。
　
Andrew Wass
A dancer and researcher, Andrew Wass blurs the boundaries between empirical inquiry and embodied experience. With a background in Biochemistry from UC San Diego and a PhD in Dance from Texas Woman’s University, Wass situates his inquiries in the intersection of philosophy, cognitive science, and process-oriented concert dance. He has explored and taught contemporary technique, Contact Improvisation, and Ensemble Thinking for over two decades across Europe, Asia, and the U.S. He frames movement as both a site of investigation and a generative medium, dissolving the divide between analytic method and lived sensation. Wass has performed with dance luminaries Jess Curtis, Ray Chung, Nancy Stark Smith, Nina Martin, Kirstie Simson, Ka Rustler, and Chris Aiken. An avid collaborator, he is a member of the Lower Left Performance Collective, based in Marfa, TX. His performance work has been produced at venues such as Danspace at St. Marks, Martin Gropius Bau, Hamburger Bahnhof Museum for Contemporary Art, Sushi Performance and Visual Art, the Crowley Theater, and La Jolla Museum of Contemporary Art. A member of the Lower Left Performance Collective, he is a certified trainer of Ensemble Thinking.

Rising and Riding
Contact Improvisation and Laban Bartenieff Movement System (LBMS)

The Laban/Bartenieff System is a somatic approach based on the work of Rudolf Laban and Imgard Bartenieff. It is a tool to observe, read, describe, interpret, gain awareness for body, movement and dance. It is based on four foundational Components – Body, Space, Shape and Efforts or Dynamic Qualities – to explore a three-dimensional, embodied process that allows to identify personal preferences, rhythms and movement phrasing while improving functionally, expressively and creatively.

My proposal is based on the integration of the Laban/Bartenieff lens with my practice, study and research on Contact Improvisation.
This perspective has allowed me to better understand and articulate certain phenomena, particularly, that of Riding. It is the most fascinating skill of Contact Improvisation that allows bodies to float over other bodies with such ease and lightness, defying the laws of physics.
How does one get there?

In order to dare safely, both awareness and technique are needed.
In becoming aware of the body-mind processes that exist intrinsically, the focus is placed on the observation of one’s own body perception and that of the other bodies we enter in contact. So that sensations, impulses, trajectories can be in dialogue with the dance and what is happening in the here and now. It is my experience that is precisely this union that allows risk taking, pushing individual comfort zones, opening up new possibilities for movement.
This creates clarity in the decision-making process that happens moment after moment.
Starting from a state of union between body and mind, we will enter in an energetic and physical connection, to explore together the technique for flying.

In terms of technique, we will focus on the concept of Rising to arrive at Riding, expanding the traditional idea of center to include Center of Gravity and Center of Levity; observing the principle of Dynamic Alignment to modulate the movement of the Core; mobilizing the Whole Body in search of that specific sensation of flight and suspension that occurs at different levels, more or less close to the floor.

イタリア人として生まれ、オーストラリア国籍を取得。国や文化をまたいだ身体とダンスの視点を持つダンサー、振付家、研究者、講師。言語学および外国文学の学士取得している翻訳／通訳家。ダンスでは、N.S.スミスのアンダースコア及びLBMSの影響を強く受け、リアルタイム・コンポジションやコンタクト・インプロヴィゼーション、振付けを探求しています。Posture、TREメソッド、LBMSのトレーニングを受けており、リリーステクニック、フロアワーク、身体気象、ViewPoints、BMC、カンフーを研究していました。通訳・アシスタントとしてAlito AlessiのDanceAbilityトレーニングに参加。イタリアのラバン・バーテニエフ動作分析システム訓練プログラムのオーガナイザー及び通訳。
彼女は気づきとつながりの媒体として身体を見つめ、教育的にも上演性においても、言語と認知がエンボディメントの基本を成すと考えています。彼女は何よりインクルーシブな方法論を重要視しています。

Caterina Mocciola
Italian by birth and naturalized Australian, I am a dancer, choreographer, researcher, and teacher with a transnational vision of the body and dance. I hold a B.A. in Linguistic Sciences and Foreign Literatures, and am a translator and interpreter. In dance, I explore real-time composition, contact improvisation, and choreography, strongly influenced by Nancy Stark Smith’s Underscore and the Laban/Bartenieff System. I have studied techniques such as Release, FloorWork, Body Weather, ViewPoints BMC, and Kung Fu. I am trained in Posture, TRE Method, and LBMS. As a translator and assistant, I collaborated on the two Italian editions of Alito Alessi’s DanceAbility Training.
My work focuses on the body as a medium of awareness and connection, where language and cognition represent a fundamental aspect of embodiment, both pedagogically and performatively, with a methodology geared toward inclusivity.
I am the organiser and translator of the Laban Bartenieff Movement Analysis System Training Program in Italy.