Making Sense of Each Other.
Led by Claire Cunningham and Jess Curtis.
How do we look at each other? How do we allow ourselves to be seen? How do our movements and physicalities shape how we perceive the world around us? How much can we affect the way we see others? Can we learn to see – across lines of difference – in new ways?
Choreographers Jess Curtis and Claire Cunningham will lead a 2 day workshop researching themes and ideas related to their work The Way You Look (at me) Tonight investigating movement, our perceptions of each other and of our environment. Taking inspiration from the work of their collaborator Dr Alva Noë, whose philosophy suggests that perception is an activity happening in our whole bodies and not just our brains – we will investigate, through movement, language, writing, watching, listening and feeling, how difference – of physicality or lived experience- and diversity can both inform and shape our perception.
Accessibility: The venue is accessible for wheelchairs. Communication assistance is available in English, German and German sign language.
Registration: Masterclasses
Additional Information:
Deadline: 15.03.2019
Number of participants: maximum 17
After the registration deadline, we will make a selection of participants and let you know immediately if you have been selected.
Claire Cunningham is a performer and creator of multi-disciplinary performance based in Glasgow, Scotland and a current Factory Artist with Tanzhaus NRW Düsseldorf, Germany as well as a Work Place Artist with The Place, London.
One of the UK’s most acclaimed and internationally renowned disabled artists, Cunningham’s work is often rooted in the study and use/misuse of her crutches and the exploration of the potential of her own specific physicality with a conscious rejection of traditional dance techniques (developed for non-disabled bodies). This runs alongside a deep interest in the lived experience of disability and its implications not only as a choreographer but also in terms of societal notions of knowledge, value, connection and interdependence. A self-identifying disabled artist, Cunningham’s work combines multiple art forms and ranges from the intimate solo show ME (Mobile/Evolution) (2009), to the large ensemble work 12 made for Candoco Dance Company.
In 2014 she created Give Me a Reason to Live, inspired by the work of Dutch medieval painter Hieronymus Bosch and the role of beggars/cripples in his work, and the full length show Guide Gods, looking at the perspectives of the major Faith traditions towards the issue of disability. Awarded one of the Unlimited Commissions in 2016 she created with choreographer Jess Curtis a duet The Way You Look (at me) Tonight which has since toured world-wide and been selected in 2018 for Tanzplattform Germany and nominated for a Bessie Award.
She is a former Artist-in–Residence at the Women of the World Festival at the Southbank, London and of the Ulster Bank Belfast Festival at Queens. In 2016 she was Artist in Residence with Perth International Arts Festival, Australia and Associate Artist at Tramway, Glasgow.
A new ensemble work is in development for 2019.
More infos about Claire in the link below: www.clairecunningham.co.uk
Jess Curtis is an award-winning choreographer and performance artist committed to an art-making practice informed by experimentation, innovation, critical discourse, and social relevance at the intersections of fine art and popular culture. Curtis created and performed multidisciplinary dance theater throughout the U.S., Europe and the former Soviet Union with the seminal group Contraband under the direction of Sara Shelton Mann in the 80s and 90s.
In 2000, after 15 years of making dance in the Bay Area as an independent choreographer, Curtis founded his own trans-continental performance company, Jess Curtis/Gravity, in Berlin and San Francisco. Since then Gravity has produced 10 full evening works and numerous smaller works, touring to over 60 cities in 14 countries. In 2011 he was presented the prestigious Alpert Award in the Arts for choreography. Curtis’s other honors include six Isadora Duncan Dance awards, a Homer Avila award for leadership in the field of physically diverse performance, a Fringe First Award at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, two SF Weekly Black Box Awards, and a Stolichnaya award for performance art. Curtis is active as a writer, advocate, and community organizer in the fields of contemporary dance and performance, and teaches Dance, Contact Improvisation, and Interdisciplinary Performance for individuals of all abilities throughout the US and Europe. He has been a visiting professor at the University of California at Berkeley and the University of the Arts in Berlin. He holds an MFA in Choreography and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies from the University of California at Davis.
More infos about Jess in the link below: www.jesscurtisgravity.org
