The International Contact Dance Film Festival is produced by REAson d’etre dance productions (RDDP). The festival’s mandate is to provide a venue for contact dance films. The Inaugural International Contact Dance Film Festival will premiere in the Spring of 2013 in Toronto.

Submission deadline: Must be post marked by July 31, 2012. Submissions in advance of the deadline are welcome.

Submission requirements:
We are looking for dance films that include momentum-based dance and/or partnering techniques. Momentum based dance or partnering methods include contact dance and affiliated methods such as Axis Syllabus or the Kaeja approach. Choreography in the dance film can be set or created in the moment (i.e. improvised). Dance films can be in the genre of narrative story, theme oriented, abstract or documentary and must be sixty minutes or less. There are no limitations on productions date. All rights to the films must be held by the person or organisation submitting.

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VARYING ABILITY FILM MENTORSHIP/ my first dance film

Description:
Contact dance jams are a blend of different abilities, cultures and training levels. People from all walks of life intermix…from complete beginners to advance level dancers. In keeping with this tradition, the International Contact Dance Film Festival will be offering a mentorship for a non-professional dancer. The curated part of the film festival provides ample venue for professional contact dance film makers. It is the intention of the Varying Ability Film Mentorship program to provide a creative opportunity for other types of contact dancers. The chosen applicant will be mentored by award winning film maker Allen Kaeja, and will create a short dance film that will open the film festival. Allen Kaeja will provide five hours of mentorship support and the applicant will as well be supported by RDDP.

Varying Ability Film Mentorship Application deadline: June, 30, 2012.

Varying Ability Film Mentorship Applicant must:
- never have made or appeared in a professional dance production or dance film.
- not be enrolled in, or a graduate of, a professional dance training program
- live in Toronto or be available to come to Toronto for one week prior to the festival.
- be available to attend the festival in Spring 2013.
- be responsible for their travel expenses if coming from out-of- town. (please note billeting can be provided by RDDP if required).

Led by Suzanne Liska

Photo by Walter Lai

Fundamentals Class 5 – 6:30 pm:
For beginners and those wanting to review the Contact Improv basic skills of sharing weight, momentum, and falling with ease.

Continuining Class 6:30-8 pm:
Intermediate to advanced level (min. one year of regular CI practice or equivalent). Develop greater ease and direction in moving and thinking to facilitate efficient and effortless lifts and discover new pathways into partnering.

Location: Trinity St. Paul’s Gym, 427 Bloor St. (W of  Spadina)
Regular: $140/series    Drop – in: $16/class
Registration: Suzanne Liska, suzliska@yahoo.com  416 704-8096   www.Contactimprov.ca/on/toronto

Learn the art of contact dance with teacher Kathleen Rea and Lee Walder

Level: All students who sign up must be proficient at basic skills and knowledgeable of intermediate skill so that time can be spent teaching advanced skills and qualities. http://www.reasondetre.com/classesand_workshops.html

Location: Queen West studio (in Parkdale area) Toronto.
Size of Class: 10 minimum and 16 maximum

Fee: $110 for a series of 6 classes
please note there are two scholarship spots available.
Contact kathleenrea@rogers.com to register or request a scholarship.

public Contact Improvisation Dance demonstration

WHY:      for fun and to introduce more people to CI dance

WHEN:    Pedestrian Sun. Sept. 25, 2011 – meet at 3 pm

WHERE: Kensington Market at Bellevue Square Park (Augusta and Wales Ave) & will probably move around the Market from there (email Henry to get his cell number for that day)

MAP:  http://www.kensington-market.ca/Default.asp?id=34&l=1

GUIDELINES:
We’re introducing Contact Improvisation to the public so you are asked to dance using a variety of skills including simpler interactions / moves and lesser exchanges of weight.
We’ll mostly dance a round robin style to provide a focus and to conserve energy over the duration of the demo. When a new dancer joins a duet or trio, the person who has been dancing the longest will choose a time and way to exit.
To protect yourself from the street surface, it is recommended that you wear a long sleeve top, long pants, kneepads and fingerless gloves (e.g bicycling gloves) if you have them. We will dance with shoes on. Each dancer decides whether she/he will go to kneeling or ground level or not.

QUESTIONS?
Contact Henry Wai – EveryBodyDance at wai_renooy@sympatico.ca
If you are planning to join us, please email me as I would find that encouraging. Feel free to forward this invitation to any who practice Contact Improvisation.
Take care, Henry

Your Life, Your Story, Your Dance Series

Come join us for an exploration and inquiry through movement.

Workshop, Saturday, October 8, 10 am -5 pm: “Your Life, Your Story, Your Dance”

With Gennie Brukner, Henry Wai, and Vivek Patel. A Day of art making, dance making and life focusing through Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation Dance, martial arts (Ninjitsu) and visual arts.

We’ll ask the big questions: Who am I being in this body, in my relationships, in the world? What’s holding me back? For what am I willing to give my life? How might I move through my life with  presence, attention, and intention?

$90-105  for the day. $75-90 for early registration.

Located in Toronto at the Lower Ossington Theatre, Light vegetarian lunch included. Register with Patricia [at]  playthink.com or directly at http://yourlifeyourstoryyourdance.eventbrite.com.

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Workshop, Saturday, October 15, 10 am – 4 pm: “Your Creation Story” a day of butoh, dance making, storytelling, creative writing, and visual art

At “What Next” 7-12 Fraser Ave.   With Maureen “MomoButoh” Freehill and Patricia Kambitsch. This workshop will enhance any performance, creative, healing and artistic practice by exercising imagination and increasing energy flow to reveal hidden gifts of the soul through the body. We will cultivate capacity for freedom of movement, powerful presence and transformation.  Second day rehearsal and performance option: Members of the workshop will be invited to participate in performance and second day of workshop rehearsal on October 16. (For those choosing to continue on Sunday, this extends the workshop as a two-day experience, and quite a deal!) Light vegetarian lunch included. $90-105  for the day. $75-90 for early registration

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Performance, Sunday, October 16, 7 pm: “Creation Stories” an intimate performance and gallery show including members of the October 8 class at “What Next” 7-12 Fraser Ave. ($15, or free for attendees of Saturday’s workshop)

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THE PRACTICES

BUTOH was founded by dancers Hijikata Tatsumi and Kazuo Ohno in the 1960’s. This originally Japanese avant-garde performance art utilized principles from traditional Japanese theater and contemporary dance, poetic imagery, meditation and theatrical improvisation to create a unique art form that now influences artists of all genres worldwide.

CONTACT IMPROVISATION dance supports us in being present, fully embodied and physically intelligent through movement exploration and deep listening in contact with another person. Contact Improvisation is a free play between two or more moving bodies. Practices includes following a physical point of contact and supporting and giving weight to a partner. Sometimes quiet and meditative, sometimes wild and athletic, it is a dance open to all bodies and enquiring minds.

AUTHENTIC MOVEMENT is a practice of embodied presence that will help you become deeply connected with yourself through the use of movement and sound in the presence of a witness. You will be invited to close your eyes and open up to your inner landscape of experience; then to move and sound spontaneously (which can include stillness and silence) out of this relatedness to yourself. Authentic movement can be great fun, deeply moving, and powerfully restorative.  It can help you to shake off the bindings of inhibitions and self-consciousness, whether inherited or self-imposed, and free you up to commune with your essential self.

THE ARTISTS

MAUREEN FREEHILL MFA is a master of being moved & utilized by the forces of nature—with over 30 years experience performing & facilitating Embodied Arts. She is the Founder & Artistic Director of MomoButoh Dance Company, an international performance collective based in Seattle area (www.momobutoh.net); Founder & Builder of SOMA Pavi11ion: School for Embodied Arts in Nature on Whidbey Island, WA; DailyDance™ & LifeArt Mastery Mentor (www.lifeartmastery.com). Her work springs directly from teachings of Kazuo & Yoshito Ohno; with whom she lived, studied & performed for 5 years in Japan. Her training includes an MFA in Directing Asian Theater, Dance Therapy at Naropa U. featuring Anna Halprin & certificates in Transpersonal Hypnotherapy & Hatha Yoga Instruction (Shambava/Shoshoni Center). She developed an international network of over 700 butoh enthusiasts (www.butoh.ning.com) as well as a repertoire of over 500 DailyDance™ videos for YearOfButoh (www.dailydance.net). She tours internationally & as guest artist at leading university dance & theater programs including Duke U, U of AZ, Seattle U, Virginia CU, E. Carolina U. & others. Her major butoh performances include solo & group appearances at festivals from Chuncheon, Korea to Asheville, NC.; touring & performances with Kazuo & Yoshito Ohno, Harupin-Ha (Tamanos), Katsura Kan, Joan Laage & Diego Pinon. She loves to dialogue about Embodied Arts & is currently working on her first book “Keys to a Life of Dancing Freely.”

HENRY WAI started dancing at the tender age of 44 and has been exploring a world of movement possibility and fun ever since.  He has learned with a variety of Contact Improvisation teachers including Nancy Stark Smith, one of the pioneers of Contact dance.  Henry delights in introducing Contact Improvisation to newcomers and has a particular enthusiasm for teaching people with little or no dance background.

GENNIE BRUKNER  trained for three years at the Authentic Movement Institute in Berkeley, California.  She also trained with Ruth Zaporah in Action Theatre, Emilie Conrad Doud in Continuum Movement, Charlotte Selver in Sensory Awareness and Nina Martin in Ensemble Improvisation.  Her work is always informed by her meditation practice.

PATRICIA KAMBITSCH has been leading interdisciplinary arts workshops and groups for over fifteen years. A visual artist and author, she explores the interplay of painting and writing with other forms including performance art and dance. She is a member of MomoButoh Dance company.