Weekly Class Descriptions and Biographies

Lucia Walker (2 June) 10.00 - 12.00pm

Lucia Walker: Contact Improvisation and Alexander Technique - Exploring the use of touch, weight, intention and direction to generate dances we will deepen our awareness of the sensations of movement within the body and of the body through space as well as recognising how our state of mind affects our dancing. Working alone, in partners and as a group we will develop our willingness to respond to each moment as it happens, enjoying moments of surprise and disorientation as well as those of flow and control.

Biography : Lucia is based in Oxford but travels and teaches widely, exploring a lifelong delight in movement and communication. She first encountered Contact Improvisation in 1983 in workshops with Steve Paxton and Kirstie Simson. Lucia worked for many years with Jointwork Dance Group exploring improvised performance and continued this research with Telling Times International Theatre project. She has also worked on performance collaborations with other artists and dancers. In 1987 Lucia qualified as a teacher of Alexander Technique and teaches the technique to individuals, groups and on teacher training programmes in England, Germany, US and Japan. Learning and teaching Alexander Technique has been supported both by other movement work and by the study and practise of NVC (compassionate communication) since 1997.

Miranda Tufnell (9 June) 10.00 - 12.00pm

Miranda Tufnell: Body and Imagination - Wit. Witan: ( old norse) ; to know. Waking up our field of attention from the inside out and from the outside in. We will move from the detail of sensation and orientation in the body into the space around us, moving to sense the images and stories that arise in this wide field of attention .. opening into the 'wit' of our body's eyes.

Biography : Miranda Tufnell is a dancer, Alexander teacher & craniosacral therapist. She has taught widely throughout the country including 14 years within the NHS for a GP practice. With Chris Crickmay she co authored 2 books on the body and imagination Body Space Image and A Widening Field. She has also developed an arts and health project, A Breath Of Fresh Air, for people living with chronic illness. She is currently visiting professor of dance at Coventry University and runs an ongoing workshop series entitled Creative Space. Website http//www.mirandatufnell.co.uk.

Gill Clarke (16 & 23 June) 10.00 - 12.00pm

We will warm up using partnerwork, breath and visualisation to refine our awareness of the body structure in motion and open pathways of energy through the body using simple form. We will then move on to the exploration of material focusing on clarifying awareness of movement through the body and into space, and to playing with detail and expansion. The aim is to use the material to find the dancing!

Biography : Gill was a founder member of Siobhan Davies Dance Company as performer, collaborator and teacher. She has collaborated and performed with other choreographers including Janet Smith, Rosemary Butcher, Rosemary Lee, and leads masterclasses internationally for professionals and dance companies. Her teaching is influenced by her study of Alexander and Feldenkrais techniques and her own researches into the integrated and energetic structure of the moving body. Gill will be back teaching in Oxford, due to popular demand!

Venue

Dance Studio - Brookes University Centre for Sport, Cheney Lane, Headington

Cost: £5 per class / £16 for the block of four (paid in advance)

NB: To book for the block of four classes, please contact Claire Thompson - e-mail: cthompson@oxford.gov.uk or tel: 01865 247164