Fall into the Gap
Andrew Wass
Maik Riebort
In this performance project we will look at aligning intention, action, and awareness. Using the tools of Viewpoints and Contact Improvisation as lenses of awareness and action, we will examine the gap between what we intend to do and what we do. The misalignment of intention, action, and awareness (the gap), though inevitable, is a fruitful, poetic space, allowing ideas and events to appear that we could not have created otherwise.
Training
Meeting twice weekly, we will tune our senses with a technical approach to the human form (Contact Improvisation) and the space/time (Viewpoints) surrounding it. Defining Contact Improvisation as a duet between the soloist and the other, we will begin our investigation of the form by looking at the solo body through the lenses of anatomy, release, and developmental techniques. Starting with classic Contact Improvisation exercises such as the small dance, fingertip dance, C – curves and spirals, we will move into an exploration of weight and momentum. Using partnering pathways we will learn how to control our centers and that of our partners. Expanding the spatial and temporal length of the pathways we will use them as points of departure for composing improvisationally. With the Viewpoints we will examine kinesthetic response, duration, tempo, within our solo work and how we relate to the whole group.
At the end of each session we will share our investigations of the materials in groups of various sizes as part of a continual practice of observing, watching, performing, witnessing.
Andrew Wass
After graduating from University of California, San Diego with a degree in Biochemistry in 1997, Andrew Wass replaced the lab with the studio. His performances have been shown in San Diego, LA, San Francisco, Marfa, Tijuana, and New York. Teaching has taken him to festivals and universities in Japan, Germany and the United States. Vital to his development have been his work with Lower Left, the phrase The content lies in the structure, and his constant dissatisfaction with his situation. Recently he completed his MA in Solo/Dance/Authorship at the Hochschulübergreifendes Zentrum für Tanz in Berlin. www.wasswasswass.com, www.nonfictionperformance.org, & www.lowerleft.org
Maik Riebort
Maik Riebort is a performer and choreographer from Berlin; His works emphasizes on the process to be a product and vice versa in dance; teaches at the University of Fine Arts –UDK- Berlin, and Tanzfabrik Berlin; worked with Tino Sehgal, Ismael Ivo, Prof. Ingo Reulecke (Ernst Busch Berlin), Andreas Müller, Nir de Wolff, Keith Hennessy. His own works were shown at Dublin Fringe Festival, Tanztage Berlin 06-09, Dock-11 Berlin, Hau 3, Galerie Dieter Reitz, Tanzfabrik Berlin, Oktoberdanse Festival 2010/12 (Norway). His teaching is inspired by the great teachers Julyen Hamilton and Andrew Morrish.
