10 day ci intensive training
WITH MARK YOUNG + LILIANNA KANE | NOVEMBER 13 - 23
HOW THIS WORKSHOP CAME TO BE:
For the past many years, Mark Young has been teaching his approach to Contact Improvisation in a two-week format at his iconic studio, LEVIATHAN, on Lasqueti Island, BC. His approach connects Tai Chi, to disciplined spiral work from Steve Paxton’s Material for the Spine, to fundamental practices of Contact Improvisation such as rolling point of contact, weight-sharing, and nuanced listening skills. In 2023, Mark invited Lily to collaborate in teaching the intensive: Mark would lead his approach in the mornings (more systematic, mechanical, and accumulative) while Lily would lead the group in the afternoons through more improvisational, somatic inquiries, followed by a daily Contemplative Dance Practice (a practice combining mediation and improvisation developed by Barbara Dilley). The combination of the two approaches provides a comprehensive and unique way in to the ever-expanding practice of Contact Improvisation. We are SO excited to be bringing this intensive (for the first time) to the East Coast, for 10 days, in November, 2025. This is a rare opportunity.
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In Mark’s class: This workshop connects Tai Chi to Material For the Spine to Contact Improvisation. It involves a lot of spiral movement. We start with floor work and slowly work our way up, rolling over each other, finding the floor with safe and gentle landings, we explore the fear reflex, overcoming old habits, exploring new pathways and possibilities.
The Tai Chi style that I studied extensively in the 90’s is based entirely on spiral movement. It is the natural organization of all life. Everything from the DNA to the Milky Way is spiralling. Our bones and muscles are designed and function in spirals. This way of moving accesses both strength and lightness. When lifting, we are stronger and more stable when utilizing spirals. When flying, we are lighter when twisted
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In Lily’s class: Classes will begin with exercises focused around tuning our attention – to sensation, to timing, to the subtlety and surprise of how weight falls, to the inevitability of change, etc. We will practice opening up our back-space, modulating tone through pushing, pulling, pouring, and receiving weight, and getting comfortable being off-balance. We will exercise patience, falling and going upside-down. We will investigate ways of offering / using our bodies as structural supports. We will spend a lot of time incorporating active & embodied inquiry into our practice: When dancing Contact Improvisation, I am in a continual cycle of asking questions. The longevity of my dance relies on the capacity of my curiosity, and my willingness to be in unknown terrain. I ask questions with my body, my attention, my relationship to weight, space, my partner(s), time…How can we use inquiry and curiosity as our motor for our dancing? All of these explorations will function as warm-ups for longer scores and durational practices, such as Barbara Dilley’s Contemplative Dance Practice which we will practice daily.
SCHOLARSHIP | WORK TRADE | PAYMENT PLAN
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We offer 3 full scholarships for Black, Indigenous and People of Color [BIPOC] folks in each session. As well as 5 Work Trade spots in each session. If interested please select 'BIPOC Scholarship' ticket OR 'Work Trade' ticket when registering via the link below. For more information about the work trade exchange, please see Work Exchange.
CLICK HERE to register with a Payment Plan.
REFUND POLICY: Full refunds available up to 10 days prior to the event. Please inform us if you cannot attend an event up to 10 days prior [including Scholars and Work Traders]! Refunds within the 10 days prior to the event may be available on a case-by case basis, please reach out to communications@thefieldcenter.com
ABOUT THE FACILITATORS
MARK has studied Tai Chi since 1991. A casual study became serious after a traumatic car accident in 1997, when Mark made Tai Chi his principal form of rehabilitation. Intuition told him that a neural injury would benefit from a balance based exercise such has Tai Chi. Mark was right. An early prognosis was that he would be permanently disabled and never work again. This bad news was inspiration to work harder and prove that recovery from traumatic brain injury was possible. The subsequent five years was a full-time study of Tai Chi and dance. After five years of this apprenticeship, Mark was committed to building a dance studio. Mark built Leviathan Studio over the next 8years while continuing to study dance at various jams with many teachers, including Nancy at Earthdance and many others at Breitenbush. Mark remains deeply committed to the study of Tai Chi, Contact Improvisation and Vipassana and is convinced that these disciplines will serve one right as we age or recover from injury.
LILIANNA is an artist and chef, primarily invested in the dance practice of Contact Improvisation. She is committed to improvisation as a physical practice of asking questions, paying attention, patience and peace. She values the interplay of rigor, rest, discipline and play. She teaches and shares her practices nationally and internationally, as well as producing and organizing international CI gatherings and intensives. She is currently the head chef and a CI curator at The Field Center (center for performance, dance and multimedia art) in Bellows Falls, VT) where she has the privilege of regularly practicing, teaching, and researching Contact Improvisation. She is deeply indebted and inspired by all of her teachers, dance partners, and dance ancestors, who continually influence her practice. Website: www.liliannakane.com