Instances from the Public Performance Lab

Following instructions that are out of the ordinary

Slowing down the traffic in Jaynagar

Presence in a public space

Expanding into New Possibilities with Elizabeth Erber

2012 is set to be an interesting year for Origins, with the chance to connect with dancers and artists in our backyard and from across the world. It started off with a wonderful workshop, led by Elizabeth Erber, in contact improvisation.

CI is, to quote wiki, "a dance technique in which points of physical contact provide the starting point for exploration through movement improvisation". Created by Steve Paxton in 1972, this dance technique has evolved with each individual that experiences it. Although it has a concrete basis in the principles of movement, every person has something new to offer in terms of their own personal exploration and what possibilities they can create with their bodies and that of their partners'.

On January 15th, 2012, Origins facilitated a workshop led by Elizabeth Erber, who's been involved in CI for over a decade. It was aptly called "Expanding Into New Possibilities" and was hosted at KAPA, the Kalari Academy for Performing Arts (http://www.kalaripayattu.org/academy.htm). 

The participants were dancers, choreographers and actors among others, who were introduced to this exciting and challenging form in the simplest and most serene manner. Quoting Elizabeth, "We begin with our bellies, connecting with our partner, allowing energy to flow into our center, the solar plexus to relax and open, the nerves and muscles around our center to release. We breath, we soften, we open, making it possible to receive, respond, share, create."

From here, the participants worked with each other to explore moving in tandem and creating connections through the body. From simple movements that involved sliding along the floor to allowing one’s partner to balance on one’s body, the workshop gave everyone the chance to experience a different kind of movement and rhythm, creating their own, unique dance duets whilst working within a group. 

Liz Erber (GER/USA) has been practicing, teaching and performing CI for over a decade. She was mostly influenced by such teachers as, Karl Frost, Keith Hennessey, and Tonya Lockyer, while living in Seattle on the West Coast of the USA. From 2006-2008 Liz danced with the Cyrus Khambatta Dance Theater Company, and also taught regularly for the company. In 2008 she moved to Berlin, where she established her family and from where she has been choreographing, teaching and performing ever since. Liz was an artist in residence at K77 Studio in Berlin in 2011, presenting two full evenings of performance in May and June. Also in 2011, she began a 2-year certification program in Bartenieff Fundamentals and Laban Movement Analysis. Once a month she holds an artists salon in her home.

For more info please visit www.lerber.com

Parading Oneself in Public – The Public Performance Lab

The Public Performance Lab was a 7 day workshop laboratory held at Natyalaya in Jaynagar, Bangalore, in which the Austrian choreographers and performers Georg Hobmeier and Mirjam Klebel offered a platform for knowledge exchange and research with strong focus on dance and performance for public spaces. This research was based around their previous works, a series called area.

http://www.openarea.at/

http://vimeo.com/channels/165152

area is a platform for the temporary transformation of public space. Projects connected to area are performative and/or choreographic actions, which emphasize and put into question the given social, architectural and political codes of a place. An area project may take the form of a specific performance, a set of choreographic actions before a (un)knowing public, or a mode of research carried out on a particular geographic zone. These actions are neither theater works that simply happen to take place in public, nor are they spontaneous events. area projects traverse the border between visible and invisible, directly and thoughtfully working to transform a given place. The result of such a project is a fluid and temporary space, in which the definitions between viewer and performer, between city and stageare continuously re-defined.

The workshop featured daily 4 hour sessions that began with a contemporary dance warmup led by Mirjam Klebel. Although most of the participants had prior experience in dance, we were challenged by her energy and strong technique that left us breathing hard but completely energized and rooting for more. Mirjam is a wonderful teacher and an extremely talented dancer, and it was a great pleasure to attend her classes. As one of the participants said, “This is one of the best sessions I’ve ever attended and it’s great to be able to be in a group and pursue this form.”

Short excerpt of the technique class with Mirjam

The next part of the session was the core work on public performance, led by Georg Hobmeier. Towering over all the participants, Georg soon put everyone at ease with his amazing sense of humour. The activities were focused on trying out physical scores, devising choreography, exercises in connection with physicality and presence in public space and discussions. These sessions were extremely hands on and took participants out of their comfort zones in the studio and into the streets of Jaynagar, Bangalore. They involved exercises on walking and presence, site specific compositions, and following a series of pre-recorded instructions that were used in area.

Excerpt of a group piece in studio where participants followed recorded instructions audible to them through mp3 players and an external score was played for the audience.

More than one innocent by-stander was startled to see a participant run up and down the same street, wave at windows, and engage in a slow, meditative walk. Another session, involving site specific compositions, really engaged the public, with several people walking up to the participants and demanding to know more about what they were doing. One of this author’s favorite sessions was held in Lalbagh, where participants explored theatrics and performance in a completely different environment.

“This kind of work really puts you out there in a community and you can learn so much about the place that you’re in. A lot of the myths one tends to hold, about a city and its people, get debunked. Its extremely challenging as well, to put yourself out there,” reflected one of the participants.

A small glimpse into the Public Performance Lab is available at http://vimeo.com/36511735

For more information on performance art, visit http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Performance_art

Georg Hobmeier was born in Innsbruck, Austria. He works as a freelance performance artist Since 2000 he created numerous interdisciplinary projects bringing together artists from dance, digital music, architecture, theatre and visual art. His recent projects have been presented at ICA London, Cynetart Festival Dresden, Mellkweg Amsterdam and others. He currently travels through Europe, while giving lectures, working on projects and teaching workshops, all in the realms of dance, performance and realtime media. He was a visiting director, lecturer and teacher at various reknowned institutions such as the RSAMD Glasgow, Folkwanghochschule Essen, Kunstakademie Nürnberg and others. His recent media project, the computer game „Frontiers“ has received extensive coverage in international media and is being exhibited in the ZKM in Karlsruhe. He is an active member of the artist groups Gold Extra and works for several artists, companies and festivals as an advisor and dramaturg.

Mirjam Klebel is an Austrian freelance performer/choreographer, dancer and teacher who works throughout Europe and the US. Coming from a background in dance, music and sports, Mirjam is also a member of the organizations TANZ_HOUSE Salzburg and SPIDER Collective where she is active in developing new agendas for contemporary dance with qualitative performative work as well as through different out-reach programmes and events that includes the audience in expanding ways. For example through the interface "Markier Dein Revier" and the Online Competition “MOVE AGAINST IT”. Since 2004 she is teaching at the University MOZARTEUM Salzburg for the dance- and acting department. Furthermore she is a teacher for professional training and workshops in Sweden, Austria, Polen and at the New Mexico University in USA. She has also worked for : Milli Bitterli, Lawiné Torren, Zoe Kights, Anna Tenta ,Matej Kejzar(SLO), VRUM Collective (HR), Mia Lawrence (USA), Martin Sonderkamp (G), LISA Collective (NL), Marina Rosenfeld (USA), Markus Hank (G), Simone Klebel-Pergmann (A) and Ori Flomin (USA).Adi Salant, Stephen Rappaport

and Georg Hobmeier

Idealist – Creative Dance Pedagogy Workshop

In September of 2011, Origins collaborated with United Arts Society, to organize a three day creative dance pedagogy workshop at Smriti Nandan Cultural Centre in Bangalore. The workshop was held from the 19^th to the 21^st of September 2011 and involved young as well as experienced professionals involved in arts education for children.

The aim of the workshop was to bring arts facilitators from different backgrounds together to share their ideas and experiences working with children, to create a dialogue on training and technical practices in the field and engage in capacity building practices for young educators. Participants broached the need to understand the creative process and how to communicate that to a young age group. Over the three days, they explored child-centered teaching practices, expanded on the concept of play as a mode of learning and creating and even lead mock sessions to share their personal teaching style evolved through their experiences.

Exchanging ideas and experiences on creative arts pedagogy at Idealist, 2011 

Bringing seasoned practitioners in the field of dance, kinesiology, arts education and special needs education together with younger dance professionals who had just engaged upon their teaching careers created a wonderful participatory environment where everyone shared their ideas, experiences and concerns, and collectively elaborated on certain principles and practices of arts education for children.

As someone who had only recently begun to work with children, the workshop made me realize that my views on education and creativity were widely supported, and were in fact the norm among many professionals in arts education. It also gave me the chance to interact with and learn from other people who had embarked on the same journey as I had, all of us at different stages and with varied experiences. Fundamental to each of our practices was the belief that the child is most important, and in finding fun and innovative ways to help them explore their creativity, the arts could have a truly remarkable effect in a child’s life.

United Arts Society is an organization dedicated to the promotion and development of arts. Over the past two years, they have trained hundreds of children with our various programs and workshops in art. At the same time they have also provided the chance and ability for artists to use their talents in varied many ways.

Facilitators

Usha Rao, a cultural anthropologist (University of Massachusetts Amherst) has traversed many paths, teaching taught humanities and music at the Valley School, Bangalore between 1999 and 2006. Over the past 4 years she has been working as a free lance researcher in Bangalore.The projects that she enjoyed most have been in the areas of education, arts education, theater, and law and culture. Usha has been associated with IFA as a senior researcher with the baseline study on Theatre Infrastructure for the Theatre Infrastructure Cell in 2008 and the Kali Kalisu (Arts Education workshops for government school teachers in Karnataka) and is currently scripting and producing science audio programmes for government school children.

Badri Rao (Kinesiologist ) is an Exercise Therapist and an Sports Science Specialist, educated in Australia. He is accredited in the areas of coaching for cricket from the ACB, Australian Strength & Conditioning Association, and other industry related associations. He is a member of ACSM, MFA, AAESS. He has his own practice of Exercise Therapy in Bangalore, India. Badri’s Philosophy of treatment and therapy is activity heals, hence the name of his practice 'ACTIVITY HEALS' which prescribes corrective exercises to correct posture, gait, human movement and function. “We apply principles of Kinesiology (study of applied anatomy to movement) and Biomechanics (study of principles of physics to movement) to improve human movement, prevent injury and help

people return to active and functional living.”

Nakula Somana was introduced to Contemporary Dance through community dance workshops in the UK during the 80s. Currently he works as a part time faculty at Terence Lewis Dance Company in Mumbai and at Attakkalari in Bangalore. He is also working with beginners and local dance companies on a regular basis and is part of the mixed media arts group Origins.

Jyotsna B Rao is a professional artist with 15 years of experience in performance and her pedagogical skills are guided by training in Dance pedagogy, a Masters degree in Psychology from Bangalore University, working as a special educator with children with learning disabilities, and teaching in the broad spectrum of education for 4 years as a facilitator with a leading contemporary dance company in Bangalore. She is experimental, creative and sensitive to the needs of the child and makes learning a

fun filled, safe environment for growth.

Deepak Kurki Shivaswamy has been engaged in artistic work as a performer, creator and teacher since 2000. He has trained and worked with dance companies like Attakkaliari in India, Bodhi project in Austria, Danshuisstationzuid in Netherlands, Hausgemacht in Germany. He completed a post graduate diploma in choreography at S.E.A.D in Austria. His dance creations have been showcased in many venues in India and Europe.