The Biting School Workshop
Bones, Perception and Imagination in Contact Improvisation
A Contact Improvisation workshop. All levels welcome
Thursday July 11, 2024
6pm to 8pm PM
facilitated by Arash
Location: EDAM Dance - 303 E 8th Ave, Vancouver, BC V5T 1S1
Price: Sliding Scale price for the workshop: $12-21
Bring loose comfortable clothing and be prepared to move without shoes and socks on
The class capacity is 25 = first come (booked) first served
Dropping in on the day of is only possible if the class is not at capacity. Please check our Instagram to make sure there is space.
Arash Khakpour
Bones, Perception and Imagination in Contact Improvisation
In this open-level and beginner-friendly contact improvisation workshop, we will bring the value of agility and tactility to awaken our inner CATS. We will indulge in the range of our senses, the energetic circumferences of our bones and tapping into imagination. This leads into dreaming the body and the extensions of our bodies as a way of exceeding the physical body. We will dive into perceptual possibilities of what it feels like to engage in contact dance with ourselves and inhabiting personal suppleness that translates into dances with others. We will work on conscious duetting by using rolling point, sloughing, bridging, yielding, anchoring, pressure modulation, internal expansion and weigh-sharing to sharpen our
physical awareness and dexterity.
BIO
Arash Khakpour (آرش خاکپور) is a dancer and choreographer from Tehran and is privileged to be a dance artist based in the Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver). Arash has been practicing dance and performance for the past 15 years and has been a company member of the EDAM ensemble since 2017. He tends to invest in the nuances of prejudices in the body as a way of inviting the unconscious to the conscious, and as a doorway to confront unknown emotions. He sees dance as a process of physical, emotional and spiritual discovery and a mode of transformation. He works with dance as a language that researches the human condition through mythical, historical, social, political and existential interpretations. As a first-generation immigrant, he continuously considers what healing he can bring to the land and communities he works with. He is building a culture of relationality and reciprocity that celebrates the multiplicity of presences and approaches. Arash is the co-founder and artistic director of the dance-theatre-film company The Biting School (alongside his brother Aryo Khakpour).