When we move our own bodies, or other material objects, we are constantly engaging efforts of push, pull, and reach in relation to the floor and space. When we don’t engage, we fall. There is an innate understanding of musical timing and spatial perception of these basic forces that we learn from a very young age as we play and explore the materiality of our surrounding environment. As our motoric skills and coordination develop, complex movements like, reaching, pushing or pulling material objects, walking, and running through space become highly efficient and practically automatic/ 
unconscious. Yet, there is a wealth of information stored in these “simple” patterns which we can use to inform our dancing bodies.

In this performance project we will try to re-examine and relate the perception of our dancing movements to the practical working movements we use in daily life. We will examine our own bodies’ relationship to other bodies of matter ranging from much smaller to much larger than ourselves. How do we move these objects, and/or how do they move us? We will also work with moving and sensing the weight/mass of other moving bodies to increase our own awareness of structural alignment, and dynamic muscular sequencing. How do we use the floor and our momentum to direct an object and ourselves in space with ease? How can we perceive the floor as our tool for the work of sculpting movement? We will give a strong focus to the use of the floor and walls to form and in-form the body in movement. We will also explore the body's anatomically efficient sources of power in varying connections to the ground. Through the working process we will structure a tightly scored performance work based on the work and techniques/perceptions gained from the training. Each dancer will be challenged to stay deeply physically and mentally grounded in their research while at the same time preparing for a performance context.

Fee: 170 € / red: 150 € / professional dancers: 130 € / Application for the project: mueller@tanzfabrik-berlin.de