Material for the Spine
Workshop
with
Otto Ramstad
In the frame of WinterTanz 2023/24
»With Material for the Spine, I was interested in allowing a technical approach to improvisational results. It is a system for exploring the interior and exterior muscles of the back. It aims to bring the light of consciousness to the dark side of the body, that is, the sides not much self-seen, and to submit sensations to the mind for consideration.«
Steve Paxton
Material for the Spine concentrates accumulated knowledges from Paxton’s study of walking, Contact Improvisation and Aikido practice to explore the movement possibilities in the spine and the connections between the head, pelvis, and vertebrae. This solo practice is a meditative study of a series of exercises, body puzzles and ideokinetic imagery. These sensations can also be used as a palette for improvisation.
Additional note: If you have been part of “A Collection of Fluid Spaces”, a radical embryology laboratory initiated by Otto Ramstad & Olive Bierigna, you are warmly invited to join the Cohort Meet-Up before the workshop weekend on Friday, Jan. 5th from 10-17h at Tanzfabrik, Studio 2! In case you haven’t been part but are interested in their work, you can find out more here or write them under: everybody@bodycartography.org
Accessibility Note
Steve Paxton
Material for the Spine concentrates accumulated knowledges from Paxton’s study of walking, Contact Improvisation and Aikido practice to explore the movement possibilities in the spine and the connections between the head, pelvis, and vertebrae. This solo practice is a meditative study of a series of exercises, body puzzles and ideokinetic imagery. These sensations can also be used as a palette for improvisation.
Additional note: If you have been part of “A Collection of Fluid Spaces”, a radical embryology laboratory initiated by Otto Ramstad & Olive Bierigna, you are warmly invited to join the Cohort Meet-Up before the workshop weekend on Friday, Jan. 5th from 10-17h at Tanzfabrik, Studio 2! In case you haven’t been part but are interested in their work, you can find out more here or write them under: everybody@bodycartography.org
Accessibility Note
The workshop will be held in spoken English. Movement exercises will include a lot of floorwork and somatic practice. There may be some touch as we assist each other doing the rolls. Verbal exchange will be part of the workshop. Information about our location & studios in Kreuzberg, which unfortunately are not wheelchair accessible, can be found here. For questions or more information, please contact Zoé Duflot & Elisabeth Leopold at workshop@tanzfabrik-berlin.de.
Otto Ramstad
Otto Ramstad is a dance artist who works with movement research to create performances, video work and installations for theaters, galleries, museums and different site and context specific encounters. He began studying Body-Mind Centering® in 1981 at six years old with his first dance teacher Suzanne River and is now a Certified Teacher of Body-Mind Centering® , teaching internationally and working as the Educational Director of Somatic Education Australasia. He has a MA in Choreography from KHiO, Oslo. He has worked intensively over the last twenty years with primary teachers: with Lisa Nelson, assistant teaching for Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering®, and since 2010 with Steve Paxton’s Material for the Spine which he teaches for Paxton internationally including at Steve Paxton: Swimming in Gravity, Brussels. He has been dancing in the work of DD Dorvillier, Miguel Gutierrez, Sara Shelton Mann, Karen Nelson, Mia Habib and Kitt Johnson. His most recent work Lineage was at Riksscenen as part of the Oslo Internasjonale Teaterfestival 2020.