Sarah Konner
Photo by: Anna Maynard
Class Description: "Tracking Specificity in the Hands"
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At its best, contact improvisation is a dance of freedom in mutualism. With a focus on the hands, we will explore how technical aspects inherent to the form, can be tools in and of themselves for holding difference and consensual dancing. Hands connect directly to our minds, hearts, intentions, and desires; their use in our dancing is complex. We do not use hands to grab, pull or move another; but we definitely push, pull, and move ourselves. In this class we will practice and track specificity in our hands that push and pull; hands that listen to momentum; and hands that directionalize the body in space.
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Through the skeletal architecture, moving our hands moves our ribs, spine, and pelvis. Our hands steer us (carving, ruttering, redirecting) within the dynamic forces of gravity and momentum, and they create pathways in and out of center to center contact. This widening and narrowing of the space between us opens up possibilities for play in negative space, momentum, and spiral pathways. As we sharpen our awareness of what our hands are doing, creating, and communicating, we sharpen our listening to the music of our own dancing.
Biography:
Sarah Konner is a dance artist, improviser and Somatic Movement Educator based in Brooklyn, NY. Sarah teaches through Movement Research, Gibney Dance, and Smith College; co-organizes CI Ground Research since 2012; and leads a yearly all-women's CI Lab weekend. Sarah’s performance work has been presented at museums, theaters, and colleges throughout the US. Recent collaborators include ChavasseDance&Performance, Beth Graczyk, Anneke Hansen, Shura Baryshnikov, setGo Performance, and Austin Selden. Sarah holds a BFA in Dance and a BS in Environmental Science, is a current MFA candidate at Smith College, and is certified in Yoga, Pilates, and Body-Mind Centering®. ~ www.SarahandAustinDance.com
Sarah’s contact improvisation teaching experience includes weekly classes in NYC through Movement Research, Gibney Dance, and 100 Grand Dance; guest artist teaching intensives at Interlochen School for the Performing Arts, Brown University, the University of Michigan, Play Practice (Bangalore, India); workshops and classes at the Dance Complex (Boston), Earthdance, Shift Contact Festival NYC, Purchase College; assistant teaching with Paul Singh at The Juilliard School.
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Sarah has studied with: Nancy Stark Smith 3-week training 2014, Alicia Grayson, KJ Holmes, Lisa Nelson, Kirsti Simpson, Christian Burns, Tim O’Donnell, and Joerg Hassmann. She has worked professionally with: Bradley Teal Ellis, Paul Singh, Shura Baryshnikov, Tim O’Donnell, Blake Nellis, Taja Will, Terhi Rasilo, Elise Knudsen, Carly Czach, Aaron (Brando) Brandes, Romain Bigé, Gabriel Forestieri, and others.