Shel Wagner Rasch
Class Description: Begin Again
This playful and informative class is an opportunity to practice (if you are new to CI), or rediscover (if you’ve been at it for awhile), the joy of dancing with the Open Mind of a Beginner. You’re invited to come build new Contact Skills or augment old ones by practicing “not knowing” while engaging your body’s natural intelligence in the delightful dance that is CI.
Springboarding from fundamental concepts and skills, we will explore ways to lead with curiosity, seek out contrasts for the fun of it, and challenge ourselves to remain open minded, spontaneous, and adaptable in the dance.
Shel Wagner Rasch discovered CI in New York in 1985, and it still intrigues her. A lot! She taught CI at UCLA for 10 years, and has guest taught at many colleges, festivals, and jams. Shel's teaching is informed by her fascination with the stories our bodies have to tell; the Alexander Technique; Somatic Experiencing; and decades of various movement explorations (choreography, rock climbing, jui jitsu, capoeira, etc). Shel co-led Eastside Lab Jam in LA for 7 years before moving to Oregon where she has a Somatic Experiencing practice and collaborates with Justin Rasch, dancing and running a stop motion animation studio.