UAE Dancescapes in Mountains and Desert.
- Capoeira, Contact Improvisation, Somatic Embodiment -
music by Aaron Sherwood
We explore movement practices of Capoeira, Contact Improvisation, and Somatic Embodiment. We focused on researching non-verbal ways of communication, cherishing the differences and common ground. Participants will have the opportunity to deepen the research and allow a performative quality to emerge. Our goal is to create a community oriented site-specific improvisation in nature, as a culmination of the weekend workshops.
Movement Sessions.
Three artists from different backgrounds: Marwan Ali Ghunaim (Palestine), Kiori Kawai (Japan) and Sarah Sea Clarke (British Isles), will guide the workshops.
Capoeira - Marwan Ali Ghunaim
Explore central elements and movements from the capoeira repertoire, such as Jinga and Chamada. Learn a non-verbal communication through it’s movements
Tap into Capoeira as a lifestyle philosophy, to understand the benefits and importance of being in the circle
Contact Improvisation - Kiori Kawai
Observing breath and bodily sensations, placing the awareness to every part of the body, and integrating this awareness with movement
Using kinesthetic awareness as conversation to explore the connection between self, others and environment. This will include physical partnering with sharing weight, playing with gravity, exploring a wide range of movement (from stillness to highly athletic), and exchanging ideas with each participants’ view point.
Somatic Embodiment - Sarah Sea Clarke
Tuning to the landscape, following impulses and building trust whilst cultivating awareness to move in space.
A guided movement journey starting from the inner realm, witnessing what lies within our skin and expanding outwards what is within our reach of the kinesphere, and then further to the outerspheres of the group and the natural Environment.
Location #1 Hatta Mountains.
Location #2 Al Khateem Desert.
Leading Artists.
-
Kiori Kawai
Kiori Kawai (Japanese, b. 1978) is a dance performer/choreographer, interactive installation artist and an educator.
As a dance performance artist, she seeks to merge her body and coexist within nature and all environments. Started her career in New York, she has worked with Carman Moore/Skymusic Inc., Elaine Summers Dance and Film, Lincoln Center, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Brooklyn Museum, Serraves Contemporary Museum (Portugal), Mesa Arts Center (AZ), Transformation Festival (Denmark/U.S), Megaron (Athens, Greece), touring nationally and internationally. She’s built up her own improvisatory movement vocabulary based on the techniques of meditation, Kinetic Awareness, Contact Improv, yoga, and various dance/movement trainings. This led her to designing interactive installations that include human body movement within kinetic sculptures.
Her approach to teaching workshops such as Meditative Movement Practice, Contact Improvisation and dance performance are based on developing awareness and exploring our conscious/unconscious choices through physical interaction between self and others. She has taught at New York University-Abu Dhabi (UAE), Alpine Dance Academy/Wave Festival (CO, USA), Tinkuy (Copenhagen, Denmark), Wrong Movement Studio (Athens, Greece), New England Dance Camp (New Hampshire, USA), Transformation Festival (U.S.A- Denmark), Deakin University/Federation Square (Melbourne, Australia), Savannah Arts Academy/ Telfair Museums (GA, USA), Dancing Water (TX, USA), Azule Dance Theater (NY, USA), Rinyou Temple (Japan) and more.
-
Marwan Ali Ghunaim
Marwan Ali Ghunaim has been a passionate mover from a young age, he has explored different movement arts and sports, and Capoeira was interesting enough to keep him hooked. Marwan sees Capoeira as a state of mind, as well as a lifestyle.
In 2013 Marwan started offering classes and along his journey he travelled to many places to practice, teach or learn more Capoeira. After discovering Capoeira, Marwan was led to explore other community based art forms similar to Capoeira, such as Contact Improvisation and Acro Yoga. He seeks inspiration from their teachings, values and philosophies.
Finding movement in the stillness and stillness in the movement, Marwan views Capoeira as a social movement rather than a sport. To him it is a lens to see the world from a collective perspective, an ancient academic system that is regenerative, adaptable and flexible to the purpose it is practised.
Marwan started the “Capoeira - Dance your life” project to maintain capoeira values and a sense of valuable community around him. Through this project he promotes a healthy lifestyle by offering capoeira classes to the community, collaborating with his training partners and students.
Currently Marwan is in the U.A.E focusing on community development projects, offering social events, nature retreats and community building programs.
-
Sarah Sea Clarke
Sarah Sea Clarke is a Movement Teacher, Facilitator and Filmmaker, who has been living and working internationally since 2009.
Sarah teaches Embodiment Training and Contact Improvisation. In 2015 she co-founded CI DXB (Dubai, UAE) to teach Contact Improvisation principles and host weekly jams. She has taught movement improvisation at Sharjah Arts Foundation (Sharjah, UAE), CI workshops at Mena Desert Gathering (Beida, Jordan), Mystic Earth (Shouna, Jordan) and Maple Street Studios (Albuquerque, NM, USA). During 2020, Sarah was part of the core team in CorpoColectivo association (Vienna, Austria), working as a Facilitator and Video Artist for dance and theatre empowerment project, ‘My Body (my) Rules!’. In 2021 she co-founded dance improvisation performance group, Reset Collective (Vienna, Austria), co-creating and implementing 'Spontanes Ensemble' public movement workshops, in association with Stadt Wien (Vienna City Council). Sarah teaches regular Contact Improvisation classes at the Künstlergasse Wohnprojekt (Vienna, Austria).
Influences on Sarah’s movement style and teaching include: Capoeira Arts, Axis Syllabus training with Kira Kirsch (Berlin, Germany) and Frey Faust (USA), surreal improv Action Theater training with Ruth Zapora (USA), Holistic Dance and Movement Pedagogy teacher training by Sabine Parzer (Holistic Dance Institute, Austria), Joanna Macy’s The Work That Reconnects (USA) and Hereditary Chief brother Phil Lane Jr. (Ihanktonwan Dakota & Chickasaw nations).
A major theme within Sarah’s work is connecting inner with outer, drawing on the felt sense of the bodymind to guide movement within the individual and the collective.
Why Join?
This workshop is open to all levels, no experience necessary although already having some kind of movement practice would be a bonus. These workshops are ideal for:
Yoginis who want to add a bit more flow to their movement capabilities
Contemporary dancers to explore working in natural landscapes
Outdoor adventurers looking to try something new
Contact Improvisers wishing to advance their movement vocabulary
Artists wanting to explore creative movement expression
Wellness seekers
What to bring:
Training clothes for outdoor movement including shoes (that you don't mind rolling around on the floor in), a notebook or journal and an open mind and body.
