Amsterdam Autumn 2022 dance classes
Tuesdays Movement Classes: Imagination and Musicality
Tuesday evenings 18:15-19:45
27 September and 4, 11, 18, 25 October
At ReMo Studio: Slijperweg 7, Amsterdam, Netherlands
E 10 per class, register and info lunamatisse@yahoo.it
Saturday Dance Improvisation Classes with Live Music : Body and Music – Musicians to be announced
Saturday mornings 11:00-13:00 1, 8, 15, 22, 29 October
At ReMo Studio: Slijperweg 7, Amsterdam, Netherlands
E 15 per class, register and info lunamatisse@manuelalucia
1 October with Noortje Kohne (viola)
8 October with Robbert van Hulzen (percussion)
15 October with Camille Verhaak (clarinet)
22 October with Ada Rave (saxophone)
29 October with Robbert van Hulzen (percussion)
Tuesdays Movement Classes
Imagination and Musicality
This class is for whoever is interested in exploring movement.
We focus on refining the relationship between movement and musicality, while warming up the body and gaining availability for a wide range of movement possibilities.
I share movement research drawn from my practice of making dance material, combined with a background in various contemporary dance techniques, and years of work with improvisation in performance.
In the warm up we start with activating the deeper musculature closer to the bones and the spine to help softening the outer layer of muscles, gaining more freedom and range in movement access. We will practice different ways to relate to the ground, raising and falling in an effortless yet dynamic way and constantly changing the tone of the body. We will work with spirals, subtle and unpredictable weight shifts and sequentiality.
Given movement pathways will be alternated with open form research tasks. In the pathways one movement is calling organically the next one, in a way that the memorisation of movement feels logical to the body organisation.
In the class a lot of attention is directed to the relation spine to limbs: spine and torso as main generator of movement to allow the limbs to be free, articulate, precise and expressive in space.
I will introduce three specific areas of movement research with a focus on how each relates to different aspects of musicality: tone (how different body tone can change movement quality), weight (and its relationship to rhythm), articulation (quality of pause, attack, and accent). A deeper understanding of musicality in movement can lead to more clarity in the tension and emotion of the material we compose.
Saturday Dance Improvisation Classes with Live Music
Body and Music
Musicians playing every Saturday to be announced
These Saturday classes are aimed for dancers and movers that would like to deepen their understanding of working with live music. My passion is creating dance work with live music: in these classes I will share my ongoing research from many years of collaborating with a vast array of musicians and composers in performance. For each class I will invite a musician to play.
We focus on presence and perception. Live sound is altering the state of the body and the mind, allowing for materials to change moment to moment.
We start with exercises that train the awareness of presence and the listening , encouraging alertness, the listening to each change, shift our state of mind and quickly create the material in a playful arena with the sound in space.
I like to think of movement in terms of what it would sound like if it were music, and I’m interested in how a ‘dance can be heard’ and how we can indeed ‘listen’ to the musicality of our movement. We explore different tones of physicality and qualities of sound, refining the movement material created in its clarity and its intention. Participants will be invited to compose on the spot by letting their material emerge from a sense of urgency, a need and a passion to give form to the ever fleeting moment. I encourage each mover to be engaged in their own personal research of physicality of sound and movement, with curiosity and playfulness.
Saturday mornings 11:00-13:00
1, 15, 29 October
E 15 Info and registration: lunamatisse@manuelalucia
Bio
Manuela Lucia Tessi is a dance artist that has dedicated the last 20 years developing dance performance in close collaboration with musicians and composers from diverse backgrounds.
Her great motivation to create movement is in relationship to the sonic and when creating, teaching and collaborating she refers to movement to be listened to, sound to be seen. Her work is often process oriented, however there is much care for the product: she believes in the organic connection between the two.
She looks for sensuousness and embodiment in dance, often referring to kinesthetic empathy, how is the movement being read by the spectator not solely with the eyes and intellect, but perceived on a visceral level.
Besides performing, Manuela teaches movement research and improvisation in various settings, and curates platforms that foster the interdisciplinary collaboration of music and dance in performance.
She completed her dance studies at the Modern Theatre Dance department at the AHK in Amsterdam and has continued to deepen the research on movement and interdisciplinary composition with Katie Duck, one of her greatest creative influences, a.o. Some of her recent collaborations are with her partner Thalia Laric, with whom she directs MusicDance Cape Town; the Amsterdam ensemble Moving Strings, directed by violist Maya Felixbrodt; Makiko Ito, with whom Manuela has been dancing many years in Wonderland, a series of music and dance performances for young audiences; and Musiktanznulldreissig, a series of music and dance performances co directed with flutist Friederike Wendorf in Berlin.
Trailer class https://vimeo.com/347108974
Short excerpt Manuela https://vimeo.com/manage/videos/732043007
Manuela Lucia Tessi 