LBCI: January Training with Chris Aiken & Angie Hauser
Application & Liability Waiver

January Training in Contact Improvisation
Improvising & Performing that Includes the Possibilities of Contact Improvisation
with Chris Aiken and Angie Hauser
January 6-11, 2025
(Possible open dancing morning of Jan 12)

42 hours of improvising over 6 Days
in Long Beach, CA

We will dance for 6 full days 10am - 5pm Monday - Saturday focused on study with Chris & Angie. This will be complimented by dirt work with Ezra to get us started in the mornings, plenty of improvised meals alone or together, and an organized evening conversation. Our intention is to create a transformative experience for a group of dedicated improvisers.
*This is event is post-LBCI Festival. LBCI Fest is Jan 2-5. www.bossyflyer.com/lbcifest

Early discount extended to November 10th!

Course is limited to 24 participants.
Some previous contact improvisation experience assumed.
Admission is on a rolling basis until the course is full. Early application recommended.

Improvising and Performing that Includes the possibilities of Contact Improvisation

Our approach to improvised performance seeks to create situations where individuals can access and develop their imagination and physical intelligence.  This means learning to bring forth material, coordinating with what is going on, and learning to wait or say no to an impulse.  It means using our perceptual acuity to find what is meaningful in the context of performance and using this information to generate actions that are resonant with what is happening.

Integrating contact improvisation into a compositionally focused improvisation is a particular skill that takes practice.  The physical demands of CI are such that one has to lightly steer the dancing or it can become overly controlled, hesitant, or unimaginative. Having strategies for managing the complexities involved helps.

We will work with the development of movement, image, gesture, motif and partnering skills.  Participants will be presented with specific exercises designed to develop the skills of mobile support, changing levels, functional pathways, and alignment.  We will develop the syntax of touch, tone, and resistance. We will consider how the dancing unfolds when our emphasis is on being in dialogue with our capacity to follow through, inhibit, and change our intention.


Biographies

Chris Aiken is an internationally recognized performer and teacher of dance improvisation and contact improvisation. His approach to dance-making and performance centers around the dynamic relation between perception and imagination, an eco-poetic approach to movement, dance making, and improvising with others.  Chris’s work has been influenced by years of study of ecological psychology, the Alexander Technique, Gyrotonic and Gyrokinesis, myofascial physiology, motor learning and skill development, and the study of aesthetics, and design.  Chris has worked with many well-known improvisers including Angie Hauser, Andrew Harwood, Ray Chung, Kirstie Simson, Steve Paxton, and Nancy Stark Smith.

Chris has received numerous awards for his work from foundations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the Bush Foundation, the Jerome Foundation and the Mass Cultural Council.  His work with Angie Hauser has toured internationally and received support from the National Performance Network, i-dance (Asia), the Bates Dance Festival, the Florida Dance Festival, and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation.

Chris is currently professor and chair of the department at Smith College.  He received his MFA from the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana.

Angie Hauser is a BESSIE award-winning performer, choreographer, and director with training in modern and postmodern dance, ballet, and contact improvisation. Angie Hauser’s research focuses on the creation and performance of dances for the stage, and it is grounded in the interrogation and practice of movement, improvisation, and collaboration. Hauser is a long-time collaborator with the celebrated Bebe Miller Company. As a principal collaborator, she has contributed to the repertory as a dancer, performer, writer, and choreographic collaborator since 2000. 

For over 20 years, Hauser has created collaborative multidisciplinary performances with dance artist Chris Aiken. The two are Massachusetts Cultural Council Fellows for Choreography and recipients of multiple grants and commissions including awards from National Perfromance Network, iDance Japan, Bates Dance Festival, A.P.E. Gallery, Contact + Festival, and Dance Place. They have toured their work and teaching extensively throughout the US and abroad.

Some of Hauser’s other projects include collaborations with dance artists Jennifer Nugent, Darrell Jones, Alex Springer + Xan Burley, and musicians Mike Vargas, Jesse Manno, Tigger Benford, and Andre Gribou. She is a professor of dance at Smith College where she directs the M.F.A. program in Dance.  Hauser danced with the companies of Elizabeth Streb, Liz Lerman, and Poppo Shiriashi, and taught on the faculty at Cornell University, Denison University, and Columbia College.   She received her MFA in Choreography from the Ohio State University.

Ezra LeBank is a Professor of Movement at California State University Long Beach. Meditation, Aikido, and acrobatics work their way into his curiosity of CI. His approach is inspired by many wonderful teachers including Nancy Stark Smith, Ray Chung, Mike Vargas, Nita Little, and Andrew Harwood. He has been invited as a teacher at International Contact Festival Freiburg, West Coast Contact Improv Jam, Seattle Festival for Dance Improvisation, Poland Contact Festival, Oberlin CI@50, and many more. Through his research company Bad Goat Dance, he studies Dirt Work & Cloud Tectonics as methods of bringing ourselves closer to the earth and to each other.

For more BGD info: www.badgoatdance.com
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(Please note that housing & meals are not included. However, we will connect participants who would like to host or share accommodations or rides.)
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The January Training is intended for participants with an ongoing background in contact improvisation with one year or more of focused practice in contact improvisation or related experience. *
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Please briefly describe your experience in contact improvisation and related practices: *
Please briefly describe your interest in attending the January Training: *
We aim to make this training accessible for people from diverse backgrounds, including options for low income, and partial scholarships for some participants. Please select the option right for you. *
Liability Waiver *

1. I understand and acknowledge that dance and movement based classes are a strenuous physical activity involving the risk of physical injury, as well as possible exposure to airborne pathogens, including COVID-19. I have taken all steps necessary to learn of any physical impairments that would limit or affect my safe participation. I also understand and acknowledge that the social and economic losses that can result from those risks and dangers can be severe and that not all such risks and dangers may be known or reasonably foreseeable at this time. I accept the responsibility for losses or damages resulting from all such risks and dangers involved in participation in the program.

2. I agree to take appropriate precautions for my own safety and that of others when participating in the program and further agree that before participating I will inspect the facilities and equipment to be used and will, if I believe anything is unsafe, immediately advise the person in charge of that unsafe condition and will refuse to participate.

3. I hereby release, waive, and discharge Bossy Flyer/Bad Goat Dance and all instructors, assistants, officials, volunteers, officers, directors, agents, and employees, from any and all liability to me and to my conservators, guardians, or other legal representatives, assigns, heirs, and next of kin for any and all claims, demands, losses, or damages on account of any injury, or damage to property, arising out of my participation in classes, whether on site or elsewhere, including transportation of myself and/or my child to and from events and venues.

4. I also hereby agree to indemnify and to hold harmless from any claim or demand on account of injury or damage that I may suffer as a result of participation in classes and all other persons mentioned in Section 3.

5. I understand that this release, waiver, and agreement to indemnify and hold harmless includes, but is not limited to, damages which are caused, or alleged to be caused, in whole or in part by the negligence of Bossy Flyer/Movement Lab and the individuals listed in Section 3.

6. Media consent. I consent to the use of my photograph or likeness in any publication, video, or promotion by Bossy Flyer/Bad Goat Dance which are promoting Contact Improvisation or movement practice. I understand that I will not receive separate compensation or consideration for the permission granted in this Consent nor for the actual publication or use of my photograph or likeness. By agreeing to this Consent, I understand I am releasing Bossy Flyer/Bad Goat Dance from any and all liability that may occur as a direct or indirect result of my photograph, the release of my identity, or the public relations materials that may result.

7. I agree to these terms for the workshop or event noted above, and for all workshops, classes, and Contact Improvisation or Movement events hosted by Bad Goat Dance/Bossy Flyer and associated individuals from the time of completing this agreement through December 31, 2026.

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