BODY WEATHER NAARM – WEEKEND WORKSHOP 15th & 16th JUNE, 2024

with Gretel Taylor and Frank van de Ven

Body Weather is a comprehensive approach to training and performance that investigates the intersections of bodies and their environments. The physical and philosophical basis for Body Weather was founded in the early 1980s by Min Tanaka and further developed by dance artists worldwide.

Bodies are conceived not as fixed and separate entities, but in relationship and constantly changing - like the weather.

This workshop is suited to dance, theatre & movement practitioners, artists, and anyone interested in exploring the body and physical presence.

10am - 12.30pm Body Weather training

1.30 - 4pm Improvisational explorations

After a fun and powerful movement workout in the mornings, we will delve into some movement improvisation possibilities in the afternoons. We will explore imagery and perception tasks, create movement and improvise with scores, to enter an embodied state of curiosity and discovery.

Facilitators:

Frank van de Ven was a member of Min Tanaka’s Maijuku Performance Company in Japan from 1983-1991. With Katerina Bakatsaki he founded Body Weather Amsterdam, a platform for training and performance. He has an ongoing commitment to the Body/Landscape projects conducted worldwide and since 1995 he has led the annual, interdisciplinary Bohemiae Rosa Project (Czech Republic) with Milos Sejn, connecting body and landscape with art, geology and architecture. bodyweatheramsterdam.nl

Gretel Taylor trained at the Body Weather Farm in Japan in 1999 and 2000, which has since informed her performance, teaching and research. Gretel developed an improvisational ‘locating’ practice during her PhD (2009) and as an ongoing inquiry, with particular interest in ecological and decolonial lenses on site-based performance. She is lead artist/curator of BodyPlaceProject and has taught Dance and Performance at Deakin, RMIT, Monash and Victoria University, as well as regularly at Dancehouse. www.bodyplaceproject.com

Image: Gretel Taylor, Janette Hoe, Naree Vachananda in Now Pieces #6, Dancehouse 2023. Photo by Laki Sideris.