Deep Skills: Contact for a More Connected World

DEEP SKILLS: Contact for a More Connected World

Dates: Aug 4, 7:00-9:00pm  &  Aug 5 and 6, 11:00am - 3:00pm

Options to come:

• All 3 days - $200
• Saturday and Sunday - $180
• Friday night + Sat or Sun - $165

Early Bird discount runs from June 18- July 9  Contact me for details.

To avoid service charges etransfer payment:  deliabrett@gmail.com and tell me who you are in the memo!

ABOUT THE EVENT:

Contact Dancers unite! The world needs us.

This practice isn’t just a dance practice and we know it. It’s an embodied awareness practice. It’s a presence building practice. A conscious relating practice And... it’s a community building practice.

Cooperation. Embodied listening. Curiosity. Courage. Creativity. Trust. Isn’t this the stuff that that our fractured world needs?

So how do we bring the deep skills we are utilizing in a contact jam, class or workshop up and out into the field of our lives and ‘make contact’ in a much bigger way?

Looking back at what I was able to create during my 30+ yrs of dedicated practice in CI, I can see that I wasn't just doing the practice I was living it from the inside and out through my art. The deep skills of moment to moment listening, the constant renewal of attention, the willingness to let go of control, surrender to the process and evoke trust and curiosity. These are the principals that I was using to take big bold risks as a performance maker.

But, it wasn’t until the pandemic struck in 2020, when, like the rest of us, I was looking for solutions to resolve the much bigger problems of my life, that I realized the CI principals I was transferring to art making, were identical to the skills I was learning in transformational coaching.

Wait! Did that mean I’ve had what I needed to change my life and uplift the lives of others all along? Yes. And no. I did. I do. You do. But thing is, it’s not until we give ourselves permission to make these skills more conscious that we can start to confidently embody them in the field of our lives and impact positive change for those around us.

So… do you sense where I’m going with this?

Not only do I want to connect, let go, have fun and dance my way into exhausted bliss with inspiring people August 4th - 6th, I would also like to create a kind of contact laboratory where we can, bring more awareness to the deep skills we are practicing in the dance, draw a parallel to our own lives and develop clear, ‘real world’ steps that each of us can begin to embody – right now.

Sure, we might not be able to change the world in 3 days but with each other, I know we can make a start – besides, it’ll be really fun to try!

*Please, do not be discouraged if you've never tried contact before. This workshop is for experienced and inexperienced contact dancers alike. The beauty of this practice is that we are always dancing with beginners mind. Over the course of the 3 days we will be immersing ourselves all the techniques and practices that create seamless flow and energetic dynamism in dancing. No matter where you are in your dancing journey there will undoubtably be learning and transformation. We’ll start with deceptively simple practices and progress toward greater complexity as a group. No one will be left behind. And, when you are practicing under the guidance of a master teacher - which you will be, you’ll discover that nothing can emerge from the dance that you aren't capable of responding to in a skillful way.

In this workshop we will:

1. Sharpen the fundamental skills needed to elevate our dances – and our lives.

2. Give permission to hold a greater intention for ourselves and each other in the dancing.

3. Create the space for personal and collective insight to emerge.

4. Dance to awaken the genius in ourselves and in each other.

5. Dance like our lives depended on it - because they do.

About your teacher:

Delia is an established Vancouver performing artist, teacher and choreographer. She took her 1st CI class from master teacher, Peter Bingham when she was 15yrs old and began training, almost daily, in CI when she was 19 – 33 years ago. Delia has toured to Austria, France, Greece, Finland and across Canada and the US teaching people of diverse ages, ethnicities, abilities and genders contact Improvisation. Locally, she has been a contributing teacher for Dance and Theatre programs, Modus Operandi, The BPA, SFU, Studio 58, at her studio, Left of Main and EDAM Dance (Canada’s premier contact company) where Delia was an important and valued company member for nearly 25 years – performing and collaborating in 30 of EDAM’s original productions.

Delia’s perspective as a CI teacher, facilitator and dance artist has been informed by numerous practices, including her extensive background in acting, theatre, martial arts, voice, breath, yoga and myofascial structure and function. But the single most enlightening of all her experiences as a CI teacher/facilitator was the 8 years her company, MACHiNENOiSY dedicated to working with LGBTQ2+ youth (ages 13-25), producing 11 different shows called, PROX:IMITY RE:MIX, during which they trained youth in the skills of CI. It was through these years that Delia began to understand how this dance/awareness practice we call, Contact Improvisation can be used not just to create wickedly awesome dances, but also to develop inter-relational capacities such as confidence, deep listening, somatic knowing, and collaborative thinking – all skills are that are urgently needed in our increasingly complex world. It’s this experience and perspective that influences Delia’s message as a teacher, artist and human being today.

Read more about Delia