Dance improv festival set for Sept. 29-30

Nationally known guest artists, dance scholars and members of the community are invited to explore dance improvisation in a weekend festival later this month sponsored by the UW Dance Program.

Dance improvisation classes for adults and kids as well as contact improvisation workshops, lectures, a panel discussion and two nights of performances incorporating dance and technology will be held at the Dance Improvisation Festival, Sept. 29-30, in Lathrop Hall, 1050 University Ave. The free activities are open to the public.

“Dance (movement) improvisation, with its physical-psychological significance and immediate motion, is often used to enhance creativity, performance, self-liberation, and group-awareness,” says festival director and assistant professor of dance Jin-Wen Yu. “Broadly speaking, it helps one understand life.”

Festival participants include guest artists from around the country:

• K.J. Holmes, contact improviser, dancer, singer and poet based in Brooklyn, N.Y.
• Peter Jones, Mount Holyoke College, dance musician, composer and creator of works for piano, chamber ensembles and combinations of percussion and keyboards.
• David Gere, UCLA art critic, assistant professor of dance history and theory.
• Kent De Spain, University of Georgia-Athens dance artist, researcher and leading authority on improvisational process in movement.
• Karinne Keithley, performance artist, choreographer, dancer based in New York.
• Gloria McLean, performer, teacher and choreographer based in New York and this year’s Bascom Henry Professor at the UW Dance Program.

In another form of movement known as contact improvisation, two or more dancers share points of balance, support and movement. Touch, weight and momentum provide a base of support for this very physical partnering form.

Both improvisation and contact improvisation have become two major techniques in contemporary dance training. They are not only incorporated as choreographic approaches but are also presented as performing forms.

Classes are open on a first-come, first-served basis. Those wishing to take classes, please call the UW Dance Program at 262-1691. To participate in the improvisation performances, please call professor Jin-Wen Yu at 262-1640.

Dance improvisation festival schedule
(All activities take place in Lathrop Hall)

Sept. 29
1:20-3 p.m., dance improvisation, studio 349
contact improvisation. studio 549
3:30-5 p.m., lectures by David Gere and Kent De Spain in the Theater
7:30-9 p.m., improvisation performance in the theater

Sept. 30
11 a.m.-noon, improvisation on the Internet, theater
1:20-3 p.m., dance improvisation for kids, K-12, studio 549
Contact improvisation, studio 349
3:30-5 p.m., panel discussion with all guest artists, theater
7:30-9 p.m., improvisation performance in the theater
9-10:30 p.m., reception in the parlor