Training for a Political Body: Responsiveness, Resistance, Resilience
Saturday, 11:00 a.m.-12:30 p.m., 390 Sullivant
How do we train for a political body – one that is responsive, resistant, and resilient? How do we engage our citizenship as dancers? Bridging the divide between political action and somatic instruction, this workshop draws on Contact Improvisation and Body-Mind Centering training to explore how intentional physical practices can provide an embodied ground for our activism. We will move together in a way that is safe and connected, but still allows for the intensity of anger and resistance. Rather than neutralizing our bodies and identities, we will learn how to engage our feelings and politics without getting stuck in self-righteousness.
A dancer and scholar, Ann Cooper Albright is Professor and Chair of Dance at Oberlin College, President of the Society of Dance History Scholars, and the 2017 recipient of the Dixie Durr Award for Outstanding Service to Dance Research. She writes books and teaches a lot of Contact Improvisation.