On the weekend of 10-11 June we propose a workshop where movement starts from the sense of touch, where touch is an opportunity for self-definition and physical boundary, but also for connection and communication with others. Contact Improvisation, coordinated by Virginia Negru and Cătălin Diaconu, brings to the conscious level what often works at the unconscious level - reflexes, automatisms, relationship with physical laws - and gives us the opportunity to learn new movements and new ways of orienting and relating to space and environment.

When touch becomes dance

The workshop addres the general public, as practicing this form of dance benefits each of us, depending on our needs and experience. It can improve from the way we walk to the way we dance on a stage, but it also gives us the opportunity to rediscover and reconnect with our playful, curious, spontaneous side. We learn that physicality is not only about functionality, but also about the joy and pleasure of moving. The approach of the two choreographers is technical, practical but also friendly, providing a light and beneficial environment for each participant.

REGISTRATION and PROGRAMME

The workshop will take place at Timisoara Youth House, participation is free of charge by registering at [email protected].
Schedule:

• 10 June - 10.00-16.00
• 11 June - 10.00-16.00

The workshop is brought in Timisoara at the initiative of choreographer Alexandra Gîrbea and is part of CADRE & FORME - a complex dance program developed by Noi Re-Creăm and Unfold Motion associations, included in the Cultural Programme Timisoara - "European Capital of Culture" and funded by the Municipality of Timisoara through the Timisoara Project Centre.

ARTISTIC BIO

Virginia Negru - dancer, performer and facilitator of movement workshops, dance and contact improvisation.

Driven by her passion for dance, she travelled and worked with teachers from Romania and abroad that marked her experience and artistic identity: Catrina Choate (Contemporary Dance and Feldenkrais), Amalia Strinopoulou (Limon Technique), Lelia Marcu (ballet ), Steve Batts and Ursula Laeubli (Poetic Movement), Benno Voorham and Sybrig Dokter, Scott Wells, Alexandra Soshnicova and Sergei Golovnya, Cyrus Khambatta, Nora Hajos, Nancy Stark Smith, Sasha Dodo, Adrian Russi, Susanne Martin, (Instant Composition and Contact Improvisation), Kira Kirsch and Antoine Ragot (AxisSyllabus).
Artistic approaches, pedagogical initiatives, performative invitations: My life is my art - a performative journey from Venice to Finisterra - 4 months walking in a demarche to find out what is behind the “curtain” of everyday reality and to search other ways to contribute and be present as an artist in the world; weekly Contact Improvisation courses followed by dance jam sessions - as a manifestation of the desire for direct and immediate communication with other artists and the audience interested in dance, but also from the need to replicate models of learning and practice encountered in other countries; Contact Bucharest Festival - the annual organisation of an intensive
event of learning, practice and experience exchange through dance and CI with teachers and participants from several countries; ‘’Pe Bune’’ - guest dancer and teacher in the PETEC project to help create an improvisation, music and dance performance for children; ‘’Balance in Imbalance’’ - a series of CI workshops dedicated to professional actors and dancers from several cities in Romania; ‘’Negotiating reality’’ - movement research laboratory through CI; ‘’After.Life’’ performances by Sasha Dodo, ‘’The illusionists’’ by Mădălina Dan - performer; CNDB Dance and Performance
Academy - guest teacher.

She currently guides ‘’Perspectives in Motion’’ and ongoing improvisation and instant composition Lab and enthusiastically shares with each occasion her experience and passion through dancing, teaching and performing.

Cătălin Diaconu - dancer, performer, musician and facilitator of contact improvisation workshops

Cătălin studied Automatics in college and worked in this field in the period 2005-2021. His interest in music, theatre and movement led him to become more and more involved in various artistic projects, and at present, he dedicates himself almost exclusively to this direction.
He studied guitar at the age of nine, and during college, he started playing in the rock band Avatar and continued for ten years. He later discovered electronic music and in 2012 began studying electronic music production. Over time he has been invited as a DJ to several events and festivals; participated in classes with Tom Cosm, Mr Bill, Simon Neumann, Keith Mills, Warp Academy, and in 2017 organised at SAE Institute Bucharest an electronic music laboratory inviting Simon Neumann as a mentor; composed the music for dance performances, ‘’Pe Bune’’, ‘’After.Life’’, and for the dance film: "Ship of Fools", "The one here is not the one there".
All this time his passion for movement has led him from Kung Fu in childhood, Tai Chi in college and later on to Contact Improvisation and Aikido. In 2015 he began to study CI intensively in workshops, international courses and dance festivals. In 2017, in response to the invitation to teach, he decided that
he could take the CI study to another level, initially as a course assistant and then leading his own classes. Those who inspired and guided him in this process were: Virginia Negru, Sveta Pashko, Cyrus Khambatta, Sergey Golovnea and Alexandra Soshnicova, Steve Batts, Scott Wells, Malcolm Manning, Sasha Dodo (CI), Kira Kirsch and Antoine Ragot (Axis Syllabus). In 2018 he held classes, individually and in collaboration with other teachers, in Bucharest and at a few international CI festivals (India, Thailand,
Ukraine and Ireland).
His experience and versatility in both movement and music opened up new opportunities for him and aroused his interest in the performative area: he performed in the dance performances "After.Life", "Pe Bune" and numerous performances of dance improvisation, organised in various unconventional spaces.
At the present moment, he is part of the ongoing improvisation and instant composition Lab "Perspectives in motion"; produces electronic music; initiates, seeks and experiments, individually and together with other musicians, different frames for composing music; supports and facilitates, in partnerships with Virginia Negru, Contact Improvisation workshops, dance jam sessions and performances for which he creates live music, acoustics and electronics.