LIQUID LEAD MOVEMENT

Online Training Program

MAY-JULY 2020

Dancers, movers, somatic practitioners and performers from around Europe (and beyond) are invited to attend this series of 10 classes introducing the "Liquid Lead Movement" training approach. The classes will run weekly, in English, on Zoom and will be led by Raffaele Rufo (Ph.D.) between Wednesday 20 May and Wednesday 22 July 2020. Our goal in this delicate historical period is to provide participants with somatic and improvisation tools and strategies for facing disorientation. Participation is limited to 20 people and is offered at an affordable cost in light of the adverse effects of the Corona Virus pandemic on people's financial availability.

“Our goal in this delicate historical period is to provide participants with somatic and improvisation tools and strategies for facing disorientation.”
— Raffaele Rufo
 

TRAINING DESCRIPTION:

Liquid Lead Movement is a training practice and educational approach which integrates creative expression, ecological connection and mutual growth by exploring and communicating the value of the felt sense of movement in our changing lives. Liquid Lead Movement is designed mainly for dancers, movers, performers and somatic practitioners with the goal of supporting their personal and professional development in four main areas of competence: kinaesthetic, expressive, communicative and educational. Liquid Lead Movement draws on somatic movement disciplines (such as the Feldenkrais Method) to engage the immediate sensory experience of movement and touch through methods, tools and strategies of kinaesthetic listening and movement improvisation which help participants connect with self, others and the environment in creative and integral ways. The practice is inspired by the sensations, imageries, rules of engagement and movement dynamics experienced in the Argentine tango dance. These resources are associated and integrated with the kinaesthetic exploration of the moving body and its tactile, spatial and imaginative relationships characterising contact dance improvisation and other forms of contemporary dance improvisation.

In this introductory series of 10 classes on Zoom, dancer and researcher Raffaele Rufo (Ph.D) will introduce participants to the “Liquid Lead Movement” training approach. Classes will be conducted in English. Participants will be guided through physical demonstrations and verbal instructions. A range of somatic and improvisation tools and strategies will be proposed for engaging your felt sense of movement, of space and of the imagination through solo work. The sessions will engage different aspects of “liquid lead movement” with the general goal of helping participants face the disorientation characterising this challenging historical period by connecting with their body in integral and constructive ways. Each class will last 1 hour and 30 minutes and will involve three key passages: 1) a guided exploration of the somatic processes of movement; 2) a guided exploration of the expressive potentialities of movement; 3) a personal movement improvisation (which might involve some distant duet-work with another participant). Each session will also include a process of verbal feedback on the experience lived by the participants. The training program includes sessions with live music. Music will be integrated in the class not as accompaniment to dance but as process of experimentation.

PROGRAM:

  • Session #1 Wednesday 20 May 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Tension and Flow of Movement (first part): Feeling Weight

  • Session #2 Wednesday 27 May 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Tension and Flow of Movement (second part): Transferring Weight

  • Session #3 Wednesday 3 June 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Expansion and Condensation of Movement (first part): Internal Space

  • Session #4 Wednesday 10 June 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Expansion and Condensation of Movement (second part): External Space

  • Session #5 Wednesday 17 June 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Facing Disorientation (first part): Moving Through Bodily States

  • Session #6 Wednesday 24 June 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Accumulation and Release of Movement (first part): Rhythms of Breath

  • Session #7 Wednesday 1 July 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Accumulation and Release of Movement (second part): Rhythms of Touch

  • Session #8 Wednesday 8 July 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Resonance and Dissonance of Movement (first part): The Art of Waiting

  • Session #9 Wednesday 15 July 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Resonance and Dissonance of Movement (second part): The Emergence of Possibilities

  • Session #10 Wednesday 22 July 2020 @6-7:30pm (UTC +2) - Facing Disorientation (second part): Moving Across Bodily States

HOW TO PARTICIPATE

Prospective participants are asked to fill this expression of interest https://forms.gle/PTcBZD1RkFLFG4AM9 (google form). After receipt of the expression of interest, participants will be asked to make the payment. After making the payment, confirmed participants will be sent a detailed program of the training and the Zoom link and password that will give them access to the 10 online sessions (the same link and password will apply to all classes and participants are asked to keep this information only for themselves).

For more info email raffaele.rufo@gmail.com

SAMPLE VIDEOS OF THE PRACTICE:

Encountering an object as the witness of your dance https://youtu.be/Js5Nc2YMXIU

Dancing with a witness and watching your dance being mirrored https://youtu.be/jWMp3ZQWF4k

Like a Turtle Waiting to Be Washed by the Sea, https://youtu.be/OCeTog35pYg

FEEDBACK FROM PARTICIPANTS:

“I loved this class, I loved recognising and observing my body and feeling sensations, giving them a name. I loved being in the zoom breakout room with my two distant partners and listening to what they had felt during the exploration. And at the end of the class I loved the small dance with my favourite coat that pushed me in a little journey into my maternity. A lot of inspirations!” (Valentina Vitolo, tango and contact improvisation dancer and teacher and Feldenkrais trainer, Milan)

“It was very nice for me tonight. Quite unexpected to feel comfortable dancing with my chair for the first time. And with my cosy coat... Slightly more difficult with the cushion but still, it was very interesting to witness myself falling into the trap of wanting to be original rather than true! I found the idea of progressing in the weight and in the qualities of the three objects very interesting too. From the light cushion to the heavy chair, the weight of my coat and its fluidity reminded me of some beautiful dances. As for my chair, I will have to teach it how to be more flexible. I thank you very much for opening the door of dancing with objects in a smooth and organic way. Hopefully, I will feel more confident from now on!” (Virginie Bournaud, tango and contact improvisation dancer and teacher, Paris)

“We all want to be free but freedom means to take responsibility for your moves, for your partner and for the social context you are involved in. This is the added value that liquid lead movement brought to my dance: freedom and a multiple choice of options in moves and rhythms through listening and touch. There is music as a framework as a source of inspiration but there are also other rhythms, your inner rhythm that you need to combine with the other dancer/dancers in a wide harmony. It is a tough work that needs a lot of practice and we are just at the beginning... It is demanding and challenging and I am eager to know what comes next.” (Stefania Casucci, tango, contact improvisation and contemporary afro dancer, Milan)

TEACHER’S BIO:

Raffaele Rufo is a dance artist and scholar trained in Argentine tango, contact improvisation and contemporary dance improvisation. Raffaele has taught, presented and performed in universities, schools, festivals, theatres, studios, art galleries and unconventional spaces in Europe and Australia. His current practice engages the kinaesthetic and pedagogical foundations of the ‘Liquid Lead Movement” training method by interweaving tango, dance improvisation and somatic movement disciplines. In 2020 he was awarded a PhD by Deakin University for the somatic study of touch in the tango dance. The PhD develops an experiential framework for practicing and understanding tango as a form of kinaesthetic listening which is felt between the inside and outside worlds of the dancer. His research was published in the edited collection "Thinking Touch in Partnering and Contact Improvisation" (Cambridge Scholars Press) and in the “Journal of Public Pedagogies” (Public Pedagogies Institute) and is forthcoming in the "Journal of Dance and Somatic Practices" (Intellect). His recent experiences also include teaching and facilitating the teachers gathering at the International Festival of Contact Improvisation and Tango in Wuppertal (2018/2020), curating the session on “The Public and Touch” at the Melbourne Conference of Public Pedagogies Conference (2018), leading workshops for the creativity and communication program of Melbourne University’s Master of Entrepreneurship (2016-2018), and creating and performing “The Tango Touch” at La Mama Theatre and the Melbourne Fringe Festival (2016).

Email: raffaele.rufo@gmail.com