Workshop Description

I want to dedicate these days to explore how to use falling, and spirals in our bodies to find ease in lifting, being lifted and moving through space with our partners. Contact improvisation is constantly falling practice, where we can use the momentum, swing and bounce in order to find ways into lifts and weight shifts.

We will alternate between solo, duet and trio practices, exploring particular pathways and underlying movement principles – researching dynamics of our practice in solo-body in order to use them in contact work. 

Within specific exercises we explore tools that are helpful to work in contact such as; sharing weight, center-to-center, leaning and supporting, rolling point of contact. 

Changing levels from down to up, and up to down fluidly is one of my main interests in dance. How do we do that with another moving body? Sharing weight horizontally, and understanding how to use our centers, hips and spines to change that orientation into verticality and three-dimensionality. These transitions are offering us opportunities to catch easy rides down, and spiral up. 

We will also explore how to use our arms and wings as extension of our spine. Arms can be a beautiful pathway to find entrances into lifts, and creating space and time in our dances. Breathing in and out of contact.

The principal themes and key-words for our practice are organic, fluid and functional movement. Effortless transitions. Efficiency.

Falling, catching, suspension, timing. Breathing, reaching, spiraling. 

Momentum, swing, bounce.

Technique and Poetry.

Structure and Freedom.

Playful Beings in Motion.

About Vega Luukkonen (FI)

I am a dancer, dance-teacher, performance-artist and bodyworker made in Finland, currently based in Berlin.

I have studied dance- and theatre pedagogy in Finland, Helsinki – in Theatre Academy of Finland, from where I got my master´s degree in 2008.

Though – I would say my dearest high-school and university in contact-improvisation has been the Finnish contact community, where I have learned so much from my colleagues, friends and fellow dancers, by sharing the dance and rolling point almost 30 years… I have been teaching contact improvisation and dance since 20 years all around the world, on many international festivals and retreats, but recently I have been enjoying to stay more local, create and collaborate with my Berlin dance-community. 

I have been practicing contact improvisation since I was a teenager. So – I´ve gone through many kind of chapters with this dance-form. Recently I´m more and more interested in precision, fine tuning, lightness, efficiency – accompanied with deeper understanding of underlying principles of contact improvisation.  

For me dance is combination of technique and flow. Form and freedom. Being and doing.