SENSING ~ MOVING  SERIES

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2., Material for the spine

Nóra Hajós will hold classes, based on the study ”Material for the Spine”, by Steve Paxton.

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In Paxton`s words:

“With Material for the Spine, I am interested in alloying a technical approach to the processes of improvisation. It is a system for exploring interior and exterior muscles of the back. It aims to bring consciousness to the dark side of the body, that is, the ‘other’ side, or the inside, those sides not much self-seen, and to submit sensations from them to the mind for consideration.”

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These classes can give us a focused environment, to practice together:

• helix and crescent forms rolling

• finding own small dance

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About the practice,

based on this excerpt from Steve Paxton`s Material for the spine:

“Helix and crescent rolls, each have different internal coordinations. Rolling shapes is about repetition. As the design rolls , all the sensorial relations to the support of the floor constantly change. It is a challenge for the dancer to maintain the original configuration of sensation of shape within the changing support complex. It requires to begin with and maintain a sensorial focus.”

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Nóra Hajós has been studying with Steve Paxton for the past 30 years and can never get enough of practicing these rolls, they seem to be open ended. 

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3., Tuning Scores

 

Composition, communication and the sense of imagination in real-time composition, a method developed by Lisa Nelson.

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Performer, videographer, and collaborative artist Lisa Nelson has developed an approach to spontaneous ensemble composition and performance she calls Tuning Scores, in which each player uses actions and simple verbal calls to continually “tune” (as in tuning a radio signal) the image, the time, and the space.

 

From Lisa Nelson:

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“Within an improvisational framework, I’ve looked for communication systems that could encompass both the choreographic craft and the experience of dancing. In tuning scores, I discovered a tool to make visible an improvisational challenge for both observer and performer.

 

Essentially a communication format, the tools of the tuning score make apparent the ways the players sense and make sense of movement, exposing their opinions and initiating a dialogue about space, time, action, and the desire to compose experience. The movement is unknown to the performers until the moment of action. The score offers a communication system to the players, who act equally as directors, performers and spectators.

 

As each player tunes the image, the time, and space in order to make meaning for themselves, their opinions uncover the form as it arises and set the dance in motion.”

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The workshop will be held by Nóra Hajós (HU/USA), dancer performer, teacher, who has been studying working, performing with Lisa Nelson for over 25 years.

Details :

My studies with Lisa Nelson started in1988 March at  Breitenbush hotsprings, Oregon, where she taught at the Contact Dance Jam and Conference organized by Joint Forces Dance Company also the continued the following year.

I studied than with her at Tanzfabrick in Berlin in 1988

and in 1989 spring in Eugene at the University of Oregon Dance department.

The year before Image Lab, was formed , Lisa Nelson invited , Karen Nelson and Nóra Hajós  to Madbrook, Vermont to practice and work with eyes closed in her studio. Perhaps the preparations towards Tuning Scores.

She also danced at various times at Mad brook, Vermont, since 1989 in Tuning Scores laboratories.

In1990 spring she participated in Amsterdam ,at SNDO, School for New Dance Development, during Lisa Nelson~s ,residency.

1994 at EDAM,Vancouver, Canada was part of the Tuning Scores laboratories and observatories.

2008 January, ,The Tuning Project with Lisa Nelson at PerformanceWorks NorthWest

10 days of dance research, performance and workshops, all centered around a visit to Performance Works by Tuning Score innovator and dance-maker Lisa Nelson. Nelson joined by her long-time collaborator and Contact Improvisation founder, Steve Paxton plus a slew of other movement artists and teachers from the Portland area and around the country.    

2013,Tuning Scores workshop Movement Research ,New York,

2016 spring Earthdance Figurespace 2-week laboratory follows up the 6-week workshop of the same name, initiated at Earthdance in 2011/2012. 

Steve Paxton's Material For the Spine uses a technical approach to explore the sensations of the center of the body. Lisa Nelson's Tuning Scores research composition, communication, and the sense of imagination. The laboratory combined these unique approaches to observe and cultivate compositional and performance possibilities that arise from these roots of dance motivation.

Bennington College , Vermont April1-8 

From April 1-8, 2016, the Bennington Dance Program hosted an unprecedented creative research residency.  Spring 16 is a setting for two exceptional dance artists’ long-term research: Lisa Nelson's Tuning Scores (which focus on composition, communication, and the sense of imagination) and Steve Paxton's Material for the Spine (which uses a technical approach to explore the sensations of the center of the body). Lisa Nelson and Steve Paxton were joined by thirteen long-time practitioners-appliers of both approaches who came from many parts of the U.S. (and U.K.) to observe and cultivate compositional and performance possibilities that arise from these roots.  This remarkable meeting was in the making for at least a decade.  Participants included: Olive Bieringa (MN); Melinda Buckwalter (MA); Ray Chung (CA); MauChung (CA); Maura Gahan (VT); Margit Galanter (CA); KJ Holmes (NY); Nora Hajos (OR); Daniel Lepkoff (VT); Karen Nelson (WA); Otto Ramstad (MN); Sakura Shimada (VT); Scott Smith (UK); and Kristin Van Loon (MN). 

 

2017 Feb. 9 -19 Seattle,  workshop with Lisa Nelson

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2021,22 participation in ongoing ZOOm Tuning with her and many other Tuners.

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Nóra Hajós has been leading Tuning Scores workshops and laboratories, since 1994, in Europe, USA, Argentina & Chile.