Body Politics and Contact Improv workshop, February 2017, Singapore.
Our bodies are sites of politics.
What I call my practice of embodied activism brings together a somatic understanding of the body with the wider context of how we move in society, how we perceive ourselves and are perceived, how we experience privilege, ability, identity, association and discrimination. Through movement explorations and gatherings in workshops and festivals, I am interested in queering our understanding of how bodies interact in contact with other bodies, between individuals and in groups. Much of my work in this field is influenced by the queer feminist approach to body politics of the Radical Contact movement, where practices from movement improvisation and contact improvisation are a starting point for activists from different backgrounds to research these interactions, to explore new possibilities for social organisation and collectivity.
What I call my practice of embodied activism brings together a somatic understanding of the body with the wider context of how we move in society, how we perceive ourselves and are perceived, how we experience privilege, ability, identity, association and discrimination. Through movement explorations and gatherings in workshops and festivals, I am interested in queering our understanding of how bodies interact in contact with other bodies, between individuals and in groups. Much of my work in this field is influenced by the queer feminist approach to body politics of the Radical Contact movement, where practices from movement improvisation and contact improvisation are a starting point for activists from different backgrounds to research these interactions, to explore new possibilities for social organisation and collectivity.
Past:
Site specifi-city
Workshops for the Substation Concerned Citizens' Programme
October 2017
Body Politics: Bodies in Space
A three-part workshop series in the Substation's Discipline the City programme
4, 7, 14 August 2017
Our bodies are physical, but also social constructions. They carry relationships, norms, values, habits and questions. What are our relationships today, and what could they be in the future? This series of movement workshops offer a space where participants can sensitise themselves to concealed questions of their bodies, and start thinking about the politics of the bodies of the city.
With contact improvisation and somatic dance practices as a basis, the workshops will work with touch and movement as relational practices, and explore ideas about group identity and exclusion, personal and societal space, privilege and power. The material for these workshops has been devised in dialogue with other practitioners of the international Radical Contact community.
No prior dance experience required. Bodies of all identities and all abilities are welcome.
Body politics and contact improvisation
Workshop with Chan Sze-Wei and Daniel Mang
Saturday and Sunday 11 & 12 February 2017
Dance Nucleus, Singapore
¡Walang Hiya! (Unashamed!)
Contact improvisation and body politics festival in the Philippines
1 – 5 February 2017, Metro Manila
Teachers: Daniel Mang (Sweden), Ea Torrado (Philippines) and Sze-Wei Chan (Singapore)
Brought to you by: Daloy Dance Company, Metro Manila, Philippines
How do we relate to our bodies? They are physical, but also social constructions. They carry relationships, norms, values, habits and questions. We offer a space where we can speak about bodies, be and move in our bodies, and start thinking about the politics of bodies.
We will use contact improvisation and somatic movement practices, bodywork and verbal exchanges to explore issues of identity and belonging, body image, beauty and objectification, privilege and power. We will work with our relation to gravity and the physical contact between movers. We will learn about modulating tone, tuning our reflexes, waking up our sense of balance and sharing weight. We will explore touch and movement as relational practices: bonding and bounding, consent and collaboration, safer spaces and negotiation will be some of our themes.
We will ask questions about the axes of oppression and privilege that traverse us and make us what we are. We hope to discover ways of undoing, unlearning, some of the internalised social norms, habits and ways of being that structure our physicality and affective life.
All levels of experience and all kinds of bodies are welcome.
Body Politics and Contact Improv
15 December 2016, Dance Nucleus Collective Research Residency workshop
The Space of my Body
10 September 2016, Workshop at SURVEY, the Substation Singapore
Workshop Facilitator, Radical Contact Worldwide Berlin: "Tuning the Gaze"
13 June 2016
Workshop Facilitator, Radical Contact Spring Gathering
24-28 March 2016
Migratory Objects (2015-ongoing)
Site specifi-city
Workshops for the Substation Concerned Citizens' Programme
October 2017
Body Politics: Bodies in Space
A three-part workshop series in the Substation's Discipline the City programme
4, 7, 14 August 2017
Our bodies are physical, but also social constructions. They carry relationships, norms, values, habits and questions. What are our relationships today, and what could they be in the future? This series of movement workshops offer a space where participants can sensitise themselves to concealed questions of their bodies, and start thinking about the politics of the bodies of the city.
With contact improvisation and somatic dance practices as a basis, the workshops will work with touch and movement as relational practices, and explore ideas about group identity and exclusion, personal and societal space, privilege and power. The material for these workshops has been devised in dialogue with other practitioners of the international Radical Contact community.
No prior dance experience required. Bodies of all identities and all abilities are welcome.
Body politics and contact improvisation
Workshop with Chan Sze-Wei and Daniel Mang
Saturday and Sunday 11 & 12 February 2017
Dance Nucleus, Singapore
¡Walang Hiya! (Unashamed!)
Contact improvisation and body politics festival in the Philippines
1 – 5 February 2017, Metro Manila
Teachers: Daniel Mang (Sweden), Ea Torrado (Philippines) and Sze-Wei Chan (Singapore)
Brought to you by: Daloy Dance Company, Metro Manila, Philippines
How do we relate to our bodies? They are physical, but also social constructions. They carry relationships, norms, values, habits and questions. We offer a space where we can speak about bodies, be and move in our bodies, and start thinking about the politics of bodies.
We will use contact improvisation and somatic movement practices, bodywork and verbal exchanges to explore issues of identity and belonging, body image, beauty and objectification, privilege and power. We will work with our relation to gravity and the physical contact between movers. We will learn about modulating tone, tuning our reflexes, waking up our sense of balance and sharing weight. We will explore touch and movement as relational practices: bonding and bounding, consent and collaboration, safer spaces and negotiation will be some of our themes.
We will ask questions about the axes of oppression and privilege that traverse us and make us what we are. We hope to discover ways of undoing, unlearning, some of the internalised social norms, habits and ways of being that structure our physicality and affective life.
All levels of experience and all kinds of bodies are welcome.
Body Politics and Contact Improv
15 December 2016, Dance Nucleus Collective Research Residency workshop
The Space of my Body
10 September 2016, Workshop at SURVEY, the Substation Singapore
Workshop Facilitator, Radical Contact Worldwide Berlin: "Tuning the Gaze"
13 June 2016
Workshop Facilitator, Radical Contact Spring Gathering
24-28 March 2016
Migratory Objects (2015-ongoing)
