On this course instructed by Ryan Mason we approach movement through simple actions with the potential to develop into complex multi-layered dynamic experiences.
Ryan Mason on the course:
As an artist, my interests are in a constant process of sharing, gathering, integrating, inventing, releasing, translating, subverting, digesting, among many other -ings. As a teacher, I offer these interests as experiences to be encountered, along with possible tools to assist with the embodiment of these ‘th-ings.’ I truly enjoy the notion of teaching as a process of sharing, and that that process is a unique dialogue formed within each encounter, within each class. In other words, no two classes are the same. I treat each class as a workshop - we meet, we share time and space, and we learn from each other. It’s an adventure, and part of the idea of an adventure is that you don’t always know precisely where you are. How fun!
My class often approaches movement through simple actions with the potential to develop into complex multi-layered dynamic experiences. I am inspired by the body, for its expressive potential as an abstract identity, a concrete physique, a representation, a fiction, a fantasy. We may access the muscles of the face and explore codes of expression we don’t recognize. We may move our bodies low along the floor to explore the action of sliding and pressure. We may visualize ourselves as giants walking over mountains and wading through oceans. We may speak into our hands to hear the sound of our voice and explore the sounds for potential physical expression. We may imagine our pants walking our legs around the room. We may find a state of stillness just to observe it or attempt to move silence through the body. We may lipsync to kitschy music and see how seriously we can take ourselves. Each class provides its own unique discoveries and adventures as we discover and encounter and embody the unknown.
Ryan Mason is an artist, performer, and teacher with a background in choreography and dance, based in Helsinki, Finland. He received his MA in Choreography from the University of Arts Helsinki, in 2023, and his BFA in Dance from the California Institute of the Arts in 2007. In 2018, he co-founded, with his partner, Annamari Keskinen, Thar Be Dragons - a Helsinki-based dance theater platform for research, education, and performance. As a collaborative, Thar Be Dragons has been commissioned by the Staatstheater Kassel and Staatstheater Braunschweig, and as invited guest teachers and workshop leaders throughout Europe and North America. For the past 10 years, Ryan has been choreographing and teaching independently, as well as for professional training institutions and workshops throughout Europe and North America such as Springboard Danse Montreal, Hubbard Street Pro, SEAD, NYU Tisch, and Anton Bruckner Privat University, among many others.
https://www.tharbedragons.org/
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Indulge the Movement – Contemporary dance for all courses are mainly instructed by the choreographers and performers of Zodiak’s previous, current and upcoming season’s programme of performances. Indulge the Movement courses are suitable for everyone, and you can participate even without previous dance experience. Indulge the Movement – Contemporary dance for all courses focus on motion and movement, but they also offer an opportunity to explore different dance practices with alternating instructors.
