Workshops!!

Here is what is confirmed and coming up in January and February!  Locations are yet to be confirmed but stay posted for updates and more announcements...


To register for any of these workshops email tolove.in@gmail.com



January 17-21, 10am to 12pm 
Axis Syllabus with Kelly Keenan (Montréal)
Dovercourt House third floor- everyday except Wednesday, first floor


Pre-registration only, $60 for 5 classes
These classes are premised on the Axis Syllabus method, inspired by my recent studies on ‘Material for the Spine‘ with Steve Paxton, ‘Anatomy Trains’ with Thomas Myers and my own continued research. Training will focus on falling principles including deceleration/acceleration,reception/propulsion, sequential movement, co-ordination/rhythm, management of extremities, tensional & joint integrity. The objective is to collaborate gracefully and in good health with gravity to maximize kinetic energy, strength, flow and obtain the bliss of walking the line between control and the loss of control.

February 7-11, 10am to 12pm
DR-T (dirty) Floorwork with Michael Watts (Montréal)

Dovercourt House third floor- everyday except Wednesday, first floor

$50 for 5 classes, $12 to drop-in
Class will consist of awakening the senses, improvisation games to help open the mind/body and release work to gently warm the whole system. A series of strength and floor exercises will guide the dancers in finding their relation to the floor and gravity so that they may freely throw their body through space, dive, roll and recover. An important emphasis will be made on the use of hands to move into and out of the floor. Class will end with a combination focusing on the material learned, where dancers will be encouraged to use their raw and primal energies, animalistic qualities, and to break free of form. I AM DANCER HEAR ME ROAR!!! Knee pads are suggested!!

February 28- March 4, 10am to 12pm
Workshop with Marcela Giesche (Berlin/USA)
Dovercourt House third floor


Marcela Giesche (Berlin/USA) studied in dance and choreography at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie (Netherlands) and The Ohio State University and the where she received her BFA. She has performed her own work in the US, Netherlands, Belgium, & Norway, and has worked among others with Bianca Van Dillen/Beppie Blankert (Amsterdam), VA Wölfl (Neuer Tanz - Duesseldorf), and the Italian company Deja Donne (Simone Sandroni).


Pre-registration strongly encouraged! $50 for 5 classes, $12 to drop-in
Class is a combination of dynamic release techniques and floor work, intertwined with improvisational elements designed to open new and unexpected possibilities in the body and mind. Continuous moving, repetition, partner-work, and the use of imagery are used to bring the dancer into a state where the class becomes a journey while thoroughly warming up the physical body. Rather than focusing on specific steps we will work on finding clear geometric energy patterns running through the body, mind and space, which drive and give intention movement. A space-eating, sweeping movement phrase is what finally brings the elements of technique, performance, and improvisation together in a full bodied personal expression. Dance is what happens when we let our imagination run away with our bodies!

Toronto Loves Justine Chambers

photo by Yoann Malnati


Last week we had the pleasure of presenting a week of classes with the lovely and talented, Justine Chambers from Vancouver. The week gave me that, I love dancing feeling.... and it was kind of magical. Thanks to everyone who came out, this felt like our most successful week of classes yet. We were so happy to finish 2010 with such a great week of dancing! Stay tuned for updates for workshops coming up in 2011, the Love-In's birthday party in February and our inaugural Summer Intensive. Details to be released soon!!!


Love to you and yours and Happy Holidays.
hearts,
the Love-In team

November Love-In at Hub14

Join us on November 21st for an informal round table with representatives from our dance service organizations! We will be joined by representatives from the DTRC, CADA, CDA and The Actors' Fund of Canada.

Are you a member of these organizations? Do you know what each of these organizations do and how they can help you? If you are, do you have feedback about their services and how they can serve you better? We have resources that we are not tapping into and could be benefiting from on many different levels... Get involved and learn how we can help each other.

When: November 21st from 5 to 7pm
Where: Hub14, 14 Markham St, enter by the first door on the right up the fire escape
Who: you! and other passionate dance artists in our community


Any questions about this event? email tolove.in@gmail.com 
Hope to see you there....
hearts,
The Love-In Team

What's coming!

Feeling very disappointed by yesterday's election results.... I am pouting over here and trying not to dwell. Let's focus on what we do have, as that is our greatest catalyst for change and without that we really have nothing. On that note, wanted to share the amazing workshops coming up to finish off 2010....  If the workshops we have put on this year are any indication of what is to come in 2011, Toronto is in for a treat!!! There are still room in all of these classes so drop us a line to register for these classes with these amazing artists!
email: tolove.in@gmail.com to register

November 18 and 19,  9am to 12pm, Location TBA

W A L K I N G - POETICS & MECHANICS OF AN EVERYDAY MOVEMENT, with Kira Kirsch
Optimal use of the foot, knee, hip, spine and arms to harness gravity. Analysis and restructuring of individual walking/running patterns using Axis principles. Prepare to leap, study foot mechanics and optimal anatomical jumping architecture, learn to harness gravity and inertia to fly. Walking well is a preparation for life, for everything we will do with our bodies. Our walking patterns form the base of unconscious reflexes that serve as a starting point for learning any other coordination, such as sport and dance or any kind of active work. If the knees are not aligned, if the curves in the spine are not adjusted for optimal rebound, if the feet are not actively supporting the arch and ankle, the repetition of minimal gestures that compromise the integrity of these structures will cause a gradual or even sudden deterioration.
Walking well includes understanding and supporting the side-bending principles, the involuntary internal and external rotations of the knee, Q-Angle and Hip-axis arcs, foot structure and disposition, as well as finding and applying the motions of individual spinal curves to the different cases of locomotion. The healthy motion of walking includes continuous tri-axial undulations in the axial skeleton, a rotary under-curve swing in the pelvis, diagonally angled arcs of the extremities as they swing and receive the weight of the body falling through space. Each body has an optimal walk and personal rhythm. This workshop is designed to assist the participant in breaking the code of the habits that are potentially dangerous, ultimately finding their own walk, a walk that optimalises the structure of their bodies.

$15 per 3 hour class

 November 29 - December 3, 10am to 12pm, Dovercourt House First floor

Open Source Forms with Voice and Movement, Susanna Hood

Having recently received her certification in Open Source Forms (OSF), Susanna offers this methodology as a main container for an exploration into the moving, sounding, and creative self. As an open source system, OSF combines some of the intrinsic ideas and spirit of Skinner Releasing with the evolving practices of its teachers. This five-day cumulative workshop is focused on the creative empowerment of the individual through the shedding of layers and unnecessary tension, and is guided by the philosophy that we are all natural movers and sounders with a vast capacity for expression, that movement and sound are both physical manifestations of our whole self, that this combined physicality opens a doorway into experiencing our primordial being, and that we are the source of our own wisdom. The class guides participants through different states of consciousness in an improvisational setting, using imagery as a powerful tool for transformation.

$50 for full week workshop, no drop-ins

December 13 - 17, 10am to 12pm, Dovercourt House First floor

Master Classes with Justine Chambers

With an emphasis on ease, efficiency and spatial awareness, this class uses the tools of naval radiation and internal movement pathways to develop full body integration through movement. The class begins with a guided improvisation to bring awareness to the constant negotiations and dynamic relationships found in the body. Floor work and dynamic movement sequences invite the dancer to further the investigation of full body integration as well as exploring logical pathways for movement through the body and space. 

$50 for full week workshop or $12 for a drop-in class

Voting Day!!

Don't forget to get out and vote today!!!
Check out this report card for our mayoral candidates. 


http://artsvotetoronto.ca/mayoral-report-card/

FloorWork(ed) returns

The lovely and talented Miss Elke Schroeder brings her FloorWork(ed) classes back to Toronto this week! 
After a rocking performance at Fresh Blood last week, presented by the Chimera Project, she is ready to share her amazing and physical classes with the community once again.... Who needs a personal trainer when you can do this!


The details:
Trinity St Pauls Church, 427 Bloor St West
9:30-11:00am
Drop In for $10 or buy 5 classes for $40


Rock and roll ladies and gents, welcome to FloorWork(ed).
A diving, rolling, sweaty, bruised-up smash up of a dance class. Last fall we had a wicked time and so, I'm continuing it through 2010. Suitable for experienced dancers or movers of all disciplines, learn how to move in and out of the floor with grace... 'Sexy, lazy leg', 'flying squirrel', 'dead fall', 'space baby'... Intrigued? Come out and play.


Bring knee pads, pants that cover the knees, shirts that cover the shoulders and running shoes/dance sneakers.

Classes with Stephen Thompson

We have had a great first two days of classes with Stephen! Thanks to Jeremy Mimnagh for these gorgeous photos. Still three days left! Join us if you can...

bon voyage Lady J!

Lady Janitor has crossed the ocean once again, to spread the love in Europe for two months, beginning her mentorship project with German choreographer, Frauke Requardt. Her wild ways will be missed on this side.... Stay tuned for updates, haiku dance reviews and tales from the European country side. Bon Voyage!!


photo by Andrea De Keijzer

Summer lovin in Wien

This summer Eroca and I attended the Impulstanz Festival in Vienna for four weeks, with many other amazing Canadian dancers. There was wiener Schnitzel, lots of cheese, shows and days spent rolling around on the floor... We came to the conclusion that Canadian dancers are top tier! Open, intelligent, versatile and so very nice.

I was interviewed for an article about the festival published online!

http://wien.cafebabel.com/en/post/2010/09/19/Not-just-a-City-of-Waltzes

a new era...

So, we are getting organized. Assembling a team of bad-ass co-conspirators to help us do so... 
We figured a look back at we have done would be nice before getting into what is and will happen in the near future. Stay posted for announcements for our workshops for this fall and winter 2011.

photo by Tim Birmingham


The Love-In was founded in February of 2009 by independent dance artists Amanda Acorn and Eroca Nicols. We started to present monthly meetings modeled after the “5 a 7” organized by the RQD in Montreal, with hopes to fill a niche we felt was missing in the Toronto dance community. A place to bring together artists at all stages of development, for discourse, networking, meeting, greeting and information sharing. In an effort to foster community and provide an informal gathering place for dance artists to meet each other and find out what is happening city wide in our community. It has become a place to meet your community, plug your upcoming show or workshop, ask for/give advice, inspire, advocate and build bridges. It is our hope this event will develop to become a necessity within the Toronto dance community as a social and professional meeting place for dance artists to convene every month. The event is now presented in partnership with the lovely people at Hub 14: www.hub14.org 
Check their website to find out what else they are up to!


The next Love-In is happening at Hub14 on September 19th from 5 to 7pm.


Shortly after we began presenting the meetings, we started putting on contemporary technique workshops for the professional community. Tendus and triplets are not required... We are interested in presenting classes that reflect what is happening in contemporary dance right now.  We are trying to challenge what we see as 'technique' by diversifying the training being offered in Toronto. We are presenting teachers who are giving classes that extend beyond classical modern dance training by offering classes that are truly contemporary. We have presented classes with Justine Chambers, Ruth Douthright, Farley Johansson, Kelly Keenan, Alanna Kraaijveld, Julia Sasso, Elke Schroeder, Heidi Strauss and Michael Watts. 
This fall we will be presenting Kelly Keenan (September), Stephen Thompson (October), Susanna Hood (November) and Justine Chambers (December) and more to come in 2011.