LiquidBody can be taught from a wide variety of curriculum perspectives, and is recommended both for dancers and for diverse communities. Caryn Heilman and members of the company are available to teach classes, workshops, give guest lectures or lecture/demonstrations, and engage in residency activities specific to the performing or educational venue. The concepts underlying the work are physically palpable while being intellectually stimulating, and people tend to engage physically and verbally with enthusiasm and ease. With an introduction to LiquidBody through a community class or other offering, audience interaction deepens. Conversely, after a performance interest in classes and workshops increases. LiquidBody is committed to community outreach and education and will work creatively to serve the needs of the sponsoring organization. A listing of some of the most popular offerings follows:LiquidBody Interact[L[IVE is a multidisciplinary class that brings together dancers and choreographers, filmmakers, performance artists, actors, musicians and composers to explore a fluid physicality communicating through and with interactive multimedia. The class will use a physical performance-focused somatic warmup that allows students to experience their moving body as information that they can then source for communication. After the warmup, the class will explore interactive multidisciplinary approaches to expression that can inform their work. Weekly creative assignments can be tailored to student’s individual artistic goals. Training will be provided in the use of Final Cut HD and Jitter for video, Ableton Live and Reason for sound, and Flash, Dreamweaver, WordPress and social media including Facebook, Twitter, Flickr and YouTube for Web 2.0
Jitter: Interactive Video for Performing and Digital Art Cycling 74’s Max/MSP/Jitter can do just about anything that you would want for sculpting sound and video for live performance or for digital media works. This object based program has a flexible platform for creating interactive performance works with realtime manipulation of video, 3D graphics, sound and other digital elements. Class will focus on the development of individual projects within a progressive skill building practicum. The class structure builds a support community of your peers so if you choose, you can continue developing your skills after class.
LiquidBody Movement classes and workshops approach moving from a fluid perspective using simple breaths and sounds to vibrate the water in the body, amplifying sensation and creating a dynamic potential for movement exploration. Following the body’s fluidly-formed structure, movement is discovered organically and reveals the inner landscape of the body. Building a comprehensive support structure with improvisational, nonpatterned movement while simultaneously deepening multidirectional kinesthetic awareness, one is able to access a more adaptable and responsive ability to move through the world.
Quantum Modern for Dancers takes off where Graham, Cunningham and Humphrey/Limon left off with strategies updated for the newest physics for creating more resonance within the technique and where to go next.
4-D Stretch classes and workhops take the body/mind on journeys of creative discovery that allow the body’s wisdom to guide the movement that unwinds and lengthens fascia. Time stretches out with the pleasure of discovery, and the fluidly-formed, organic structure of the body is honored. Shifting referent points, using imagery, breaths and sounds adds dimension to an activity that most people dread and avoid. Provides a more efficient and comprehensive way toward flexibility with enough immediate reward to encourage regular practice.
Resonance and the Dynamic Performer looks at the audience/performer relationship and ways to strengthen the sense of communication that occurs, and offers strategies for nuancing and focusing the performance. It addresses the ability to adapt to changing stage conditions and their improvisational demands that inevitably occur in live performance, and also offers tools for developing a deep movement consciousness which provides the greatest resources for expression.
Fulltime Performing: The Bigger Picture offers strategies for avoiding repetitive stress and dealing with injury, for accelerating muscle recovery time, for dealing with travel and performance stress, for creating a flexible system and replenishing resources, for keeping the repertory alive night after night, and for developing a sense of when to push and when to back off. Liquid Improv offers new techniques for improvisation based on LiquidBody’s approach to fluid systems, resonance and nonlinear dynamics.
Nonlinear Dance: Digital Possibilities looks at the nonlinear possibilities of choreography for digital formats like video, webcast, CDRom, and DVD. Live interactive formats can be demonstrated if a screen is available.
Collaborators Master Classes, Workshops and Residency Activities
LiquidBody collaborates and tours with world renowned musicians and video artists who are also available to teach classes, workshops, give guest lectures or lecture/demonstrations, and engage in residency activities specific to the performing or educational venue. A listing of some of the most popular offerings includes:
The Sitar and Pure Scales introduces the 19-stringed Indian sitar to musicians, students or the general public. Nana Simopoulos explains the principals of classical Indian raga music as well as the overtones of the instrument through direct demonstration on the sympathetic strings and discusses the special applications of pure scales for composition and improvisation.
World Instruments: Fusing East and West looks at the particularly rich possibilities for creating multitextural music scores for dance and film. Master composer, Nana Simopoulos and the World Music of Nana ensemble demonstrate the fusion of Indian sitar, Greek bouzouki, Middle Eastern frame drums daf and tar, Australian didgeridoo as well as the Brazilian berimbau played by virtuoso Greg Beyer. Histories of the instruments from around the world are discussed as well as their modern applications.
Music for Dance and Film: This lecture reveals the secrets and idiosyncrasies of scoring music for dance. The collaborative process of working with a choreographer will be discussed. Various original scores will be played to students and analyzed.