programma en docenten
GENERAL INFORMATION ABOUT ANOUK VAN DIJK AND THE COUNTERTECHNIQUE
The Countertechnique is the movement system Anouk van Dijk developed during her 20-year career as a dancer, choreographer and teacher. The Countertechnique discards with all traditional methods that seek to control movement from the pelvis or 'the core centre'. Replacing the static balance of these core centre approaches, the Countertechnique uses three-dimensional directions and counter directions inside and outside the body to create a highly dynamic balance, enabling the dancer to execute extreme movements and to find more versatile ways of changing direction whilst moving. Though originally developed for facilitating the particular movement style of Van Dijk's work, in practice the principles of the Countertechnique system are applicable to most forms of dance, be it modern, contemporary or classical.
On first coming into contact with the Countertechnique, most dancers find it a nerve-racking experience. Since the Countertechnique does not use the pelvis or 'core' as the center of movement, they lose control over the area that they were accustomed to using for 'holding on'. To counter this physical challenge, the classes do not focus solely on the physical implications of the system, but also actively work on increasing the mental awareness of dancers. A conscious, optimistic presence is indeed needed to be able to apply the principles in the Countertechnique. Who and where are you when you are dancing? Can you observe what you are doing without judging it? Can you be aware of what happens internally and externally at the same time? Can you work on technical precision and at the same time not worry about the end result? On accomplishing the state of mind to engage in these physical and mental challenges, dancers in general feel much freer in their bodies, start to work with more awareness and prove to be able to occupy and devour space. This new spatial awareness results in an ability to make movements explode or melt, making the dancer visible in a sharply defined way. During this Intensive the Countertechnique can be studied in various forms: a practical tools class, a technique class, a partnering workshop and learning phrase material from one of Anouk van Dijk’s works. Countertechnique is currently taught at dance academies, festivals, companies and open studios around the world. The renowned Rotterdam Dance Academy / Codarts has included a four year curriculum of Countertechnique in its educational program for contemporary dancers. The program is directed and developed by Anouk van Dijk and the classes and workshops are being taught by herself and members of her company.
PROGRAM AND TEACHERS OF THE SUMMER INTENSIVE
Anouk van Dijk graduated from the Rotterdam Dance Academy in 1985. For almost a decade she was a lead soloist with amongst others the Rotterdam Dance Group and Amanda Miller's Pretty Ugly Dance Company. Having started to make choreographies already as early as 1989, since 1996 Anouk van Dijk dedicated herself exclusively to the creation and performance of her own work. She has been running her own dance company anoukvandijk dc since 1998 and has by now created fifteen full evening works and more than twenty shorter choreographies, receiving critical acclaim from international press and audiences. Recent works include STAU, Borrowed Landscapes, Deseo, Trust and Wowwowwonders in me.
COUNTERTECHNIQUE: ‘TECHNIQUE CLASS, THEORY AND PRACTICAL TOOLS’
In nine technique classes Anouk van Dijk and core-company member Nina Wollny will conduct a dynamic class starting with standing exercises into traveling combinations into flying jumps. You will be introduced to some of the essential themes of the Countertechnique: remaining a conscious presence while working on technical elements in the class, distributing your weight into space, focusing on the effective use of the hamstrings, separating the pelvis off the legs and using multi directional upper body while maintaining the rotation of the legs.
In the Practical tools sessions, the ‘Countertechnique toolbox’ will serve as reference to help you apply Countertechnique in your dancing. We will look into Physical and Mental Parameters, Directions and Counter-directions, Basic Facts of Anatomy, Body in space and Scanning. Simple exercises, awareness games and improvisation tasks will help you bring the theoretical principles into a down-to-earth practice.
Nina Wollny has been a lead soloist in all of Anouk van Dijk's choreographies since 2002, and in recent years has also been working as rehearsal director for the company. She studied Anouk van Dijk's Countertechnique intensively for the last eight years, and since 2005 has been teaching the movement system around the world at amongst others the American Dance Festival, TSEH Summer School Moscow, Shanghai Dance Academy, Calarts Dance Department Los Angeles, HJS in Amsterdam, K3 Hamburg, Artez Dance Academy Arnhem and Codarts Dance Academy Rotterdam.
ALEXANDER TECHNIQUE
Tom Koch will conduct several morning sessions to introduce the principles of the groundbreaking Alexander Technique. The Alexander Technique is a method for applying your rational mind to solve body problems. It makes movements feel lighter and easier, helps alleviate pain and stiffness, and helps you maintain a clear and balanced state of mind. On alternate mornings during the week Tom Koch will lead the group through simple experiments designed to foster a watchful awareness of movement, or "thinking in activity". The basic principles of the Alexander Technique will be discussed and demonstrated as needed so no prior experience is required. Each day will focus on different concepts such as Where and When, Starting and Stopping, Doing and Directing.
Tom Koch has been a pioneer in integrating the Alexander Technique with dance movement. Since being certified to teach in 1987 by the American Center for the Alexander Technique in New York, he has taught group and private lessons in the Technique to members of Ballet Frankfurt, Nederlands Dans Theater, the Dutch National Ballet, Charleroi Danses, anoukvandijk dc, Tanztheater Wuppertal and many others. He has also taught classes and workshops in combining Alexander Technique with various dance techniques, together with Daniela Graça (ballet), Michael Schumacher and Vitor Garcia (improvisation) and Paul Estabrook (modern). Among his students are some of the foremost performers and creators of European dance, theater and music, such as Michael Schumacher, Dana Caspersen, William Forsythe, Amanda Miller, Anouk van Dijk, Vitor Garcia, Daniela Graça, Nina Wollny, Katie Duck, Thom Willems, Han Bennink, Hans-Peter Blochwitz, and many others.
YOGA
Most dancers nowadays are familiar with the techniques and benefits that Yoga can provide: it helps the body to develop strength and suppleness in the deeper muscle layers, aligning the spine and freeing unnecessary tensions. Because it is less externally and goal oriented than dance training, yoga allows the practitioner the time and space needed to work on more difficult areas, reducing the risk of injury and helping overcome existing ones. The mind becomes more focused and relaxed, able of better absorbing and retaining information, and finally yoga teaches us to work with energy in a way that allows free interaction with the surroundings without loosing the connection from within. During these classes the focus will not be in learning one more technique, but to use yoga to improve self-awareness and enjoyment in movement so that the body/mind can become a clearer and better means of expression.
Anat Geiger studied dance and theatre from a very early age in her Native Brazil. She worked with well-established theatre companies and co-founded her own movement theater company, Ko Productions. After moving to Holland in 1991 she worked as a dancer in works from amongst other Michael Schumacher, Daniela Graça, Marcelo Evelin, Desiree Delauney and Mischa van Dullemen. She completed a 3-year Yoga Teacher's Training Course with Teresa Caldas in Amsterdam and was also granted a teacher's diploma by renowned yoga teacher Dona Holleman. In 2009 she completed a Yin Yoga teacher training with Paul and Suzee Grilley in California. Anat Geiger now teaches open classes and workshops both in Holland and Brazil and is a partner at the YogaGarden yoga studio in Amsterdam.
CHOOSING TWO OUT OF FOUR WORKSHOPS
On the registration form you can select one workshop per week:
Week I: 'Better awareness through ballet and improvisation' or 'Partnering: exploring non-verbal communication'
Week II: 'Each moment's potential' or ‘Of restlessness and sleeping poses’
PARTNERING: 'EXPLORING NON-VERBAL COMMUNICATION '
In partnering work there is much more to deal with than just your partner. In the communication that happens between two people, the space around them defines their movements, and new forces and possibilities are created by the exchange of two bodies. In this workshop you will investigate all those issues at stake while working with a partner and you will learn how to use them to your advantage.
The specific approach of partnering taught in this workshop by Nina Wollny, assisted by Philipp Fricke, is derived from the Countertechnique. The principles and the essential knowledge of Countertechnique form the practical tools and common language to communicate with. In simple exercises you will first learn how to physically apply this new language in relation to another body. Moving with a partner will become easier, lifts become lighter and the communication clearer. The second part of the workshop will deal with guided and free improvisations and how to apply the new skills in an open exchange. You will practice how to listen, talk, understand and make suggestions in the new language. The third part of the workshop will focus on repertory and on the creation of new material. And how these new skills can enrich the creative process, inspire you to make new movements and help you to execute physically extreme and challenging duet material.
See for Nina Wollny's resumé Countertechnique masterclasses description.
Philipp Fricke has been a core member of anoukvandijk dc since 2005, featuring besides Nina Wollny, Angie Müller, Birgit Gunzl and Peter Cseri in all full-evening productions. He is also a teacher of Anouk van Dijk’s Countertechnique. Philipp Fricke graduated in 2003 from the Rotterdam Dance Academy and danced with several well-known dance companies in The Netherlands, amongst others Krisztina de Châtel, Leine & Roebana, Bruno Listopad and Jaako Toivonen.
‘BETTER AWARENESS THROUGH BALLET AND IMPROVISATION’
After the success of this workshop in 2007 and 2008, Daniela Graça will be back to teach at the One Body, One Career program. In her workshop she will apply the principles of the Alexandertechnique and Countertechnique into the ballet training and further deepen the understanding of new findings through improvisation. Departing from a ballet class, the second half of the workshop takes you into your own personal movement, having as starting point the qualities, anatomical parameters or specific directions given in the ballet class. Using technical issues as a source of inspiration for improvisation and creation of own movement material, you will broaden your awareness and extend your abilities of performance. Finding the interconnectedness between training, creation and performance is the final goal of this workshop.
After having completed her training at the Brasilia Ballet Academy and the Tanzschule der Staatsoper Hamburg (direction John Neumeier) Daniela Graça danced the great classics like Gisele and Nutcracker at the Brasilia Ballet Company. Later she moved to Europe to work at the Lisbon Dance Company in Portugal and in Holland with the Rotterdamse Dansgroep. She has danced in works by a.o. Mark Haim, Igal Perry, Amanda Miller, Rui Horta, Merce Cunningham, Ton Simons, Paulo Ribeiro, Roland Schankula, Michael Schumacher, Paul Selwyn Norton, Marcelo Evelin, Anat Geiger, Leine & Roebana and with Peter Sellars on his productions of John Adam's El Nino and on Stravinsky's Biblical Pieces. Daniela has worked for many years with Anouk van Dijk as one of the first experts in Countertechnique. She has choreographed for the Lisbon Dance Company, performed her own solowork and collaborated with other choreographers. Daniela Graça has taught for 7 years at the Hogeschool voor de Kunsten in Amsterdam and has been a regular teacher for HJS, Dansgroep Krisztina de Châtel, Galili Dance, Charleroi Dance, Danceworks Rotterdam, Gulbenkian Ballet, Ballet Prejlocaj, S.E.A.D. and others. Currently Daniela lives in Munich making her own work and teaching at Tanzproject Münich.
‘EACH MOMENT’S POTENTIAL’
The aim of this workshop is to develop conscious presence while improvising in a performance. Each session begins with exercises that explore relationships between thought, movement and presence in the immediate environment. By promoting a greater awareness of sensory input, the performer becomes better equipped to interact with their internal and external impulses. The session continues with examples of both fixed and open structures in which the participants improvise with such elements as dance, music, text, and light. Through practice and theory, participants explore a process by which they collectively experience spontaneously created compositions.
Michael Schumacher is a performing artist with roots in classical and modern dance. He has been a member of several groundbreaking companies, including Frankfurt Ballet, Twyla Tharp Dance, Feld Ballet, Pretty Ugly Dance company and Magpie Music and Dance Company. Working as dancer, choreographer and teacher, Michael Schumacher has developed a unique approach to the discipline of improvisation. He has collaborated with many pioneering musicians, including percussionist Han Bennink, violonist Mary Oliver and cellist/composer Alex Waterman. He currently resides in Amsterdam and conducts workshops in movement analysis worldwide.
‘OF RESTLESS STATES AND SLEEPING POSES’
Anouk van Dijk will use her recent work ‘Trust’ as departure point for this workshop. Trust was created in close collaboration with director and author Falk Richter with dancers from anoukvandijk dc and actors of the Schaubühne Berlin. In this creation collapsing systems, exhaustion and restlessness were issues that were researched, both in movement and text. In this workshop we will look into how the physical language was developed. Working with both improvisation tasks as well as movement material, a specific physical state and communication will be explored. From here, new movement material and situations will be developed. Flow, hyper alertness, responding and reacting, finding rest, indecisiveness, waiting and sleeping poses, speeding into overdrive and collapsing are key words. The Countertechnique will be referred to for both the improvisation as well as in the movement material.