Vytis Jankauskas Dance Theatre invites you to join the Gaga dance seminar on the 4th – 7th of June, 2015, at the Arts Printing House (Vilnius).
Gaga is a new way of gaining knowledge and self-awareness through your body. Gaga provides a framework for discovering and strengthening your body and adding flexibility, stamina, and agility while lightening the senses and imagination. Gaga raises awareness of physical weaknesses, awakens numb areas, exposes physical fixations, and offers ways for their elimination. The work improves instinctive movement and connects conscious and unconscious movement, and it allows for an experience of freedom and pleasure in a simple way, in a pleasant space, in comfortable clothes, accompanied by music, each person with himself and others.
“We become more aware of our form. We connect to the sense of the endlessness of possibilities. We explore multi-dimensional movement; we enjoy the burning sensation in our muscles, we are ready to snap, we are aware of our explosive power and sometimes we use it. We change our movement habits by finding new ones. We go beyond our familiar limits. We can be calm and alert at once.” – Ohad Naharin, the creator of GAGA dance, one of the leading choreographers of the world (www.gagapeople.com)
Natalia Iwaniec was born in Poland and is now a freelance dancer and gaga teacher based in between Poland and UK. She finished her Master’s in Theater in Cracow and completed her degree in dance at the Dance College in Wroclaw in Poland, and also trained in Contact Improvisation in Tel Aviv. Natalia was a part of the first Gaga Teachers Training Program, certified by Ohad Naharin/Batsheva Dance Company in 2012. Since then she is teaching regular gaga classes for dancers and non-dancers in London and workshops in Poland and Europe.
The workshop will take place on the 4th – 7th of June in Vilnius at the Arts Printing House in the studio 3.
Thursday – Friday
15.45 – 17.00 Gaga dancers (for dancers)
17.15 – 18.45 Improvisation (for dancers)
19.00 – 20.00 Gaga people (open for everyone)
Saturday – Sunday
10.00 – 11.15 Gaga dancers (for dancers)
11.30 – 13.00 Improvisation (for dancers)
13.15 – 14.15 Gaga people (open for everyone)
One separate lesson costs 10 euros.
For those who participate in the whole Gaga dancers or Gaga people programme – 35 euros.
For attending both: Gaga dancers and Gaga improvisation classes – 70 euros.
Discounts: 20% for students; 40% for members of dance companies and dance students.
Registration is open and indicated prices are valid until the 28th of May.
Please register at lina@vytisdc.lt, tel. 8 687 26020, Lina.
Gaga dance classes rules:
*Never stop:* The class is one session, no pauses or exercises, but a continuity of instructions one on top of the other. Each instruction does not cancel the previous one but is added to it, layer upon layer.
Therefore, it is important not to stop in the middle of the session. If you get tired or want to work at another pace, you can always lower the volume, work 30% or 20%, float, or rest, but without losing sensations that were already awakened. Do not return to the state your body was in before we started.
*Listening to the body:* It is important that you take the instructions gently into your body while being aware to its sensations, abilities, and limitations. Do not seek excessive effort on your first time – seek the
quality of the movement, the sensation to which we are aiming, but with less intensity in the work. Go to places where the pleasure in movement is awakened and not to places of pain. Maintain the connection
to pleasure especially during effort (effort is different than pain). If you have any limitation, restrictions, or physical pain – permanent or temporary – talk to the teacher before the class starts, and be aware
throughout the session.
*Awareness:* Be aware. Get inspired by the teacher and by other people in the room. Be aware of people around you, the space that they need, and the interaction if any.
*Silence:* During the session we do not speak unless instructed to use our voice or words. If you have any questions, you are welcome to bring them up at the end of the session.
*Classes start on time:* Attending the first minutes of the class is very important so you will be able to produce more from the session and take care of your body. It is advised to arrive 15 minutes early, turn your phone off, find yourself a place in the studio, relax, and start.
*No entry for latecomers:* If you are late, give up. Go do something else that is pleasant. Come tomorrow.
Photo by Gadi Dagon.