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Legendary
Dancer, Choreographer to Visit Smith
Legendary dancer and choreographer
Steve Paxton, the originator of the dance technique called
Contact Improvisation, will visit Smith on Wednesday,
Nov. 9, when he will be joined by dance faculty members Chris
Aiken and Angie Hauser in discussing Paxton's influential
article, “Drafting
Interior Techniques,” written in 1993. Also
joining the discussion will be cognitive neuroscientist
and dancer Asaf Bachrach.
Steve Paxton |
The event, which is free and
open to the public, will take place at 7:30 p.m. in Neilson
Reading Room.
This is
a unique opportunity to participate in a conversation
with Paxton, who is widely considered one of the most influential
and groundbreaking artists of the last 50 years. The discussion
will range among ideas on dance, cognition and
the relationship between perception and imagination.
For 40 years, Steve
Paxton has conducted research on the merits of improvisation
as a more pure art form.
He has received grants from Change, Inc., the Foundation
for Performance Arts, John D.Rockefeller Fund, and a Guggenheim
Fellowship, and has been awarded two NY Bessie Awards. He
was one of the founders of the Judson Dance Theater, Grand
Union, Contact Improvisation, and Touchdown Dance for the
visually disabled (UK), and began his career studying modern
dance techniques, ballet, Aikido, Tai Chi Chuan, and Vipassana
meditation. He performed with the Merce Cunningham Dance
Co. from 1961 to 1965. A contributing editor to Contact
Quarterly dance and improvisation
journal, he lectures, performs, choreographs and teaches
primarily in the USA and Europe.
Chris
Aiken, assistant professor of dance, is a leading
performer and teacher in the field of dance improvisation
and Contact Improvisation. His work has evolved through ongoing
investigations of performance, learning, perception and imagination,
and has been significantly influenced through
the somatic practices of the Alexander Technique, ideokinesis,
yoga and structural integration. Chris has performed and
collaborated with many renowned dance artists, including
Steve Paxton, Kirstie Simson, Nancy Stark Smith, Peter
Bingham, Andrew Harwood, Ray Chung and Angie Hauser. He
has received numerous awards for his artistic work, including
a Guggenheim Fellowship, as well as commissions from the
Walker Art Center, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, Dance
Theater Workshop and the National Performance Network.
Asaf Bachrach has
practiced Contact Improvisation for 15 years. He has danced,
studied and has been presented in Tel Aviv, New York, Paris
and Boston. Among his more influential professors are Kirstie
Simson, Lisa Nelson, Andrew Harwood, Dieter Heitkamp and
Steve Paxton. Since 2000 he has taught in Europe, the United
States and Argentina. He is a cognitive neuroscientist
(Ph.D. MIT 2008) working on the cognitive architecture
underlying language and related capacities (music, theory
of mind and more recently, dance). Asaf met Steve Paxton
during CI36, a meeting that has profoundly inspired him and
brought about a reconceptualization of his own dance practice
and pedagogy helping him to find the potential for a bridge
between the practice of dance and the sciences.
Angie Hauser, assistant
professor of dance, is
a choreographer, dancer and teacher.
She teaches Creative Process, Composition/Improvisation
and Movement Technique. Hauser is a member of the Bebe Miller
Company (NYC) and has worked with the company as a dance
collaborator since 2000. She received a BESSIE (New York
Dance and Performance Award) for her choreographic and performance
work in the company’s piece, Landing/Place. Hauser has collaborated
with many gifted artists and leaders in the field of dance
improvisation including Andrew Harwood, K.J. Holmes, Darrell
Jones, and Kathleen Hermesdorf. She has an ongoing collaboration
with dance artist Chris Aiken creating evening length performances
in collaboration with musicians, dancers and designers. |
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