Developing an Approach to Practice and Self-Knowledge

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It’s been a long time since I updated this blog. To be honest, I didn’t have that much to say, so I was quiet. Lots of stuff happened though: I moved apartments, went back to school, and took an epic 4-month trip to the USA this summer. Now it’s fall, I’m back in Berlin, and I find I’ve something to share.

A bit of context: I’m back in school to earn my MFA (Masters of Fine Arts) in Dance at The University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA. It’s a low-residency program so I only need to physically be there for the summer term, and in fact, next year the summer term will probably be in Montpellier, FR (exciting!!!)! School continues nonetheless through the fall and spring semesters, meaning that I am still very much in intensive school mode! In what way? I’m reading books and meeting with my study group to discuss them, working on my professional portfolio, learning Photoshop and InDesign, and meeting one-on-one with a “thinking partner” (aka mentor) to help me design and execute an independent study project. Which brings me to-

The independent study project aka subject of this post!

Developing an Approach to Practice and Self-Knowledge

For a long time I have wondered: what is my physical practice? What themes do I want to explore, and how do I approach them in the dance studio? This 12-week workshop series is for people who are asking these or similar questions and are curious to imagine and experiment with possible answers.

The format of the class is: warm-up through physical improvisation and partnering/touching, do a writing exercise, do a movement score, and possibly write some more. Each week we will practice different scores, so it is not necessary to commit to all 12 workshops in order to join.

This series is intended for choreographers, dancers, musicians, and other artists who wish to develop an approach to practice and self-knowledge.

Sundays 17:00-18:30
26 September-12 December
Heilehaus e.V.
https://heilehaus-berlin.de
Cost is FREE

Space is limited so please RSVP by emailing nicolajoy@gmail.com more than 2 hours before the start of class.

I taught the first workshop of the series last Sunday and it was really special! It helped me gain more specificity around my motivation for teaching this and what I want out of it.

I’m teaching this course because:

  1. I am personally interested in developing an approach to practice and self-knowledge as it relates to my creative process;

  2. I want practice making and leading a creative movement workshop; and

  3. I want to be in studio space and physical practice with others outside of the context of either a dance class or contact jam.

It is also a requirement for school, but I could have done my independent study project about literally anything! This workshop is what feels interesting, helpful, and generative.

And this is only my introductory post! I will try to write a weekly blog post with descriptions of the exercises we do in the hopes that they help, inspire, or interest others. So email me to sign up for a class (or 12!), stay tuned for more (soon!), and have a beautiful day.

Nicola Bullock