Luke Jessop
ALEXANDROS
EL GRECO
Organic Acrobatix
Class:
Organic Acrobatix
This workshop intends to construct a self-coherent structure of practicing dance while addressing elements in all the stages of its complexity. An equal amount of attention is given to body conditioning, dance technique, acrobatic elements, the use of space and time, and the relation between the performers and performativity.
Through all the stages of the work, engagement, and awareness are challenged, by compelling the practitioners to constantly seek for connections between new and old information. The process of the class oscillates between two modes. One is to challenge ourselves to broaden the limits of our current potential and the other is to allow for the information to settle, becoming an organic part of our craft.
A coherent group dynamic is constructed throughout the practice, owing to, but also resulting in the work being based on the exchange of information, support, ideas, and input. All the while, enjoyment of the process of working with our bodies and with people is continually encouraged.
Improvisation Workshop
What do our movements say further than what they do?
How do we approach the practice of technique in a way that it extends to our creative process and to our way of performing?
What is our individual inner mo-ve for our dancing?
Through such questions, we will investigate how the engagement of our dancing body can extend from the moment of practice, up until the moment of performing. We will practice the techniques of trust and listening, allowing ourselves to read what our and our colleagues’ bodies speak, while we are performing for and with each other.
Our entry into the work will be first by creating a space which allows us to receive the impulses of the body and manifest them into movement and interaction, that way triggering an instinctual approach. By trus-ng our impulses, we allow ourselves to listen to our actions and their impact, setting the raw material which can be used to compose through our dance.
Tasks are used so as to set frameworks of exploration and create basic tools of composition. They question the use of -me and space, the quality of the relation in between performers, the way the audience is addressed, the use of the voice, as well as the way our dance is creating music or is part of it. The tasks both explore individual and group/partner work and all lead to small performances within the group. This process places us in a condition of exposure within a setting of lightness and care, that way allowing us to open physically and performatively.
Bio:
Alexandros (he/him) is a dance artist raised in Greece. Since graduating from the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance in 2017, he has been living in Brussels and working as a performer and dance maker. He is interested in the body as the place where communication happens, where, playfully, we can renew social relationships. In his look for dialogue, he is engaging in interdisciplinary collaboration learning and adapting methods and tools from other art forms into the dancing as well as challenging the classical stage format to establish direct contact between performers and audience.
He has been creating within collective structures (La Otra Familia) and has been working with Jazz and Improv musicians, making improvised shows, research sessions, and jams, with an artistic community outreach.
Over the last year, he created the group Dans Kapot (along with the band Don Kapot), which made a series of community and interactive performances. Their current project is heading towards a full-scale production with the support of Jazzlab and Kaap. His current solo work “the fall in between” has received the support of RADAR Mechelen, the Flemish Community Commission of Brussels, and the Iles Ar-st Project.
As a performer, he has participated in five productions of the company Ul-ma Vez and has also worked for Alexandrer Vantournhout and Julyen Hamilton.
He was invited to direct dance pieces for educational programs (State Dance School of Thessaloniki, Greece, Fre3 Bodies in Barcelona, Spain) and worked as an ar-s-c coach for dance creations. He teaches dance both through professional workshops in educational platforms and fes-vals across Europe and also through classes for children and communities i.e. for the Atelier Kids of Ul-ma Vez and for Plaform K.