Play-Fight by Formless Arts

Dancing Play-Fight, we confront our fear of falling. We support each other to succeed not through strength or speed, but through non-resistance and tensegrity. We manage challenges not by overpowering, but by opening and softening to the presence of each other, and to the flow of gravity.

My name is John and I love to support people's joy.

This Play-Fight practice is close to my heart and deeply influential in my life.

I treasure gentleness, boldness and honesty. PlayFight helps me embody these values.

Authentic Movement

When movement, feeling and seeing come together, there is healing. Authentic Movement is a self-directed dance where a mover with eyes closed and their witness holds space for something that has been hidden inside to move to the surface. Without analysis, direction or judgement this practice is powerful, gentle, and transformative.

When movement, feeling and seeing come together, there is healing. Authentic Movement is a self-directed dance where a mover with eyes closed and their witness hold space for something that has been hidden inside to move to the surface. Without analysis, direction or judgement this practice is powerful, gentle, and transformative.

Loop & Line

In CI we are often encouraged to turn away from words and negotiate space through a purely physical language. But words can do so much more. In this lab participants are empowered to progressively test the potential of multi-disciplinary improvisation, through glitching poems and partnered witness scores.

Shaun Hill is a poet, yogi, and movement artist mapping the shifting mysteries of the earth body. He’s the author of warm blooded things (Nine Arches Press) and recently completed an Arts Council DYCP project exploring what improvised movement with living systems can teach us about the ongoing climate crisis.

Tango & Contact: Embodying the in-between

This workshop will focus on using movement techniques from Argentine Tango and Contact Improvisation to explore how the spaces between bodies are alive with possibility. Often misunderstood as a violently passionate dance Tango has connection at its heart and is full of the tenderness and surprise of an improvisatory practice. Sometimes, the moment before we touch is the most exciting, building the tension and the anticipation of a connection creates energy that can be drawn on to produce an inspirational dance between people.

Traditional gender roles haunt the Argentine Tango, but in this workshop, we will explore the in-between as a queer space where anyone can become anything, leading and following will flow in and out of each other and be a matter of non-verbal communication and building trust rather than gendered expectations. Embodying clear roles in the dance, however, will also give the experience of how inhabiting difference can create understanding and mutuality as we shift between perspectives. Argentine Tango is a social dance with cultural references to nostalgia and longing – we will bring these into the practice and dance in a playful and relaxed way while experiencing the possibility of connection.

Dr Ruth Pethybridge is a mover, a dancemaker, a mother, and a writer, she loves to dance with other people. She is a dance researcher, Senior Lecturer in Dance and an experienced facilitator in community settings. Ruth's research interests centre on the politics of participation - she is passionately curious about the ways in which dance practice intersects with social justice. Ruth has been dancing Argentine Tango on and off since 2008 before developing the 'barefoot' approach with dance partner and co-parent Becalelis to shed some of the hierarchies of traditional Tango and connect it to her love of contact improvisation.

Brazilian Forró Partner Dance

An introduction and all you need to dance this intimate, lighthearted, easy-to-learn and gentle partner dance from the northeast of Brazil.

Julia's classes are light and welcoming, starting with the basic rhythms and steps and moving on to more complex techniques to get a real feel for this beautiful and sensual dance. Everyone welcome - No skills or partner required!

Julia (the one in yellow) has been teaching Brazilian Forró for over 16 years as part of London's most popular Forró night - "Forró Family".

She has more recently expanded her offerings to incorporate elements of other movement practices as she shares her passion for moving connections in a variety of welcoming and refreshing ways. She has undertaken many dance training programmes over the last 20 years including a year-long self-enquiry through Moving Soul, Ecstatic Awakening teacher training, Dance Medicine Facilitator training, Counselling and more.

Blindfolded Blues Dancing

Meet the music and meet your partner with your sense of touch and rhythm in a workshop designed to help you feel the beat deep inside and connect through another. When we can do this we relax and experience a playful joy of expression and unison.

No prior experience is necessary. You don't have to wear a blindfold if you don't wish to. Your safety and comfort is paramount. All welcome.

Neil is an avid dancer and once he overcame his internal nervousness and discovered the joy of partner dance he's been on a mission to help others do the same.

Human Animal - From Earth To Sky

An ecstatic dance journey with a long slow flow warmup, and sounds that help your body yield, soften and roll. From here the beat touches us our body and the ground. Inviting us up to meet life, the beat and our tribe. From the intimate nature of being with the earth, to landing in as our expression to life and our dancing friends.

Jamus has spent most of his life dancing on one sort of dance floor or another. He has a rich music library with many tastes from techno through ethnic world beats and loves mixing the worlds of electronic with acoustic sounds from around the world. Jamus cut his teeth playing music through his work with Lee Bolton and their Embodied Presence Classes. Jamus also teaches contact improvisation, Somatic dance and anatomy classes and Somatic Yoga. He is a sight-impaired member of The Touchdown Dance Company.