Title of Activity: The Politics of Form[lessness]: Moving toward Life, Becoming Dangerous

What is important about form? It can be grasped, held, identified, found, made, moved. It can be used. What is dangerous about formlessness? It exists without existing. It is ungraspable and out of any, but its maker’s, control. It is neither free, nor loose. In motion, it cannot be located, and yet, it can be experienced. To dance, we need both. Yet, one is loved, and the other is suspect. There are reasons why.

Formlessness threatens structures of power because its force is ungraspable. Dance, at its foundation, is politically dangerous for this same reason. In dance, the physical foundation from which human identity arises is embodied, experienced, and expressed. When that identity is in motion, it taps into its formless nature, its ability to reinvent itself. This workshop /discussion goes deep into the politics of physical/mental identity. Through dance, we discover our foundation in formlessness, relationality, and the ecological constitution of experience. We will notice how form follows attention and study the variety of attentional “handles” we use that allow us to grasp and be grasped in our social interactions. We will consider the ideological nature of identity, the “form” that allows us to progress, but by which we are bound to political and cultural agreements and the structures of power. We will take the perspective that when we teach dance, we are teaching social and cultural politics. This workshop hopes to help us reconsider identity, increase our formless potentials, and invite our dance to be ever more dangerous.
 
Short Biography: Choreographer, teacher, and theorist in the field of improvisational dance and Contact Improvisation, Nita Little, PhD. is invited to work with dancers worldwide. A dance researcher and touring artist, Dr. Little participated in the emergence and development of Contact Improvisation. She is currently Visiting Assistant Professor at the University of Florida.

 
Technical requirements - sound, moving space.
 
Studio size - no limits.