Movement Workshops
All the workshops are now full, but you can still register your interest on the online booking form if you would like to be placed on the waiting list
Please click on the title of each workshop for full abstracts. Some movement workshops will run concurrently with panels during the conference so please check the programme before reserving a place. Participants should wear comfortable non-restrictive clothing and soft, flat shoes or bare feet as preferred.
Due to their popularity we have had to limit attendance to a maximum of two workshops per delegate
Workshop 1 - Thursday 22 April from 9.15 to 10.15am and 13.30 - 14.30pm at Hulme Hall
The Embodied Brain – Facilitating Movement Learning through Mirror Neurons led by Glenna Batson
In this one-hour workshop, participants will experience and discuss the phenomenal qualities of embodied learning through movement. Participants will learn simple movement sequences, both goal-directed functional movement, as well as more abstract or gestural (dance) movement. No experience in dance or any other movement training is necessary.
Workshop 2 - Thursday 22 April from 9.15 - 10.15 and Friday 23 April from 13.30 - 14.30 at Hulme Hall
Modalities of Kinesthetic Empathy in Dance Therapy led by Marianne Eberhard-Kaechele
This workshop will introduce the developmental scheme of mirroring modalities, theoretically and through movement demonstration. These modalities include medial-oceanic, modal, cross modal, marked and parallel mirroring, as well as countermovement, deferred imitation, contrasting, variation and complementary behaviours.
The symptoms of various mental health problems will be discussed and particpants will be shown how these may be caused by inadequate mirroring behaviour of primary caretakers in childhood. By the same logic, possible interventions for adult therapy will be discussed.
Workshop 3 - Thursday 22 April from 9.15-10.15am and Friday 23 April from 08.00 to 08.45am at the Whitworth Art Gallery
Mirroring and Embodied Subjectivity led by Dr Bonnie Meekums
A key concept for this workshop is intersubjectivity. Participants will explore a range of movement exercises and consider to what extent these offer an embodied experience of ‘mutual recognition’, or the experience of being experienced by the other at the same time as experiencing them and ourselves as distinct ‘subjects’ rather than objects.
Participants will engaging in shared movement and work with a series of partners. Partner exercises will include: breathing together; walking together and simple contact improvisation.
Workshop 4 - Friday 23 April from 10.45 to 11.45am and 12.15-13.15pm at Hulme Hall
From Small Talk to Sense Making led by Emilyn Claid
This workshop explores the affects of empathic relational practice within a creative group process. The underlying focus is to appreciate how devising methods used by choreographers and performers affect not only the ‘what’ but the ‘how’ of performing, and in particular the relationships between performers and between performers and spectators.
Drawing on the phenomenological practice of presence, stillness, observation and enquiry, we are seeking the ‘open question’- that frees up a space between seeing, meaning and interpretation, allowing us to enter each other’s stories with awareness and respect of difference.
Workshop 5 - Friday 23 April from 13.45 - 14.45 at Hulme Hall
The Use of Iyengar Yoga and Image Schemata in Movement Improvisation led by Maria Kapsali
Based on research into the use of yoga in actor training and theatre making, this workshop will focus on the kinesthetic empathy that can be developed among the members of a group during movement improvisation.
The aim of the workshop is to use the IN OUT schema and its initial exploration through yoga poses as a reference point according to which the participants can gain access to each others’ movement during the last phase of the improvisation. In this manner the session will attempt to enhance kinesthetic rapport among the participants and enable them to relate to each other on the ground of a commonly shared embodied structure.
Workshop 6 - Friday 23 April from 15.45-16.45 at Hulme Hall
Attentional focus as a tool for movement research and improvisation led by Dr Guido Orgs
The aim of this movement workshop is to transfer the principle of attentional shift to the improvisation of movement and into a performance context. Participants will explore the effects of attentional focus on movement as well as its impact on the observer.
Participants will particularly look at everyday movements such as walking and examine how execution as well as observation of such movements depends on the attentional focus during execution of the movement. Throughout the workshop participants will be asked to switch between the roles of performer as well as observer to experience attentional shifts from both perspectives.