During the 14th edition of the Warsaw CI Flow International Dance Festival, we invited the participants to reflect on the physical and creative core of Contact Improvisation, a practice referred to initially as an ‘art-sport’, and on how the principles of CI shape our community today. Somewhere between openness to the unknown, delving into one’s somatic self, and accepting challenges, there lies a space where we appreciate our uniqueness and differences, where simply sharing the experience becomes deeply interesting and engaging.
It was our pleasure to create a diverse, international festival with many experiences to offer. The Warsaw CI FLOW 2023 programme featured somatic work, CI technique classes, and performative practices. Moreover, we shared labs, site-specific workshops, jams, and bodywork practices. All classes and scores were facilitated by a team of practitioners, artists, and teachers from all over the world. One more time, CI created a unique context to meet with each other and with oneself. Through the practice of movement and embodied reflection, we supported personal resources, creativity and knowledge that went beyond the dance itself. These qualities nourished the inclusive nature of CI as an embodied practice, welcoming a diversity of physical and communicational possibilities. They also underpinned a communal way of being together and promoted relationships based on mutual understanding, empathy and trust.
The following events took place as part of the 2023 edition:
INTENSIVE WORKSHOPS
Sensing, Dancing and Performing I Jess Curtis (US/DE)
Feldenkrais into Contaktu | Simonetta Alessandri (UK/IT)
Joyful Techniques | Sebastian Flegiel (PL)
CI between technique and composition | Virginia Negru & Cătălin Diaconu (RO)
CI Labs | Adrianna Michalska (PL), Thomas Rocourt (FR), Katarzyna Dańska (PL)
Open Inclusive Practise: Spacemaking | Klara Łucznik (PL/UK)
CI WORKSHOPS
Body of finitude: Contact / basics / principles | Geraldin Acevedo Espana (CO/TH)
From Volume To Structure | Jesus Alonso (ES)
Listening: Osteothai meets Contact Improvisation | Mikis Taguchi (JP/TH)
Jam Intro | Olena Polianska (UA)
Visual Jam | Hanna Jurczak (PL)
UNDERSCORE | Zuzanna Bukowski (DE/PL/TH) & Tomasz Domański (PL)
OPEN EVENTS
Closeness In Motion: Workshop for children and carers | Katarzyna Burzyńska (PL)
Site-Specific: Beyond the scheme | Tomasz Jimmy Kowalski (PL)
Performative Evening | curators: Paulina Święcańska & Regina Lissowska-Postaremczak (PL)
Performance Jam | Jess Curtis (US/DE)