Festival

ABOUT FESTIVAL

During the 14th edition of the Warsaw CI Flow International Dance Festival we would like to invite 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 is our pleasure to invite you to a diverse, international festival with many experiences to offer. This year’s programme features somatic work, CI technique classes, and performative practices. There will also be space for labs, site-specific workshops, jams, and bodywork. All classes and scores will be facilitated by a team of practitioners, artists, and teachers from all over the world. We believe that CI creates a unique context to meet with each other and with oneself. Through the practice of movement and embodied reflection, we develop our personal resources, creativity and knowledge that go beyond the dance itself. These qualities support the inclusive nature of CI as an embodied practice, welcoming a diversity of physical and communicational possibilities. They also support a communal way of being together and promote relationships based on mutual understanding, empathy and trust. See you at MIK!

ABOUT FESTIVAL

During the 14th edition of the Warsaw CI Flow International Dance Festival we would like to invite 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 is our pleasure to invite you to a diverse, international festival with many experiences to offer. This year’s programme features somatic work, CI technique classes, and performative practices. There will also be space for labs, site-specific workshops, jams, and bodywork. All classes and scores will be facilitated by a team of practitioners, artists, and teachers from all over the world. We believe that CI creates a unique context to meet with each other and with oneself. Through the practice of movement and embodied reflection, we develop our personal resources, creativity and knowledge that go beyond the dance itself. These qualities support the inclusive nature of CI as an embodied practice, welcoming a diversity of physical and communicational possibilities. They also support a communal way of being together and promote relationships based on mutual understanding, empathy and trust. See you at MIK!

ABOUT THIS YEAR'S EDITION

Every year, we find ourselves reflecting on recurring questions: What will the festival be like this year? For whom? About what? This time, to answer these questions, we turned to our wishes, values, and basic needs. 

We want to build the Warsaw CI Flow 2023 in the spirit of inclusivity; we want the programme and the facilitation style to acknowledge and address the diversity of physical and communicational needs and abilities. We want to make space for challenges, as well as for silence, stillness and deep rest. We want to cultivate both freedom and care. We want to co-create this festival with you. We believe that Contact Improvisation awakens in us not only physical creativity, but also a unique sense of community that allows us to coexist with ease and support each other in the spirit of empathy, mindfulness and trust. 

During the festival week, we want all participants to feel physically and emotionally safe, and in this way to create a space conducive to creative experiments and transcending our images of ourselves. For these few days, we would like everyone to simply be themselves in movement, dance and conversation. We would like everyone to be seen and accepted with all the sensitivity, curiosity, uncertainty, and challenges we bring into CI. We want to give space to the art of dance and to the community practicing this unique form of movement.

Therefore, in this year’s programme, you will find somatic practices such as ‘Feldenkrais for Contact’ with Simonetta Alessandri to dive deeper into the somatic layer, ‘Joyful Techniques’ with Sebastian Flegiel to grow more confident in the physical aspects of contact, and performative practices with Jess Curtis to awaken creativity and refine our performance skills. These morning intensives will be accompanied by a series of afternoon workshops (including classes translated into Polish Sign Language), labs, single lessons, site-specific work, a long underscore practice and evening jams with live music. Most importantly, however, the festival is not just about classes; it is also a time for community, a time in ‘in-between’, which we hope you will fill with your fullest selves. The space will be waiting for you.

ABOUT THIS YEAR'S EDITION

In recent years, we have experienced many unexpected changes and difficulties. And although we look with hope at the end of the pandemic, we are already facing new challenges. As we write these words, Poland has become a temporary home for over 2 million refugees from Ukraine, and a solution to the conflict in Eastern Europe is yet to be seen. Yet, we participate in everyday acts of solidarity – sharing resources and homes, helping with day-to-day struggles and giving emotional support. And more than ever, we need our resilience, contact with inner resources, hope and faith in the possibility of change and a better future.

This year, we intend to co-create with you a festival space that allows us to feel a part of a larger community. We believe that dance can nourish our physical, mental and social resources. That the unique, multidimensional and inclusive KI community will allow us to find creative strength to build and rebuild what has been strained by recent years. Therefore, the program includes intensive workshops sourcing from somatic education, which will allow you to be aware of yourself in your body. There will also be a performance project that will invite you to collaborate in movement in a larger group. In addition, we include open classes, evening jams and work demonstrations. The festival takes place at the Mazovia Institute of Culture, providing us with a lot of shared space to rest or socialise and exchange in small groups.

The 13th edition of the festival is also the 50th anniversary of contact improvisation – half a century has passed since the Magnesium sharing prepared by Steve Paxton and his first experiments with CI at the Oberlin College in the US. Since then, CI has changed the face of dance – in terms of performance, somatic education, research practice and, above all, it has built a unique community of ci practitioners. In 2022, we invite you to celebrate the 50th anniversary of CI with us in Warsaw! We planned plenty – from the exhibition which will introduce the history and development of CI, through workshops allowing us to experience and experiment with the form, to discussions and jams letting as meet as a community.

PROGRAM INCLUDES:

PROGRAM INCLUDES:

Somatic Intensives

Intensive morning workshops exploring how different traditions of somatic education (Feldenkrais, BMC, Axis Syllabus) can support the technique of movement and CI dancing. Open to all participants, especially those who wish to deepen their understanding of movement through embodied experience.

Performance Intensive

This workshop explores the performative dimension of KI. Intended for people with more established dance practice, interested in ensemble creative work and relation with the audience. You will share the project outcome at the festival.

CI Classes

Intensive 5-day long morning workshops, some open to all levels, others intended for advanced practitioners (to choose while registering). Afternoon classes are open to all participants. You can just come.

Inclusive mini-intensive

3-day inclusive workshop with live translation into Polish Sign Language. The workshop considers individual communication and movement needs and is designed for participants new to CI and for those with years of experience.

CI kids & families

Space and time for children and their parents to co-create and collaborate through movement. Based on spontaneous play, improvisation, elements of CI and developmental movement methods. Supporting independence and self-confidence of both youngsters and oldies.

Jams

Evening jams with various flavours, including focus jam, live music evenings, blind jam. Primarily, it is a time to celebrate the diversity and resilience of the CI community. Time to meet in dance.

Conversations, discussions

We will place our practice within the theoretical context; we will discuss the topics relevant to our practice and questions about what bothers us. People involved in teaching, theory and practice will share their research on CI.

Teachers meeting

A space dedicated to exchanging experiences and designing the most creative, safe and inclusive space for people participating in the festival and introducing good practices to the community.

Conversations and lectures

During the talks, we will place our practice in the theoretical context, we will consider together the topics that are interesting to us and questions that bother us. People involved in learning, theory and practice will tell us about their research and experiences on CI.

Teachers meeting

A space dedicated to exchange of experiences, designing the most creative, safe and inclusive space for people participating in the festival and introducing good practices to the community.