Andrew de L. Harwood & Nancy Stark Smith – Photo: Rafal Nowak
Andrew and group in workshop – Photo: Paak Dgzevan
Photo: Paula Zacharias
Compositional Awareness in Contact Improvisation
Intensive with Andrew Harwood (CA)
Contact improvisation offers us a container for the practice of non-verbal communication, of expanded awareness, and for creative expression while allowing what is unexpected to emerge. As we ground ourselves in the core principles of Contact Improvisation and focus on the dynamic subtleties of touch, tone and weight, we will expand our awareness to include space, time, image, gesture and design through duet, trio and ensemble dancing. Seeking a quality of attention that shifts from self to other, to the environment and the ever-changing atmospheres in the room, we will consider how a lightly held compositional awareness and feeling can support our efforts to connect, find meaning when we are dancing, and engage with innovative possibilities for individual and collective improvisation. This work can be viewed not only as a means for creative expression but as a process for developing our capacity to collaborate and build a community that holds space for each ind
Biography
Andrew de Lotbinière Harwood (Montreal, CA.) is currently celebrating his 50th anniversary as an internationally recognized pioneer of contact improvisation (CI) and a master teacher/performer in both real-time composition and CI. For over half a century he has dedicated himself to the research, development, education, collaboration and dissemination of these rigorous artistic practices as sophisticated movement disciplines and performing art forms.
Throughout his teenage years and into his early 20’s Harwood dabbled with gymnastics, athletics, team sports, yoga, martial arts and meditation. He began his dance career quite unexpectedly at the age of 23 in 1975 when he began taking improvisation classes with Linda Rubin in Vancouver, which one year later led to his introduction to CI. Already at this early stage, he knew he had found his calling, which was to immerse himself in the practices of contact and compositional improvisation.
He first studied and then taught and/or performed CI with (among many others) Steve Paxton, the instigator of Contact Improvisation and his closest associates and collaborators Nancy Stark Smith, Nita Little, Kurt Siddal and Daniel Lepkoff. While constantly deepening his roots in contact improvisation he also pursued other dance interest in solo and ensemble compositional work, as well as dancing for the companies of Marie Chouinard, Jean-Pierre Perreault, Jo Lechay, Joint Forces and Fulcrum, as well as the improvisational dance collectives Discovery Bal, The Echo Case and The Improvisational Movement Fund.
Formerly founder and artistic director of AH HA Productions (2000–2014) his work has also evolved through an abundance of collaborative performances around the globe with many renowned artists such as Chris Aiken, Ray Chung, Peter Bingham, Kirstie Simson, Julyen Hamilton, Lisa Nelson, K.J. Holmes, Alito Alessi, Karen Nelson, Benno Voorham, Benoît Lachambre, Marc Boivin and Lin Snelling to name a few. His journey continues to expand through the development of consciousness, various investigations of perceptual awareness, as well as a keen interest in design and composition in everyday life as in his artistic endeavors.
On the home front in Montreal, Andrew has been a guest teacher with the world-renowned companies of Marie Chouinard, O’ Vertigo Danse, Le Cirque du Soleil, Les Sept Doigts de la Main, and Toronto’s Dance Makers. He has also shared his enthusiasm and knowledge with hundreds of students at l’École de Danse Contemporaine de Montréal, Concordia University, l’Université du Québec à Montréal and The National Theater School of Canada. Still passionate about teaching, he transforms his training into a personal language, which he has shared throughout the world since 1977.
Andrew was awarded the Canada Council of the Arts Jacqueline Lemieux Award in 2000.
I was first introduced to Contact Improvisation by Nancy Stark Smith in 1976 during a week-long intensive in Vancouver, Canada. My first encounter with Steve Paxton came a few months later in 1977 when he came to Vancouver with the group called Re: Union on their yearly west coast Canada/USA tour. This seminal group was comprised of CI founder Paxton and his closest collaborators (Nancy Stark Smith, Nita Little and Curt Siddall). I had the great opportunity to travel along the west coast to study with Steve and Re: Union in 1977 and 78. In 1979, Steve initiated an important CI project in Vancouver called Current Exchange which brought together many of the numerous American and Canadian teachers and performers of CI at the time to exchange, research, share teaching methods and perform together during which time, I had the good fortune to perform with Steve and many others. In 1982 this chance arose again when Steve initiated a 2-week performance festival at Dance Space in New York City to mark the 10th anniversary of CI. One year later in 1983, I was again fortunate to perform with Steve and others in Montreal. Subsequently during the 90’s and 2000’s I studied and performed with Steve on a few occasions at the yearly and oldest CI Jam called the Breitenbush Jam in Eugene, Oregon which Steve attended regularly for many years. I count my lucky stars to have been so blessed to learn from and perform with Steve over the years.
