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.