Education in Dance and Somatics – Course Information

Below you find more detai­led infor­ma­tion on sub­jects cove­red in dif­fe­rent areas of the education:

Regu­lar Weekly Classes

Works­hops

Special Pro­jects

Work-Based Lear­ning And Inde­pen­dent Stu­dy Periods

Regular Weekly Classes

Con­tact Impro­vi­sa­tion (CI) (Tues­day afternoon)

A soma­tical­ly orien­ted new dance form that explo­res the pos­si­bi­li­ties of moving toget­her with one or more others whi­le sha­ring a moving point of con­tact. In the first semes­ter, the emp­ha­sis is more on deve­lo­ping tech­nical skills and in the second semes­ter — on how to dance toget­her as a group. Abi­li­ty to par­tici­pa­te ful­ly in the group prac­tice does not depend on tech­nical skill level.

Aims — to acqui­re the skills to dance with each other in ISLO and in the wider world con­texts, to strengt­hen deve­lop­men­tal move­ment skills, to beco­me com­for­table wor­king in clo­se con­tact with others.

Bene­fits — builds trust in one­self and others, helps to learn one to move in con­tact with the other, teac­hes non-ver­bal dia­lo­gue skills, offers an expe­rience of equa­li­ty in human communication.

Deve­lo­ping Self-Know­led­ge Through Move­ment And Dance

Clas­ses reflec­ting on indi­vi­dual and group lear­ning proces­ses on dif­fe­rent levels — crea­ti­ve process, body-mind process, know­led­ge of dance. How the mate­rial pre­sen­ted during the cour­se rela­tes to participant’s ear­lier educa­tion, expe­rience and futu­re plans. The­se clas­ses are based on met­hods of dance-move­ment the­ra­py, pro­fes­sio­nal work super­vi­sion and trans­for­ma­ti­ve pedagogy.

Aims — to be more awa­re about one­self and one’s influence in group situa­tions, both par­tici­pa­ting and lea­ding, to be able to find ways to use dance and move­ment in one’s own work in various situations.

Bene­fits — to strengt­hen one’s pro­fes­sio­nal iden­ti­ty and to achie­ve ways to see more pos­si­bi­li­ties in work. To work with the­se same princi­pals with dif­fe­rent groups

Aut­hen­tic Move­ment (AM) (Fridays/Module 4/20220, Thu afternoon/2022–2023)

A soma­tical­ly orien­ted dance form that gives time to expe­rience and stu­dy inner impul­ses to move through care­ful lis­te­ning to one­self. It also explo­res how we obser­ve and interpret the move­ment of others. AM will be int­ro­duced by a one-week works­hop in the first modu­le and it will then con­ti­nue throug­hout the year as a regu­lar weekly practice.

Aims — to beco­me fami­liar with the prac­tice, to pro­vi­de a regu­lar prac­tice in which to inte­gra­te and process the who­le cour­se throug­hout the year.

Bene­fits — abi­li­ty to lis­ten to one­self and others, dee­per unders­tan­ding of one­self and awa­re­ness on how one reads one’s own and other’s movements.

Workshops Covering The Following Subjects:

Con­tact Impro­vi­sa­tion (see abo­ve for desc­rip­tion) — works­hops are offe­red to int­ro­duce the form and explo­re how the form can beco­me a group practice.

Aut­hen­tic Move­ment (see abo­ve for desc­rip­tion) — a works­hop is offe­red to int­ro­duce the form.

Move­ment Explo­ra­tion And Analysis

Explo­ra­tion clas­ses address the ques­tion of how to dance. Explo­ra­tion is clo­se­ly allied with tra­di­tio­nal con­tem­po­ra­ry dance tech­nique in that it sup­ports expan­sion of the indi­vi­dual’s move­ment voca­bu­la­ry. Unli­ke tra­di­tio­nal con­tem­po­ra­ry dance tech­nique, howe­ver, explo­ra­tion is aimed towards unfol­ding a per­so­nal move­ment voca­bu­la­ry rat­her than lear­ning only given move­ment mate­rial. We inclu­de Tra­ger Move­ment®, expe­rien­tial ana­to­my and deve­lop­men­tal movement.

Aims — to deve­lop fami­lia­ri­ty with soma­tic forms inclu­ding deve­lop­men­tal move­ment, expe­rien­tial ana­to­my, Tra­ger Move­ment® and others.

Bene­fits — to deve­lop gene­ral skills of research through wor­king with one’s own move­ment in rela­tions­hip to other people and the sur­roun­ding envi­ron­ment, to recog­nize and expand one’s own move­ment vocabulary.

Move­ment And Dance Improvisation

Impro­vi­sa­tion clas­ses address the ques­tion of how to make a dance. Impro­vi­sa­tion is clo­se­ly allied to com­po­si­tion and cho­reo­grap­hy in that it explo­res tools that can be used to make a dance for one or more people. Here we explo­re dance as an art form and the place of choice making in crea­ti­ve process. In sha­ring the dance we make with others, it addres­ses issues of pre­sen­ta­tion and per­for­mance. Besi­des making art, impro­vi­sa­tion also leads to wider awa­re­ness and pers­pec­ti­ve to see pos­si­bi­li­ties in any kind of spon­ta­neous dia­lo­gues in various situations.

Aims — to be able to impro­vi­se dance alo­ne and with others, to be wil­ling to be seen and see others, lear­ning to read the pre­sent situation.

Bene­fits — awa­re­ness of spon­ta­neous choice making proces­ses on many dif­fe­rent levels, applica­tion of impro­vi­sa­tio­nal skills in a wide varie­ty of situa­tions: dance making, art making, teac­hing, wor­king life, per­so­nal life — the abi­li­ty to lis­ten and act.

Crea­ti­ve Process In Dance And Art Making

The who­le year is a crea­ti­ve process itself and stu­dents are encou­ra­ged to take res­pon­si­bi­li­ty for their own progress through this. During the year the­re will be seve­ral short pro­jects whe­re stu­dents will crea­te work alo­ne and with others. Throug­hout the year the­re is an emp­ha­sis on dia­lo­gues and sharing.

Aims — to be able to enga­ge in, show the results of and talk about one’s own crea­ti­ve process; to be able to recei­ve feed­back from others and work with it; to be able to give con­struc­ti­ve cri­ticism to others; to see how the who­le group can learn from each other through crea­ti­ve process; to beco­me clea­rer about one’s own crea­ti­ve process.

Bene­fits — the­se skills can be applied to any crea­ti­ve process whet­her it is explicit­ly crea­ti­ve as in making an artwork, or in other situa­tions such as crea­ting and lea­ding pro­jects, groups, clas­ses and works­hops or other wor­king life situations.

Group Faci­li­ta­ting and Pedagogy

Group faci­li­ta­ting and peda­go­gy are based on con­struc­ti­vist and trans­for­ma­ti­ve lear­ning theo­ries. Soma­tic approach and embo­di­ment is inte­gra­ted to social peda­go­gy approach. The skills in group faci­li­ta­ting are based on reflec­tion of the indi­vi­dual and group lear­ning process, and of the group process. In dia­lo­gical lear­ning the pre­sent lear­ning situa­tion is used as lear­ning mate­rial as well as the pre­vious expe­riences of the stu­dents. Con­ver­sa­tion, jour­na­ling, self-reflec­tions and pro­ducing student´s own fra­mework are part of the process. The­re will be dif­fe­rent faci­li­ta­ting, lea­ding and assis­ting situa­tions throug­hout the year both insi­de the own group and in wor­king prac­tice elsew­he­re. The peda­go­gical approach under­lies all clas­ses and workshops.

Aims — to learn to reflect and unders­tand one’s own and the group’s lear­ning process and group process itself, to beco­me fami­liar with group process phe­no­me­na and dia­lo­gical peda­go­gy, to be able to lead a group through a process.

Bene­fits — it inc­rea­ses the abi­li­ty to recog­nize one’s own skills and influence in par­tici­pa­ting and lea­ding groups — to build up your per­so­nal teaching/ faci­li­ta­ting routines.

Dance Move­ment The­ra­py (DMT)

In DMT, dance and move­ment are used in a process which furt­hers the emo­tio­nal, cog­ni­ti­ve and phy­sical inte­gra­tion of the indi­vi­dual. DMT effects chan­ges in fee­lings, cog­ni­tion, phy­sical func­tio­ning and beha­vior. In the works­hops we stu­dy some principles and met­hods of dance/movement the­ra­py (DMT) in order to sup­port self-know­led­ge clas­ses, the lear­ning process and unders­tan­ding of pedagogy.

Aims — to beco­me fami­liar with principles and some met­hods in dance/movement therapy.

Bene­fits — build up self-know­led­ge that can sup­port one´s stu­dying and wor­king with dance and lea­ding groups.

Move­ment And Technology

Tech­no­lo­gy is a power­ful tool. In Decem­ber 2018 the­re were 4.1 bil­lion Inter­net users in the world. In this moment more than a half of the world’s popu­la­tion is con­nec­ted to the inter­net and com­mu­nica­te through it. It seems rele­vant to learn how to use it rat­her than being used by it. Fami­lia­rizing one­self with tech­no­lo­gy could enable one to express one’s artis­tic ideas or gain new tools to pro­mo­te one’s work. The body as a star­ting point and move­ment expe­rience as a pers­pec­ti­ve, this works­hop intends to open a discus­sion sur­roun­ding the topic “real x vir­tual” and “pri­va­te x public”, giving par­tici­pants an oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with speci­fic object of vision, in the space, in a group, explo­ring the rela­tion between soma­tics, move­ment, video, audio and/or other media. Sha­ping a fra­me in an audio and/or video for­mat could be an alter­na­ti­ve to explo­re what is its rela­tion with pre­sent and digi­tal arts.

Aim — to give par­tici­pants an oppor­tu­ni­ty to expe­rience and explo­re the poten­tia­li­ty of tech­no­lo­gies fra­med trough an embo­died vision of poe­tic image.

Bene­fits — to learn to use tech­no­lo­gy in rela­tion with own inte­rest or own pro­fes­sio­nal aspect of it

Special Projects & Presentations

Int­ro­duc­to­ry Stu­dent Presentations

At the begin­ning of the first Modu­le The par­tici­pants will be asked to make a 30–45 minu­te pre­sen­ta­tions to the group on a sub­ject which they see as rela­ted to their coming year’s stu­dy (or the modu­le they are par­tici­pa­ting to). Pre­sen­ta­tions can be in the form of a lec­tu­re or semi­nar, a taught class, a per­for­mance toget­her with some expla­na­tion of the crea­ti­ve proces­ses behind it, or in any other form that suits. This can ser­ve as an oppor­tu­ni­ty for the stu­dent to int­ro­duce them­sel­ves and their inte­rests to the group. Stu­dents star­ting their stu­dies on modu­les 2, 3 or 4 will pre­sent in the begin­ning of the modu­le they are joi­ning the group

Move­ment Research with presentation

Par­tici­pants will spend time on a move­ment research pro­ject. Par­tici­pants will be given advice on how to work toget­her to sup­port each other in this process. At the end of the pro­ject they will make a pre­sen­ta­tion to the group sha­ring their crea­ti­ve thin­king and process. The move­ment research pre­sen­ta­tion demon­stra­tes ideas that have been wor­ked through and may inclu­de com­po­si­tion, ins­tal­la­tion, video, mul­ti­me­dia, spo­ken word, site-speci­fic work, etc. (Par­tici­pants who wish to deve­lop their move­ment research into per­for­mance or art work will have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to do so during the work-based lear­ning periods — see below)

Fra­mework Pre­sen­ta­tion in the end of the who­le-year education

Par­tici­pants will be requi­red to sub­mit short accounts or reflec­tions of their expe­riences and lear­ning proces­ses at the end of each semes­ter. The reflec­tions are being made avai­lable to the teac­hers and fel­low par­tici­pants. In addi­tion to this, par­tici­pants are requi­red to trans­form or supple­ment this mate­rial in some way for pre­sen­ta­tion to the group on the the­me of “crea­ting own fra­mework or sty­le to work” after Modu­le 4. It can inclu­de reflec­tion of the past year” and plans and visions of the futu­re — this could invol­ve crea­ting addi­tio­nal mate­rial, pho­tos or illustra­tions for pre­sen­ta­tion in the form of a book, artwork or ins­tal­la­tion; or the crea­tion of a live per­for­mance, class, video or mul­ti­me­dia presentation.

Pre­sen­ta­tions after work-based lear­ning and inde­pen­dent stu­dy periods (see the more detai­led infor­ma­tion below)

Work-Based Learning & Independent Study Periods (in between the modules)

In between the modu­les the­re will be work-based lear­ning and inde­pen­dent stu­dies. Period can inclu­de group faci­li­ta­tion, art pro­jects, par­tici­pa­to­ry and com­mu­ni­ty art pro­jects or per­so­nal deve­lop­ment pro­jects. Period can be spent in your/any wor­king place, com­mu­ni­ty, associa­tion etc. It also can de done by rea­ding lite­ra­tu­re and kee­ping up own move­ment research and/or par­tici­pa­ting in ISLO open works­hops or other works­hops elsew­he­re. The­se periods from two weeks to one month are spent wor­king on a pro­ject that sup­ports participant´s deve­lop­ment in their cho­sen field. This work may be under­ta­ken alo­ne or in groups.

ISLO will, as much as is pos­sible, sup­port par­tici­pants in fin­ding sui­table wor­king situa­tions. The stu­dents from the group can also sup­port each other in fin­ding oppor­tu­ni­ties and col­la­bo­ra­tions. For par­tici­pants remai­ning in the Joen­suu area, it will be pos­sible to have men­to­ring ses­sions with the head teac­her Eli­na Iko­nen, par­tici­pants who work/study away from Joen­suu can do that onli­ne. The inde­pen­dent stu­dies must take place wit­hin the calen­dar weeks allot­ted in the sche­du­le, or during stu­dents’ own time. On retur­ning from wor­king prac­tice and inde­pen­dent stu­dying, time will be given for a pre­sen­ta­tion to the group and/or for inte­gra­tion to the modu­le contents.

Aims — to inte­gra­te the soma­tic met­hods in the wor­king life, to learn to com­mu­nica­te with wor­king envi­ron­ments, to crea­te own sty­le to learn and to work and unders­tand the diver­si­ty in wor­king styles/

Bene­fits — crea­ting network of col­la­bo­ra­tions and wor­king opportunities