Valeria Primost

Born in Buenos Aires, Argentina, I moved to Amsterdam in February 2001 and changed for Berlin in December 2007. I dance since the age of six and make my own work since 2002. I also dance other artists inspirations, paint, draw and make photographs. My mother language is Castellano (Spanish). Daily life, working and studying language for the last nine years is English. Almost got it: Dutch. Newly learnt language: German!!.

During the year 2008 I developed different collaborations with Berlin based artists: Brenda Waite, Natalia Torales, performing at Freistil, Tanz Fabrik in several occasions.

With the musicians Julius Holtz and Butz Freytag founding the interdisciplinary collective: Lucky Dreamers, performing our works: Kissing Facts and Simple Duet at Alberto Ukebana and Tanzfabrik, a.o.

From December 2007 until December 2008 I worked on a dance solo Born in Spring, which premiered on April 26 at the Studios Ada in Berlin and continued its journey through Caracas, Venezuela (May) and Kassel, Germany.(June)

From June till September 2007 I worked for choreographer Trisha Brown, performing her pieces Floor of the Forest and Accumulations in a daily basis at Documenta 12, Kassel-Germany. www.documenta12.de

The research and performance collective Danza Nomade, was founded by me and Constanza Herrera after our interest on the body as a space of inscription of the experience of migration and different conditions of transition the body is subject to.

Since 2004 I work on the co-founded platform The Meeting Point together with musician Marcos Baggiani. It is an interdisciplinary improvisation platform which started as a laboratory at Bimhuis, Amsterdam (now continued as Monday Match). The Meeting Point developed as an international platform active now in Amsterdam, Barcelona, Helsinki, Milán and Berlin. The Meeting Point – Berlin is at the moment working as a practice and exchange platform under my direction.As well through the years I developed the nomadic version which is a platform for interdisciplinary exchange as I move from one place to another making performance experiences in the context of existing festivals like Documenta 12, Montevideo Sitiada, Impulstanz Festival, Buenos Aires Danza, Escenario Urbano, in Caracas, a.o.

Between April 2006 and May 2007 I developed The Moving Point collaborative company, including music, dance, lights and film. Stable collaborators were musicians Marcos Baggiani, Michael Fischer, Daisuke Terauchi; dancers Diana Gadish, Marisa Grande and filmmaker: Albert Elings. the pieces Lluvia, Les Chus dance and percussion duet and On the con-sequence of things, have been performed at different venues in Amsterdam. Still Moving was performed and produced by Kasteel Groeneveld Festival tusseNland on October 1st 2006, in collaboration with the Dutch filmmaker Albert Ellings. Changing Paintings was produced by Van Gogh Museum and performed in May 11th 2007 at that venue.

I have also collaborated with Magpie, music and dance company, Zoe Androutsopolou and Marcello Windolph on their piece ¨Negombwe¨, Robert Steijn and Frans Poelstra at Impulstanz Festival, Wien 2005. And performed with the dancers Katrina Brown, Lily Kiara, Katie Duck, Julyen Hamilton, the musicians Michael Fischer, Daisuke Terauchi, Michael Moore, Wilbert de Joode, Felicity Provan, Mary Oliver, the visual artists Ron Bunzl and Edgar Jansen, among others.

Teaching I have been teaching at IUDANZA, Caracas; Festival Montevideo Sitiada, Uruguay; Buitenkunst, Studio Anna Mora, Al Nour and Dansdrift, The Netherlands. SOZO dance visions school in Kassel, Germany, El Patio, Buenos Aires, a.o.

www.one-training.blogspot.com

Grants Informatie Beheer Groep, Holland, 2001-2005 / Internationalissering Fonds - AHK, 2003 / Uitnodiging op Naam – AHK, 2004 / Prakticum Generale AHK, 2004 / Dance Web Europe 2006 – Impulstanz Festival, / FAPK - NL – 2006 / Kunstenaars en co. - NL – 2006 / Kunstenaars en co.- NL – 2007

EDUCATION

I started my independent full time training in 1996 in Buenos Aires. where I studied with Marina Giancaspro, ana Maria Stekelman, Olga Ferri, Cristina Barnlis, Ana Garat, Gustavo Lesgart, and worked with Monica Fraccia, Oscar Araiz and Silvia Pritz. In 2001 I began my BA studies at the Amsterdam Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, Theaterschool at the Modern Theatre Dance and SNDO, where I graduate in June 2005.

I studied with Julyen Hamilton, Nienke Reehorst, David Zambrano, Cristina Barnils, Angellique Willkie and Sidi Larbi Chercaoui, Benoit Lechambre, Katie Duck, Mark Tompkins, Andrew Harwood, Mathilde Monnier, Martin Kilvady and Chrysa Parkinson. all of them have deeply inspired my work.

I began making photographs in 1993 when I first studied with Martin Rosenthal. Since then photography has accompanied all my creative journeys in different ways. Now getting closer to a professional practice is also feeding my video works, which began by editing dance performance registrations and its becoming now another open door for creative work.

Photographs: www.awayfromtheimage.blogspot.com Drawings and paintings: www.awayfromtheimage-drawings.blogspot.com

my short anthropology studies at the Universidad de Buenos Aires and my work as voluntary social worker in Argentina have strongly influenced my vision on art as a tool for social communication and transformation.

Constanza Herrera Sanchez


Constanza Herrera Sanchez was born in Mexico City in 1980.
She studied the degree in Dance at Universidad de las Americas in Puebla, Mexico where she danced with the Sunny Savoy Company for 3 years. Before this, she had attended a year of Medicine Studies at the National University and one semester of the Center for Choreographic Research CICO of the National Institute for Arts. She also started studying Traditional Chinese Medicine during the last year of the University.

Since 1999, she has participated in workshops and dance offerings trough Butoh with Diego Piñon at Butoh Ritual Mexicano and since 2000 she has followed workshops of Topf Technique under the guidance of Laura Ríos, with whom she has participated in several dance improvisation projects.

She did the Somatic Movement Coach Certification Programme in Amsterdam (2004-2007) at the Institute for Somatic Movement Studies and training in Body Mind Centering with Jordis Jacubczic, Rose Anne Spaldring and Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen. She studies since 2008 a Traditional Chinese Medicine Bachelor, based in Daoist Qigong and Taiji at the International Oriental College. In 2005 she received a scholarship by the Mexican Art Fund CONCACULTA to continue her studies in the ISMS.

In Amsterdam, she has followed improvisation, butoh & clown workshops with Pauline de Groot, Atsushi Takenouchi, Didier Dantois respectively and organized movement laboratories with Valeria Primost, Paula Colangelo and Juri Cainero (Caspian Hat Dance). She has participated in improvisation groups and events and performed in public spaces (F. i., I.D.E.A, Uit Markt).

The direction in dance that she has followed is based in body awareness, improvisation and the subjective experience of the changing corporal reality. The influence of Somatic techniques, Butoh, clown, puppets and Chinese Medicine are gradually being integrated in researching through the creative process of arts, well-being and peaceful communication.

Since 2007 she works with Valeria Primost in Danza Nomade, a project that integrates traveling, somatic work and instantaneous composition. Together they have visited Venezuela guiding workshops and performing. In the coming months they will participate in Mexico City and Berlin together.

In 2008, Constanza co-funded the Center for Somatic Investigation and Healing Arts with the group Cooperativa Nidopermita in Mexico City, integrating somatic work, dance improvisation, conscious eating, chinese sports, therapies and massage. Together they guide somatic movement and creativity workshops, perform and have the project The Lovning Diva (Divas Amorosas) in which the acceptance of all human qualities and the joy of dancing are shared and integrated.



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Constanza Herrera Sánchez, nació en México DF en 1980.
Estudió la Licenciatura en Danza en la UDLA, donde formó parte de la compañía Sunny Savoy por 3 años. Antes había cursado un año de la carrera de Medicina en la UNAM y el Semestre Propedéutico en el Centro de Investigación Coreográfica del INBA. Comenzó a estudiar Medicina Tradicional China durante el último año de la Universidad.

Desde 1999 ha participado en talleres de Butoh con Diego Piñon en Butoh Ritual Mexicano y desde 2000 ha seguido talleres de Técnica Topf dirigidos por Laura Ríos, con quien ha participado en varios proyectos de improvisación.

En febrero del 2004 comenzó a estudiar el Programa de Certificación como “coach” en Movimiento Somático en Ámsterdam en el Institute for Somatic Movement Studies, la cual finalizó en el verano del 2007
Desde agosto de 2004 entró al Programa de Medicina Tradicional China con base en Qigong y Taiji en el International Oriental College.
Durante su estancia en Ámsterdam ha seguido talleres de improvisación, butoh y clown con Pauline de Groot, Atsushi Takenouchi, Didier Dantois respectivamente. Ha participado en grupos de improvisación y se ha presentado en espacios públicos.

Obtuvo la beca de Apoyo para Estudios en el Extranjero de CONCACULTA para continuar sus estudios en el ISMS en 2005.

La dirección en danza que ha tomado se dirige sobretodo a la improvisación y a la expresión que surge de la experiencia subjetiva de la corporalidad cambiante, la posibilidad de transformación y exploración de las emociones en relación al organismo, influenciada por las técnicas somáticas, medicina china, butoh y clown. Integra gradualmente el interés por el bienestar y desarrollo que estas mismas técnicas promueven.

Ha dirigido proyectos de consciencia corporal e investigación a través del movimiento e improvisaciones en espacios públicos.

Ha dado talleres de Movimiento Somático en la Ciudad de México y Puebla actualmente trabaja dando sesiones privadas de MS y como coach de MS en trabajo coreográfico. También trabaja como instructora de Wudang Fitness, Bamboo Qigong y Masaje y para el Oriental College.






talleres / workshops

somos / we are



Constanza Herrera Sanchez y / and Valeria Primost

formando / forming Danza Nomade:

english below


DANZA NOMADE
es una agrupación que, desde la danza y el movimiento somático, investiga el cuerpo como espacio de inscripción y expresión de diversos procesos orgánicos, sociales y emotivos por los que este transita.

el contexto de nuestra investigación está basado en nuestro propio modo de vida en el que para subsistir y desarrollar nuestro trabajo debemos frecuentemente movernos de una ciudad a otra creando en cada lugar un nuevo hogar y vida social.

es en nuestros cuerpos donde esta experiencia se concreta y es nuestro cuerpo el que nos provee la información sobre como podemos permitir que esta vida nomade se consolide en un espacio creativo.

los proyectos de Danza Nomade están basados en la fuerte convicción de que nuestros cuerpos son el lugar desde donde podemos aportar a una verdadera transformación social.

Danza Nomade forma parte de la plataforma The Meeting Point: www.themeetingpoint-impro.com

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DANZA NOMADE (nomadic dance), is a dance/somatic movement company, researching on the body as a space where the organic, social and emotive processes are inscribed and expressed as places of transition.

the context of our research is based on our own way of living in which we must often move from one city to another in order to survive and develop our work, finding ways of creating every time a new home and social life.

our bodies are the place where this experiences concretize, our bodies are the ones providing us with the information about how we can let this nomadic life consolidate as a creative space.

Danza Nomade projects are based on the strong conviction on our bodies as the place where we can contribute to a real social transformation.

Danza Nomade is part of The Meeting Point platform: www.themeetingpoint-impro.com

performance

El cuerpo en transición
danza en duo












http://thebodyintransition.blogspot.com/

Durante nuestro encuentro en Caracas tuvimos la oportunidad de bailar juntas en la Plaza La Candelaria. Esta plaza es un punto de encuentro para diversos grupos sociales, principalmente aquellos que acuden a la Iglesia La Candelaria que se encuentra ahí mismo. Gente que duerme allí en las noches, o en los días. Niños y niñas con sus padres o solos. Personas que piden, personas que dan. Eventos culturales y políticos se pelean la atención de aquellos y aquellas que habitan el lugar cotidianamente. Es un territorio compartido y demarcado cada día según los acontecimientos, en muchos casos inesperados.
Nosotras empezamos por entender que si queríamos bailar allí teníamos dos opciones: instalar un escenario o participar de la demarcación de territorios junto a la gente y en mayor o menor medida, con las reglas del lugar.
Utilizamos el tema de la demarcación de territorio para comenzar con una danza en la que ir descubriendo pequeñas historias de nuestros cuerpos en transición.




Born in spring: preface

Nacer en primavera: prefacio

a dance solo on migration, image and frame
Un solo sobre migración, imagen y contexto


Born in spring is a project that looks at the body in a state of transition as a consequence of a constant migration. what´s the context for a life when it is not a "place"?, what´s the role of image in the creation of this context?, in the preface of this project my body speack first.

Nacer en primavera es un proyecto que mira al cuerpo en estado de transición como consecuencia de una migración constante. ¿Cuál es el contexto para la vida cuando no lo es el “lugar” donde ésta se desarrolla?, ¿ cuál es el rol de la imagen en la creación de este contexto?, en el prefacio de este proyecto el cuerpo habla primero.

http://born-in-spring.blogspot.com/

Performing:

April 26 and 27, 2008, at 20.30 Ada Studio Schönhauser Alle 73/Quartier 73, 2 HH, 1. OG 10437 Berlin - Prenzlauer Berg www.ada-studio.de

May 22 and 23 2008, Caracas Venezuela. Metro Stations Chacaito and La Paz. IUDANZA

June 21st 2008, Kassel, Germany. SOZO visions in motion.


Mas información
www.valeriaprimost.com
www.themeetingpoint-impro.com
www.danzanomade.blogspot.com

palabras / words

English under


Conferencia en Caracas, May 26th 2008

Danza Nomade

Surge como una colaboración entre Constanza y Valeria para la investigación del cuerpo como espacio de inscripción y expresión de diversos procesos orgánicos, sociales y emotivos por los que este transita.

El estudio se inicia desde el reconocimiento de nuestros propios cuerpos en estado de transición tanto espacial, como interna y a partir de allí buscamos contextos específicos que desafíen nuestra percepción tanto de nuestros cuerpos como de los cuerpos de otra gente.

La colaboración nos confronta con la necesidad de formular nuestras distintas ideas y métodos y observar la transición hacia un proceso en común a través de la reflexión y el cuestionamiento mutuos. De esta forma se amplían las posibles perspectivas sobre el tema de la investigación.

El tema principal de la investigación es el cuerpo en transición desde varias perspectivas:
-el cuerpo como un proceso en sí mismo que transita entre nacimiento, desarrollo y muerte
-el cuerpo en transición temporal y/o espacial
-el cuerpo en transición social y/o emocional

de la observación de distintas circunstancias en talleres, espacios de investigación y creación, nos surge la pregunta básica sobre cómo habitamos estas transiciones, ¿cómo vivimos el momento de la transición de una forma que nos de información útil para sobrellevar los procesos más allá del dolor, la ansiedad, el miedo o la incertidumbre u otros estados emocionales que estos conllevan?
¿Cómo estos distintos contextos de transición se afectan mutuamente?, y cómo podemos utilizar la información de un espacio, por ejemplo nuestros sistemas orgánicos internos, para equilibrar la situación en otro espacio, por ejemplo, una relación laboral…


El proyecto Danza Nomade es un contexto donde puedo integrar mi situación cotidiana de constante migración en un proceso de investigación que me permite continuar alimentando mi trabajo creativo mas allá del lugar en que me encuentro.
Más allá de ser una situación interesante y enriquecedora, el mantenerme en continuo movimiento entre ciudades y contextos sociales, es un proceso complejo que me afecta en lo personal emocional y en lo profesional ya que se reducen las posibilidades de entablar relaciones estables de colaboración creativa con un grupo único de artistas. Pero a su vez me mantiene en contacto y constante intercambio con una diversidad de realidades sociales y creativas que me da espacio para desarrollar un trabajo incluyente de esas diversidades. El desafío está en encontrar contenedores que permitan procesar la información y consolidarla en un cuerpo de trabajo que sea enriquecedor no solo para mi proceso personal o individual sino para las comunidades de las que participo durante mi vida nomade.
La colaboración con Constanza y la creación del proyecto Danza Nomade me ofrece estos contenedores y funciona como un espacio de reflexión en el cuál encontrarme con los diversos procesos, un espacio dinámico en el cual detenerme y habitar para mirar hacia atrás y luego hacia delante, varias veces, desde un presente en continuo movimiento, con la intención de interpretar y asimilar los eventos, sin encasillarlos en categorizaciones estáticas, sino comprendiéndolos como procesos.
Desde esta misma lectura de mi realidad personal intento investigar mi danza como un proceso de migraciones que afectan mi cuerpo físico, emocional e intelectual. En la búsqueda de una danza integradora e inclusiva de mi persona, el contexto espacial-temporal y el proceso creativo.

El cuerpo en transición

En el entendimiento de mi propio cuerpo en constante transición entre lugares y contextos sociales es que comienzo a interesarme por el estudio del cuerpo en transición como un concepto en sí mismo. Comienzo a reflejar mi propia situación en la observación de otras personas en situaciones de transición diversas y a preguntarme cuál es la diferencia entre una transición y un movimiento. Cómo, el saber que me encuentro en una situación transitoria, afecta mi presencia en el aquí y ahora y cómo esta presencia afecta las dinámicas del lugar en que me encuentro y la relación con otras personas. Qué sucede en el trayecto entre el entendimiento de una situación transitoria y mi sensación corporal. Cómo esta experiencia se traduce en emociones. Cómo todo esto afecta mis procesos comunicativos y mi aporte al contexto.


Salir de la imagen

En la investigación sobre cómo el cuerpo transita una danza improvisada me encontré con el diálogo entre el movimiento y la creación de imágenes y , en particular, en el diálogo entre el movimiento y la percepción de esas imágenes desde la mente o el intelecto.
En cada movimiento nuestra mente está leyendo el futuro posible o probable de ese movimiento concretado en una imagen. (este es un mecanismo casi de seguridad en el intento por anticipar cualquier peligro físico del que hay que protegerse)
Si somos conscientes de este mecanismo, podemos darnos cuenta de que pocas veces dejaremos de movernos sin concretar antes esa imagen probable que nuestra mente anticipó. Y es natural que, al saber en qué concluye nuestro movimiento, nuestra curiosidad y presencia durante el movimiento disminuyan.
Si logramos entonces, habitar con nuestro cuerpo y mente cada instante del movimiento en dirección a la imagen, también lograremos atender a o estar concientes de todas las oportunidades que nos da este trayecto para cambiar de dirección si así lo queremos.
Es decir. Nos damos la opción de elegir entre concretar la imagen o continuar en una dirección diferente.
El elegir salirse de la imagen cristalizada en la mente no significa, necesariamente, crear un movimiento constantemente indefinido e inasible, sino actualizar de manera constante nuestra presencia física, emocional y mental en cada instante del movimiento, permitiendo que las imágenes creadas adquieran una gramática propia regulada, no desde lo intelectual o el ojo externo, sino desde la conformación de nuestra anatomía y su relación en el aquí y ahora con el contexto externo y los procesos emocionales e intelectuales que suceden internamente durante la danza.
De esta forma intento un proceso en el que, a la vez de estar inmersa en el desarrollo creativo, puedo recibir las señales externas del espacio y otros cuerpos presentes para que mi danza esté integrada con la realidad del lugar y del momento, propiciando un proceso tanto estético como comunicativo.


Cuerpo público danza pública

Es un proyecto de investigación, tanto para la creación de danzas en el espacio público como para el desarrollo de un entendimiento profundo de la diversidad que existe en cuanto a formas de percibir y utilizar nuestros cuerpos.

Partiendo de la idea de que la presencia y el comportamiento de nuestros cuerpos en el espacio público colaboran con la creación de un imaginario de este espacio y con el desarrollo de su historia y realidad cotidianas; y por eso también con el desarrollo de patrones de comportamiento colectivos.

Mi interés en estudiar el cuerpo y su comportamiento en el espacio público surge de mi entendimiento del proceso creativo como un proceso de comunicación. Y de mi entendimiento del cuerpo como una herramienta básica indispensable para la asimilación de contenidos. Por lo tanto, del cuerpo como una herramienta de comunicación entre las personas, en cuanto a su potencial expresivo y receptivo-interpretativo, apelando a los procesos de resonancia kinestética, percepción sensorial y asimilación intelectual.

Como bailarina y creadora me interesa compartir mis procesos creativos con el público no en cuanto a la exhibición de un producto sino en cuanto a la creación de significados durante el evento de la performance. El público es a su vez receptivo y creativo desde el momento en que a través de la observación y la percepción de los eventos crean su propia lectura y significados.

Ahora bien, si lo que quiero es participar de un proceso de comunicación a través del cuerpo, necesito aprender sobre los posibles diversos lenguajes de mis interlocutores.
Este es uno de los motores principales de mi investigación.

El espacio público es un contenedor inagotable de información sobre cómo las personas hacemos uso del potencial comunicativo de nuestros cuerpos y de los cuerpos de otras personas en cuanto a lectores de esta información.

Si consideramos el espacio público como espacio de inscripción de valores socioculturales, políticos y comerciales, un espacio en el que conviven la diversidad de intereses de los distintos sectores de la sociedad, podemos también entender que estos valores afectan, delinean, alimentan el comportamiento de los cuerpos que habitan este espacio, a tal punto que, a su vez estos cuerpos, nuestros cuerpos, se convierten en espacio público en si mismos, en contenedores y reproductores de estos valores.
Desde esta perspectiva es que hablo yo del “cuerpo público”, teniendo en cuenta que los límites entre lo que es público y lo que no es público en nuestros cuerpos son muy difíciles de delinear, sino casi imposibles desde mi perspectiva artística…

Nuestros cuerpos son una fuente de información constante sobre el estado de las cosas en el tiempo y el espacio específicos en los que se encuentran.
Una fila de gente de pié sobre una vereda me hace pensar que allí hay una parada de bus, o alguna oficina en busca de personal, siempre dependiendo de la ciudad en la que me encuentre mi mente va a priorizar una u otra posibilidad.
Una reacción sorpresiva de un cuerpo caminando me hará pensar que este se ha tropezado y está a punto de caer, que alguien le intentó robar, o que este intentará robarme a mí, digamos: una situación de emergencia.
Con este mismo criterio se puede prestar atención a gestos sutiles, a actitudes corporales de stress, de paranoia, de relajación, que nos dan pautas sobre cuál es nuestra posición con respecto a los distintos cuerpos-personas que nos rodean.

Nuestros cuerpos son a demás contenedores y reproductores de valores en cuanto a que traen consigo una cantidad de códigos aprendidos dentro del seno familiar, en las escuelas, en las oficinas y a través de la televisión. La forma en que me visto, las palabras que uso, la gestualidad, la apertura o no apertura a la comunicación directa con ciertas personas, hasta la postura corporal, están impregnados de valores absorbidos.

Y si tenemos en cuenta el factor de la resonancia podemos cerrar el círculo reconociendo cómo mis propias acciones son repetidas casi por acto reflejo por otras personas. Y allí es que nuestro comportamiento corporal en el espacio público e incluso la “intimidad” del hogar, se convierte en un acto político: porque posee un poder de afección hacia los otros.

A través de esta lectura del medio, del espacio público y el cuerpo público es que yo comienzo mis procesos creativos en sitios específicos.
Tomando en cuenta estos procesos intento que mi danza no sea más que un acto más de mi cuerpo público. Integrando mi danza en este proceso intento que esta revele patrones de comportamiento y relaciones creadas que están tan impregnados en el día a día que todos ya hemos perdido la conciencia de ellos.
La intención es hacer visible los espacios en que aún quedan opciones, en que aún podemos elegir en qué dirección continuar. Sensibilizar nuestra atención hacia los lugares que abren alternativas para desarrollar relaciones fluidas entre nuestra realidad corporal, orgánica, emocional y el entorno en que habitamos. Transformando los espacios de transición, en espacios habitables y por lo tanto, en espacios que ofrecen opciones.

El método en que me apoyo para revelar estos patrones es mayormente intuitivo y depende de la sensibilidad desarrollada a través del entrenamiento corporal específico así como de herramientas compositivas aprendidas, no solo en el ámbito académico teatral sino también en la observación de situaciones callejeras y avisos publicitarios.


Valeria Primost
Caracas, 26 de Mayo de 2008
Iudanza





Danza Nomade

Is a collaboration between Constanza Herrera and Valeria Primost for the research on the body as a place where diverse organic, social and emotional processes transited by it are inscribed and expressed

The study begins from recognising our own bodies in a state of spatial and internal transition. We search specific contexts to challenge our perception of our own bodies and those of other people.

The collaboration faces us with the need to formulate our different ideas and methods, and to observe the transition towards a common process through reflexion and questioning. This way, the possible perspectives on the research subject, are widened.

The main research subject is the body in transition in its diverse senses:
- the body as a process in itself, which transits through birth, development and death.
-the body transiting time and space
-the body transiting social and emotional processes

From the observation of diverse circumstances in workshops, research and creation processes our main question arises: how do we inhabit these transitions, how do we live the moment of transition so that it provides us of useful information to inhabit it with and beyond the pain, anxiousness, fear, uncertainty and other intrinsic emotional status? How the different transitional contexts affect each other? And how can we use that diversity to inform the different contexts towards an interesting balance.

Danza Nomade is a context were I can integrate my daily situation of constant migration in a research process which allows me to continue feeding my creative work beyond the place and social context I inhabit.
Although an interesting and enriching situation, to keep moving between places and social contexts, is a complex process that affects me emotionally and professionally, since it reduces the possibilities of developing stable creative collaborations with a unique group of artists. It is at the same time a way of staying in contact with the diversity of social and creative realities, which gives me the chance to develop a work that is inclusive of these diversities. The challenge is to find containers that would allow me to process the information and consolidate with it a body of work to enrich my personal and individual process as well as the communities I participate of as a nomad.

The collaboration with Constanza and the creation of Danza Nomade offers me those containers and functions as a space of reflexion where I can meet the different processes. A dynamic space where to pause to look “back” and then “forth” several times while inhabiting a present in constant movement, with the intention to interpretate and digest the events, without enclosing them in static categorizations, but understanding them as a processes.

From this same reading of my personal reality I Intend. To investigate my dance as a process of migrations that affects my physical, emotional and intellectual body. In the search for a dance which integrates and includes my person, the time-space context and the creative process.
The body in transition

Within the understanding of my own body in constant transition between places and social contexts my interests begins on the study of the body in transition as a concept in itself. I begin reflecting my own situation on other people’s transition processes and to wonder what the difference is among a transition and a movement.
How, the Fact of knowing my situation as transitory, affects my presence here and now and how this presence affects the dynamics of the place and social context I inhabit. What happens in the way among the understanding of a transitory situation and my body’s sensation? How does this experience is translated in emotions. How does this all affect my communication processes and what I can offer to the context.


Away from the image

In the research on how the body transits an improvised dance, I met the dialogue among movement and image creation and, in particular, the dialogue among movement and the perception of image from the mind or intellect.
In each movement our mind is reading the possible or probable future of that movement concreted in an image (a natural security mechanism in the intention to anticipate any physical danger we need to Project from)
If we are conscious of this mechanism, we can realize that few times we will pause our movement before we have brought that probable, anticipated image, into actuality. And it is natural that, when knowing how our movement concludes, our curiosity and presence during the movement decreases.
If we manage then, to inhabit with our body, mind and emotions, each instant of the movement towards the image, we will also be able to be aware of all the opportunities given by the trajectory to change direction whenever we want it. We gain choice.
To chose moving away from a crystallized image in our mind doesn’t mean, necessarily, to create a constantly undefined movement, but to constantly actualize our physical, emotional and mental presence through each instant of the movement, allowing the created images to acquire an own dramatics, which is not regulated from intellect or the external eye, but from the anatomical construction and its relationship here and now with the external context and emotional and intellectual processes taking place during the dance.
In this way I intend a process in which, while inhabiting the creative development, I can receive the external signs from the space and other present bodies, towards a dance integrated with its space and time, allowing for both an aesthetical and communicative process.

Public body public dance

Is a research project, for both the creation of dances in the public space and the development of a deep understanding on the existing diversity in ways of perceiving and making use of our bodies.
I depart from the idea that the presence and behaviour of our bodies in the public space collaborate with the creation of an imagery of this space and with the development of its history and daily realities and, therefore, with the development of collective behaviour patterns.


My interest on the study of the body and its behaviour in the public space comes from my understanding of the creative process as a communication process and from my understanding of the body as a basic essential tool for the assimilation of contents. Therefore, from the body as a tool for communication among people, in terms of its expressive and receptive-interpretative potentials, appealing to kinaesthetic resonance, sensory perception and intellectual assimilation processes.

As a dancer and creator it is my interest to share my creative processes with the audience, not in terms of the exhibition of a product, but in terms of meaning creation during the event of the performance. I consider the audience as both receptive and creative, since they create their own readings and meanings of the event perceived.

Now, if what I want is to participate of a communication process through the body, I need to learn the diverse possible languages of my interlocutors. This is one of the main motors of my research.

The public space is an infinite container of information on how we people make use of the communicative potential of our bodies and those of the other people as readers.

If we consider the public space as a space where socio-cultural, political and commercial values are inscribed; a space where the diversity of interests from different sectors of society live together, we can also understand that this values affect, delineate, feed the behaviour of the bodies inhabiting this space so far as they become public space themselves, they become containers and reproducers of these values.

From this perspective is that I speak of the “public body”, having in account that the limits of what is public and what is not public in our bodies are very complex to delineate, if not almost impossible form my artistic perspective.


Our bodies are a constant source of information about the state of things in the specific time and space they inhabit.
A line of people standing in the walk side makes me thing there stands a bus stop, or and office in search for workers, always depending on the city I am in my mind will prioritize one possibility or another.
A surprissing reaction of a walking body will make me think that he or she is about to fall, or that something urgent has occurred: an emergency situation.
With the same criteria we can pay attention to subtle gestures, to body attitudes of stress, paranoia, relaxation, which will give us information about our own position in relation to the diverse bodies-persons we are sharing a specific space with.

Our bodies are also containers and reproducers of values as they bring by an amount of learned codes within the family life, schools, offices, TV… The way I dress, the words I use, the gestures, the openness or rejection to direct communication with certain people, the body posture, they are all learned or absorbed values.

And if we take in account the resonance factor, we can close the circle recognizing how other persons repeat my own actions almost as a reflex. And there is where our body behaviour in the public space and even in the “intimacy” of the family home, becomes a political action: because it possess the power of affecting other people

Through this reading of the context, of the public space and the public body, I begin my creative process in specific sites
Taking these processes in account I intend my dance to be one more action of my own public body. Integrating my body in this process I Intend to reveal behaviour patterns and created relations, which are so much, impregnated in the daily life that we all have loose awareness of them.

The intention is to make visible the spaces where there are still options, where we still can choose the next direction. To open our attention towards the alternatives given by the places for the development of fluent relationships amongst our bodily, organic, emotional realities and the context we inhabit. Transforming the spaces of transition in spaces to inhabit and therefore option offering spaces

The support method to reveal these patterns is mainly intuitive and depends on the sensitivity developed through specific physical training as well as on the composition tools, learned not only in the academia theatre context, but also in the observation of street situations, publicity techniques and political speeches





Valeria Primost
Caracas, 26 de Mayo de 2008
Iudanza

fotografia / photography


Ciudad Camina

by Valeria Primost

http://www.flickr.com/photos/awayfromtheimage/sets/72157604200936330/

is a photographic project on the body in the public space. based on body edition through the repetition of a spacial frame. the photos are taken from the inside of one of the oldest and most traditional cafes in calle Corrientes, Buenos Aires.
Buenos Aires, December 2006. La Giralda, Av. Corrientes y Uruguay
the contrast between inside and outside, casualty and control, passing by or staying in the street, are just some of the themes touched by this project.
you can see it at:Link

agenda / calendar

  • 2009
  • Danza Nomade - AmsterdamBerlin TOUR
  • from May 17 till June 7 Valeria and Constanza are meeting in Amsterdam and travelling to Berlin, to continue working on their project "the body in transition" which will be performed at FREISTIL, Tanzfabrik Berlin on June 7th at 18.00
as a part of the visit Constanza will be teaching Somatic Movement during the Freistil Training week: June 1st till 5th at Tanz Fabrik from 10.00 till 12.00

http://www.tanzfabrik-berlin.de/profitraining.php

  • 2008

  • March 29 and 30, Workshop: "Away from the Image" a dance research on image and action through instant compossing. with Valeria. Studio Ada: www.ada-studio.de
  • April 26 and 27 , performance: "Born in Spring: preface", solo by Valeria Primost. Berlin, studio Ada : www.ada-studio.de
  • May 19 till 31 Caracas, IUDANZA - Venezuela - workshops and research
  • May 22, Chacaito metro station, performance "Nacida en primavera", Caracas
  • May 23, La Paz metro station, performance " Nacida en primavera", Caracas
  • May 24, Plaza la Candelaria, performance "el cuerpo en transición", Caracas
  • June 9 till 22, Workshop: technique and dance of the places.with Valeria. at Sozo visions in motion, Kassel, Germany. http://www.sozo-vim.de/
  • June 20, Performance Born in Spring, Kassel, Germany
  • September 22 till 30, Danza Nomade meeting in Berlin

espacios que hospedan / hosting spaces

FREISTIL , TanzFabrik Berlin www.tanzfabrik-berlin.de

Instituto universitario de danza
, Caracas Venezuela. www.iudanza.gob.ve/

Ada studios, Berlin Germany. www.ada-studio.de

The Meeting Point platform. www.themeetingpoint-impro.com

Sozo visions in motion, Kassel, Germany. http://www.visionsinmotion.de/

investigación / research

solo en inglés por ahora


Public body public dance

Is a research project, for both the creation of dances in the public space and the development of a deep understanding on the existing diversity in ways of perceiving and making use of our bodies.

I depart from the idea that the presence and behaviour of our bodies in the public space collaborate with the creation of an imagery of this space and with the development of its history and daily realities and, therefore, with the development of collective behaviour patterns.

My interest on the study of the body and its behaviour in the public space comes from my understanding of the creative process as a communication process and from my understanding of the body as a basic essential tool for the assimilation of contents. Therefore, from the body as a tool for communication among people, in terms of its expressive and receptive-interpretative potentials, appealing to kinaesthetic resonance, sensory perception and intellectual assimilation processes.

As a dancer and creator it is my interest to share my creative processes with the audience, not in terms of the exhibition of a product, but in terms of meaning creation during the event of the performance. I consider the audience as both receptive and creative, since they create their own readings and meanings of the event perceived.

Now, if what I want is to participate of a communication process through the body, I need to learn the diverse possible languages of my interlocutors. This is one of the main motors of my research.

The public space is an infinite container of information on how we people make use of the communicative potential of our bodies and those of the other people as readers.

If we consider the public space as a space where socio-cultural, political and commercial values are inscribed; a space where the diversity of interests from different sectors of society live together, we can also understand that this values affect, delineate, feed the behaviour of the bodies inhabiting this space so far as they become public space themselves, they become containers and reproducers of these values.

From this perspective is that I speak of the “public body”, having in account that the limits of what is public and what is not public in our bodies are very complex to delineate, if not almost impossible form my artistic perspective.

Our bodies are a constant source of information about the state of things in the specific time and space they inhabit.

A line of people standing in the walk side makes me thing there stands a bus stop, or and office in search for workers, always depending on the city I am in my mind will prioritize one possibility or another.

A surprissing reaction of a walking body will make me think that he or she is about to fall, or that something urgent has occurred: an emergency situation.

With the same criteria we can pay attention to subtle gestures, to body attitudes of stress, paranoia, relaxation, which will give us information about our own position in relation to the diverse bodies-persons we are sharing a specific space with.

Our bodies are also containers and reproducers of values as they bring by an amount of learned codes within the family life, schools, offices, TV… The way I dress, the words I use, the gestures, the openness or rejection to direct communication with certain people, the body posture, they are all learned or absorbed values.

And if we take in account the resonance factor, we can closet he circle recognizing how other persons repeat my own actions almost as a reflex. And there is where our body behaviour en the public sauce and even in the “intimacy” of the family home, becomes a political action: because it possess the power of affecting other people

Through this reading of the context, of the public space and the public body, I begin my creative process in specific sites

Taking these processes in account I intend my dance to be one more action of my own public body. Integrating my body in this process I Intend. To reveal behaviour patterns and created relations, which are so much, impregnated in the daily life that we all have loose awareness of them.

The intention is to make visible the spaces where there are still options, where we still can choose the next direction. To open our attention towards the alternatives given by the places for the development of fluent relationships amongst our bodily, organic, emotional realities and the context we inhabit. Transforming the spaces of transition in spaces to inhabit and therefore option offering spaces

The support method to reveal these patterns is mainly intuitive and depends on the sensitivity developed through specific physical training as well as on the composition tools, learned not only in the academia theatre context, but also in the observation of street situations, publicity techniques and political speeches

Valeria Primost

Caracas, 26 de Mayo de 2008

Iudanza

taller/workshop: cuerpo público danza pública / public body public dance

por Valeria Primost

(english below)

Es un taller de investigación teórico práctico en el que a través de la observación de cómo los cuerpos interactúan en el espacio público desarrollaremos diversas perspectivas sobre el cuerpo como medio de comunicación en la vida cotidiana.
Este taller tiene el objetivo de crear un espacio de estudio sobre la forma en que el cuerpo es definido en el ámbito social en un intento por entender el cuerpo desde el cual el público percibe una obra coreográfica.
El taller busca también acentuar la diversidad de perspectivas y de concepciones en que el cuerpo es definido, dando espacio para la investigación individual y la formulación de ideas personales para su uso en futuros procesos creativos.
Estos espacios estarán combinados con momentos de intercambio y discusión para motivar la claridad y desarrollar lenguajes que permitan comunicar las diversas perspectivas.
La herramienta principal para la observación es el cuerpo perceptivo e intuitivo para luego utilizar y formular la información absorbida en las practicas. Las prácticas consistirán tanto en la observación como en la intervención activa a través de performances diseñadas por los y las estudiantes con el apoyo de la coordinadora del taller.

It’s a research workshop where through the observation of the bodies interacting in the public space we will develop diverse perspectives on the body as a communication tool in daily life.
This workshop’s aim is to create a study space about the way in which the body is defined in the social ambit with the intention to understand the body from which the audience perceives choreographic work.
In this workshop I also want to accentuate the diversity of perspectives and conceptions in which the body is defined, giving space for the individual research and the formulation of personal ideas for its use in future creative processes.
These spaces will be combined with moments of discussion and exchange to encourage clarity and to develop languages which allow to communicate the diverse perspectives.
The main tool for observation is the perceptive and intuitive body that will help later to use and formulate the information absorbed in the practices.
The practices will include observation as well as intervention, through performances designed by the students with support of the workshop coordinator.

taller/workshop: danza de los lugares / dance of the places

por Valeria Primost

(english below)

Un taller de composición donde el punto de partida es la elección de un lugar, un espacio público, en el cual exploraremos diversas formas de inspiración para la creación de una danza única de ese lugar y de ese o esos cuerpos que lo habitan.
Desde la percepción intuitiva de la memoria del lugar a través de nuestros cuerpos hacia la interacción de nuestros cuerpos con ese espacio, iniciaremos un proceso creativo en el que el detalle mas pequeño y nuestra percepción singular de este pueden ser elementos definitorios de una danza concreta que re-significará el espacio dándole nuevas historias y cargas emotivas a través del proceso creativo.


A composition workshop where the departure point is the election of a place, a public space, in which to explore diverse forms of inspiration for the creation of a dance, unique to that place and to those bodies inhabiting that place.
From the intuitive perception of the place’s memory through our bodies towards the interaction of our bodies with that space, we will initiate a creative process in which the smallest detail and our singular perception of it can be distinctive elements if a concrete dance that will re-signify the space by giving it new stories and emotive loads through the creative process

taller/workshop: técnica personal / personal technique

The personal dance technique training is based on the understanding of technique as an ever-developing and transforming process for improvement.
The work starts with the unlocking of the different systems of the body towards a fluent dialogue among them to be able to develop an inclusive and integrated technique. This part of the practice is developed through floor exercises of rolling, spiraling, stretching, rocking, bouncing as well as sliding pushing and pulling basics of floor work. The voice channel is opened through breathing, yawning, talking, singing the movements to loosen up locked areas from the inside. The unlocking aims to open up the perception of the body as a whole and avoid the work through habits in movement and thoughts.
A second moment of the practice, starts with the exploration and research of dancing abilities through given tasks. The different systems of the body: organs, sensory motor, nervous system, muscle, bone, skin, seen as a material for work will be challenged in relation to time and space input like weight, volume, inertia, speed, centrifugal and centripetal forces. Meeting actions like turning, balancing, jumping falling, lifting, swinging, and so on. In this way the different structures of the body will be approached through specific challenges and studied in detail individually and collectively.

A third part of the practice is the use of skillful movement abilities for the making of dances. A specific combination of movements and images will be given towards a dance, which will be approached in different ways through the earlier individual processes of the materials.
To this can be added the flexible work with music in the practice of applying the combination to life or recorded music. The focus then will be placed on the ways of approaching music to enhance and enrich our technique.

The different moments of this practice can be included in one workshop or treated separately following the needs of the specific group of dancers.The work is informed by my training in the whole diversity of modern and postmodern dance techniques, martial arts, Alexander technique, somatic movement, body mind centering, contact improvisations. And greatly influenced by my studies with Mathilde Monnier, Benoit Lechabre, Julyen Hamilton, Chrissa Parkinsson, Martin Kilvady among others

taller/workshop: composición instantánea interdisciplinaria / interdisciplinary instant compossing

por Valeria Primost

(english below)

Este curso tiene como objetivo introducir a músicos y bailarines en el estudio y práctica de la composición instantánea interdisciplinaria.
Proporcionar herramientas para la exploración y desarrollo de nuevas relaciones entre dichas disciplinas, alentando la flexibilización de fronteras entre estas y todas las disciplinas artísticas, para el enriquecimiento mutuo y la multiplicación de infinitas posibilidades de colaboración.
Durante el curso se estudiarán:
Formas de percepción entre disciplinas: visualización de la música y sonorización de la danza . Diferencias esenciales y puntos de encuentro. Diálogo y desarrollo de un código común
Nos acercaremos a estos temas a través del estudio grupal e individual de los principios técnicos esenciales para la composición instantánea:
Focos: individual y sonoro-espacial. Constelaciones. Memoria: auditiva, espacial, visual, kinestética. Percepción sensorial: auditiva, visual, táctil-kinestética. Composición: dinámicas, cualidades, material, duración y desarrollo. Relación con el público: Lectura radial y creación de significado. Relación con el espacio específico.



The aim of this workshop is to introduce musicians and dancers in the study and practice of interdisciplinary instant composing.
Through it we will work on the development of tools for the exploration of new relationships among the different disciplines, encouraging the softening of boundaries for the common enrichment and multiplication of already infinite possibilities for the collaboration.
Contents:
Perception forms among disciplines: music visualization and audible dance. Essential differences and common places. Dialogue and development of a shared code.
We will approach these themes through group and individual study of the essential technical principles for instant composing:
Focus: individual and spatial. Formations: duets, solos, trios… . Memory: auditory, spatial, visual, kinesthetic. Sensory perception: auditory, visual, kinesthetic, tactile.
Composition: dynamics, qualities, material, duration, development.
Relation with the audience: radial reading and meaning creation. Relation with the specific space.

taller/workshop: movimiento somático




This training is inspired in Somatic Movement, Body Mind Centering and Butoh principles and methodologies. The classes will include a warm-up based on increasing awareness of the contents and structures of three different organizational zones within our body: the pelvic area, the chest area and the head. This will be followed with creative and mirroring exercises and concluded by presenting short solo improvisations. Each day a different theme will be presented, so it would be ideal to follow the 4 days to come to a more integrated experience. All the work will be supported and enhanced by live interactive music rooted in somatic research.

taller/workshop: movimiento somático y composición instantánea /somatic movement and instant composing

por Constanza Herrera y Valeria Primost

(english below)

Partiendo de un calentamiento desde el movimiento somático a través de los diversos sistemas, tejidos y patrones orgánicos, iniciaremos un recorrido desde los espacios internos que dan origen y soporte a variadas dinámicas de movimiento y habilidades perceptivas y emotivas para continuar con la exploración de los procesos de comunicación con el mundo exterior que hace posible el desarrollo de la composición instantánea como proceso creativo preformativo.
Para esto propondremos temas a desarrollarse durante el día entero del taller que nos ayuden a comprender las relaciones entre estos dos espacios aparentemente distantes, descubriendo los procesos de identificación de nuestro cuerpo interno con el espacio en que este habita y construye a través de su percepción.
Cómo los diversos sistemas orgánicos que conforman nuestro cuerpo pueden proporcionarnos información perceptiva que nos permita tomar decisiones compositivas?, cómo el espacio construido a través de nuestras decisiones compositivas pueden proporcionarnos información sobre nuestros sistemas internos y nuestra forma personal de utilizarlos?
Temas a desarrollar que pueden asociarse de formas múltiples son por ejemplo:
- piel y tejido conectivo como soporte de la percepción del volumen del espacio y el volumen del cuerpo como herramientas compositivas
- interacción dinámica con otros cuerpos como medio de reflexión sobre nuestro ser emotivo y procesos glandulares

de esta manera se desea integrar al ser y a su producción artística, dando herramientas para la articulación fluida entre ambos y posibilitando un espacio creativo tangible y claro.



Starting from a somatic movement warm-up through a range of systems, tissues and organic patterns we try to find sensations which can originate and support different movement dynamics, new ways of perceiving and experiencing emotions.
Then we continue with an exploration of exterior communicative processes using our environment. This gives way to the development of instantaneous composition as a creative, performative process. To achieve this goal we will present themes developed during the workshops which help us to find a link from the internal biology to the external communication. We will research the processes in which we perceive our body and how we identify with it in relation to our environment.
How can the organic systems that shape our body create perceptive information which allows compositive decisions and how can the space constructed by these compositive decisions give us information about our internal systems?
Examples of themes to develop throughout the worshops:
• skin and connective tissue as support for the perception of the volume of the space and the body as a compositive tool
• dynamic body-to-body interaction as a tool for reflection on our emotions related to glands
Using this method, we aim to integrate the individual and his/her artistic production process by offering a clear and tangible creative container and the tools to stimulate a more fluent relation and interaction with him/herself.