SET MATERIAL PRACTICE – Workshop with Renate Graziadei & Abraham Iglesias Rodriguez

The workshop begins with a warm-up in which we explore concepts and aspects of various anatomically based movement systems. It prepares the body and mind to move in a logical, detailed and precise way, while maintaining and developing each individual’s own expression. We work on efficient body alignment as a foundation for movement. As the warm-up becomes more physically demanding, we train different muscle groups, connections and actions, working with gravity as our partner.

We then approach a set movement material from our production Joyful Failure as an opportunity to explore a personal perspective and interpretation within the framework of the material provided. The aim is not to reproduce the material as accurately as possible, but to develop a personal approach to it and explore our own possibilities as dancers within the material.

The given movement material provides a framework within which we can explore individuality and personal expression. We investigate how the material can be transformed, interpreted and made our own through the individual body. Starting from the unique qualities and characteristics of each body, we explore the logic and structure of the material. Through repetition, integration and different forms of interpretation, we develop a personal relationship to it.

We dance the material in different constellations and repeatedly bring it into dialogue with ourselves and with others. In this way, a shared learning process emerges in which we not only learn the material, but continually experience it anew, question it and explore it from different perspectives.

Photo: Phil Dera