We’re very excited to bring you a series of weekly weekend movement workshops this month — exploring different modalities of and entry points into embodied practices guided by a variety of movement practitioners and artists. Find more info on each session, the lovely instructors, and how to register on our website. Looking forward to moving with you!
Movement Through Improvisation with Scout Nankin
Sunday, May 5, 6–8PM
@ Studio A Dance, Oak Room:
2306 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Cost: Donation based, pay what you can. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Max participants: 15
A guided improvisation movement class open to all, whether you’re a beginner, fist timer, dancer, mover or groover, the class will incorporate meditation, embodiment tasks and improvisation. This class is an open movement space for all people to find deeper connections with their embodied selves.
Scout Nankin (they/them) is a Los Angeles born, Queer Movement Artist working as a choreographer, dancer, teacher, and intimacy coordinator in film, theater, fine art, and fashion. Through surreal performance and installation their work sets out to explore the human experience. They strive to understand the contradictory existence of one’s relationship to the current socio-political climate. They are passionate about creating environments where consent, communication, and trust are the building blocks of Artistry. They hold a B.A. from the Rambert School of Ballet and Contemporary Dance in London and their work has been showcased in venues and institutions across the UK and US. They have choreographed work and danced for individuals and companies such as Saddlers Wells, Somerset House, and Saatchi Gallery, Anna-Leana Krause, Autre Magazine, Compulsory Production Company, Take Care Magazine, Heavy Boots, Ugly Duck, Magnus Westwell, and Christopher Bruce. Scout currently leads movement classes that employ guided improvisation techniques, aimed at making the dance space accessible to all.
Embodied Agency: Liberating Our Choices with Cait Ference-Saunders
Saturday, May 11, 6–8PM
@ Studio A Dance, Magnolia Studio:
2306 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Cost: Donation based, $10 suggestion, but pay what you can. No one will be turned away for lack of funds.
Max participants: 12
Join trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator Cait Ference-Saunders, TCTSY-F for an evening of community learning and non-coercive, body-based exploration. We’ll begin by claiming our practice space as our own and developing a definition of trauma and agency for ourselves. We will then explore a yoga practice that centers your experience and offers you the opportunity to move on your own terms. There will be a time to reflect about the experience individually and as a group. Participation in the group discussions is always optional, as you feel comfortable.
All bodies and abilities are welcomed and affirmed. There will be no hands-on adjustments. We will have yoga mats and blankets for those who need them. You are welcome to bring your own as well. Please bring a journal (or another reflective tool like paper/coloring pencils) and any other items that would feel supportive to you (blanket, socks, water, snacks etc).
TCTSY (Trauma Center Trauma Sensitive Yoga) is a clinically studied modality of yoga facilitation that centers the choices, desires, and voices of participants.
Cait Ference-Saunders (she/hers) is a trauma-sensitive yoga facilitator, RYT-500, and community storyteller. As a practitioner and trauma-survivor, she knows first hand the realities of a fragmented relationship to self and the wide spectrum of life experiences that undermine individuals’ connection to their own bodies and agency. She believes that humans heal together; and providing space for folks to explore their own relationship to self and build body-trust is foundational to birthing a more compassionate world.
Trans* Movement Sharing Circle with cypress masso
Sunday, May 19, 6–8PM
@ Feminist Center for Creative Work:
1800 S. Brand Blvd, Suite 111, Glendale, CA 91204
Cost: Free
Max participants: 7
Masks required 😷
Join a small group of GNC, trans*, and otherwise expansive peers for a co-held space to share and learn about the movement practices we enjoy most and why we engage with them. A movement practice could be a team sport, specific exercises, breathwork, dance, yoga, or anything else that connects you to your body. This group will use a listening circle format where everyone has equal space to share and be heard. Participants will be required to mask while indoors.
cypress evelyn masso (she/they) is a person, facilitator, educator, technologist, and artist. As a facilitator, cypress (co-)creates spaces that work to undo hierarchies while holding warmth, vulnerability, and heavy feelings. She has previously facilitated workshops with organizations like UCLA, Write/Speak/Code, the Feminist Center for Creative Work, the Processing Foundation, and Tiny Tech Zines. Originally from Shawnee land (southeastern Ohio), they currently live on Kizh land (Los Angeles) and like to talk about mixed identities, the Los Angeles River, and all the ways you can be outside.
Body Memory with Leah Zeiger
Sunday, June 2, 6–8PM
@ Studio A Dance, Oak Room:
2306 Hyperion Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90027
Cost: Free
Max participants: 25
The Body Memory Method is a lens through which we can view, explore, or question our lives as a whole – our relationship to our body or to others, our memory, our approach to work, friendships, love, etc. The practice is best approached through movement, as we are attempting to open a portal of conversation between our conscious selves and our bodies, and the language our bodies speak is movement. Therefore, Body Memory workshops feature movement practices led by Leah, which involve very open ended guidance that is designed to be fully accessible to individuals with all ranges of physical abilities. The workshop will also allow space for personal and communal reflection and questioning.
The Body Memory Method is founded on four guiding principles:
- My body is a knowledgeable being / My body’s knowledge doesn’t just come from my experience – it has its own intellect.
- My body’s number one goal is to survive, and number two goal is to be free of pain / Everything my body does has these two goals in the forefront of intention.
- My body is endlessly and unconditionally forgiving and empathetic / My body doesn’t hold grudges.
- My body is the only thing that allows me (my conscious self) to experience the world / My relationship with my body has a defining impact on how I experience the world.
The Body Memory Method is designed to be accessible for anyone with a body. I find that having journals or paper and writing utensils on hand is very helpful as many participants take to writing during reflection periods.
Leah Zeiger is a choreographer, dancer, and activist based in Los Angeles. As a survivor of a teenage abusive relationship, Leah’s work is largely derived from her lived experience as well as embodied research in the survivor community. Leah is the founder of The Sunflower Project – a nonprofit organization that educates young people on sexual violence and relationship abuse and empowers survivors to tell their story through artmaking. Leah’s methodology – Body Memory – invokes somatic principles, improvisational scores, and body-based research to explore the ways in which our bodies hold memory and how those memories shape our life experience. She has been commissioned to choreograph and present her work by entities such as the National Domestic Violence Hotline, the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, the Los Angeles Contemporary Dance Company Choreographer’s Lab, and more. She will be presenting work in the summer of 2024 at Highways Performance Space and the Odyssey Summer Dance Festival.