Workshops and classes' descriptions
Rope Manipulation
Speaking Knots
Speaking Knots is one of the frog methods in the Rope Manipulation approach that I have developed since my Master studies at DOCH in Sweden. It consists of a series of improvisation tasks aimed at creating confined spaces of research within which practitioners can experiment freely on the aerial apparatus.
The emphasis of such exploration is to train to speak the language of knots, where knots are opportunities for pathways.
The purpose is to stimulate to think through movement developing body intelligence, as well as to encouraging the making of conscious choices and to be present and aware as we practice and explore.
With this work, my objective is to expand technical knowledge of our practice through personal experience.
Floor Rope
The focus of this work is to delve into the interplay between rope and the ground, enhancing our understanding and movement possibilities while dancing on the floor with our apparatus.
We investigate our relationship with the ground and how to use the floor as our partner, both technically and creatively, as well as researching how it transforms our movement and vocabulary.
In this process, ground and air melt are one and inform one another.
As part of it, I also share my own repertoire to give you examples of movement on the ground as well as sharing the creative processes that underpin my individual Floor Rope explorations.
Rope Manipulation
Sensing
Sensing is one of the four methods in the Rope Manipulation approach, and it brings focused attention to the body.
In this practice, the body is understood in two dimensions: the outer structure and the inner experience, linked to perception, sensation, and imagination.
In Sensing sessions, we explore movement by focusing on our articulations - the places where the body bends and connects (body knots). By initiating mobility from these points, we gain a deeper awareness of how our body moves and we can push further. This exploration not only refines proprioception but also opens new physical possibilities.
From contact, we enter a space of imaginative exploration, where perception and sensation become the guides to movement exploration.
The practice becomes a process of tuning in, adapting, and discovering movement from within.
This work is in very close connection with the ground.
Into the Science of
Loops & Lassos
This workshop is an in-depth study of loop making and the mechanics behind it, exploring how lassos emerge as an evolution of loops. Through guided tasks, participants will be invited into personal exploration through dissecting looping techniques, discovering their own pathways, and understanding how these develop into lassos. Alongside this, I will share a repertoire drawn from my own ongoing research and investigation in relation these specific tasks.
A central focus of the workshop is the Three Knots Technique, a foundational tool part of the Rope Manipulation approach. We will explore loops as spatial opportunities, spaces that can be activated, shifted, and transformed. From multiple perspectives, we will break down how loops are generated through this technique and investigate how they can evolve into lassos when conditions allow.
Moving through Weight
One of the constants on the rope is our physical presence on it aka our weight. In this workshop, we explore weight and the essential role it plays in aerial movement, using the rope as your ground.
We investigate the difference between shifting, transferring, and moving through weight, and how it can be transformed to generate movement.
We tap into Unweighting: a Rope Manipulation tool used to deliberately generate space and moments of micro-float. The sensation of effortlessness emerges from understanding that movement does not always have to come from strength.
A large focus is on listening through the body, discovering presence, and exploring the possibilities of movement on the rope. We move through the lens of weight, letting it guide our pathways, uncovering its multiple facets, and experimenting with how it shapes our connection to the rope, the body, and gravity.
Exploring Aerial Movement
This is a creative aerial movement practice focused on listening, perception, and embodied exploration. Rather than approaching movement from a dance perspective, the work is rooted in circus, emerging first from the relationship between body and rope.
Through guided improvisation, participants explore release as a quality of movement and responsiveness, both on the floor and in the air. Movement develops from individual perception and physical experience, while gently investigating the body’s multiple ways of articulating itself and challenging personal limits.
The rope is approached as an active partner: its shape, sound, and movement inform and transform how the body responds and moves. From this relationship with the apparatus, the practice expands movement possibilities, cultivating a perceptual body that listens before acting.
In the final part of the workshop, participants explore movement through the lens of music, allowing motion to arise in connection with sound while practicing somatic listening and responsive movement as guiding principles.
Partner Work
The purpose of this work is to better understand the principles necessary to move with someone in the air. The main focus of this work is to go beyond the common knowledge of duo work and push the boundaries of our knowledge, tapping into the exploration of alternative routes and the chance to generate new material.
The creative research happens through improvisation tasks aimed at stimulating participants to explore partner work, close connection between two bodies, as well as learning to communicate silently and only through our bodies, instead of verbally.
We travel through a series of exercises that stimulate to find continuous ways to give and take weight, building trust in our partner, understanding how to communicate and manipulate one another, as well as experiencing rope from another perspective.
The material proposed is the result of the investigation of Rollmeknot, a collaboration with Georgina Cassels from 2018 to 2021, Rope Manipulation and the investigation carried out with Betka Ticha since 2022.
Rolling technique
During this session I share a variety of single exercises and small sequences to help improve and better understand the art of rolling. We can focus on roll ups, roll downs, rolling on the spot, plus entries and exits into S-Wrap that I have found through my creative research.
Starting from the ground, we will gradually move onto a higher level, allowing everyone to refresh the basics while experiencing them through my lens, giving the opportunity to each participant to push their own limits.
Technique through sequences
In this workshop I share a variety of tricks and sequences that I have generated over the years through my creative methods.
All of these include technical tools such as rolling, beats, one arm, lasso and manipulation which can be extrapolated and explored as single elements and/or as part of the whole sequence a well, depending on the level.
We break them down, try them on the floor and up in the air, through a progressive process that allows participants to get a better understanding of the movement and the appropriate technique to succeed.
Writing the body
We live in a society where we learn to communicate verbally and, simply, we do not understand the language of our own body. We learn to train and perform tricks without establishing an intimate connection with ourselves and the relationship with the bodies involved in the process.
This seminar focuses on movement through the lens of writing as a method to verbalise the body.
We work on a physical sequence which, with my guidance, we gradually alter by adding layers to it. We will keep alternating writing and movement to feed off and enrich one another.
The purpose of this process is to notice the emotions and sensations embedded in our movement and give meaning to our actions.
A poetic, inmost, guided investigation to encourage awareness and discover something more about ourselves.
Rope Manipulation
Rope Experiences
Alteration and Adaptation is one of the four core methods of the Rope Manipulation approach.
It invites you to step outside conventional rope practice by altering either the rope itself or the environment in which you work. These shifts create new conditions that change how the rope moves, how your body responds, and how the relationship between the two unfolds.
This method is about breaking habits and discovering alternative ways of engaging with the rope, ways of approaching it, moving it, and moving with it. It expands your physical vocabulary and deepens your creative connection to the apparatus.
The process begins with guided tasks where I share specific experiences taken from my personal experiences. I then gradually lead you to open into personal experimentation. From these experiences, we return to traditional rope practice with new insights and possibilities.
Rope Manipulation was born from this method. There’s so much to discover simply by taking the rope somewhere it hasn’t been before.