INTENSIVE A
Foundations, Techniques, Scores
Melecio Estrella
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Begin Again
We will open the first day of the intensive coming as we are to greet the ground, each other and the space with tender bold improvising. We will listen for each others’ listening, apply force, ride spirals, deal with momentum, thwart expectations and put the fun back in fundamentals of contact improvisation. There will be surprises.
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Melecio Estrella (he/him) is a director, dance artist and educator based in Oakland, CA. Committed to advancing equity, access, environmental and social justice, Melecio believes dance- and art-making play a vital role in the health of individuals, communities and societies.
Melecio has been dancing with BANDALOOP since 2003. In 2011 he became the compay’s Education Director and in 2015, the Associate Artistic Director. His recent work includes Tidal Constellations (2019) performed at the National Art Gallery of Malaysia for international arts and culture dignitaries at the Summit of Arts Councils and Cultural Agencies (IFACCA) and FLOOD (2020) at the opening of the Momentary in Bentonville, AR. The same year in 2020, he was appointed by founding Artistic Director Amelia Rudolph to succeed her as the new Artistic Director. His BANDALOOP artistic milestones include making dances on the cliffs of Tienmen Mountain in the Hunan province of China; Art and About in Sydney, Australia; The Africa Cup in Libreville, Gabon; The Barents Spektacle in Kirkenes, Norway; and the JFK Centennial at The Kennedy Center, Washington, DC.In addition to his work with BANDALOOP, he co-directs the dance theater company Fog Beast and is a longtime member of the Joe Goode Performance Group. His choreographies have been commissioned by Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, the San Francisco Opera Center, Dancers’ Group, Headlands Center for the Arts and numerous universities around the US. He is a 2018-2019 recipient of the Gerbode Special Award in the Arts, and a 2017/18 Leadership Fellow with the Association for Performing Arts Professionals (APAP).
Kristen Greco, CMTSE, SEP
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Begin Again
We will open the first day of the intensive coming as we are to greet the ground, each other and the space with tender bold improvising. We will listen for each others’ listening, apply force, ride spirals, deal with momentum, thwart expectations and put the fun back in fundamentals of contact improvisation. There will be surprises.
Kristen Greco (she/they) has been a practitioner in the movement and healing arts field for over 25 years. She is a Luminous Awareness Practitioner & Trainer, Advanced Bodyworker, Somatic Movement Educator, and Somatic Experiencing® Practitioner. Kristen specializes in addressing physical, emotional, developmental and intergenerational trauma. Her work also addresses injuries, chronic pain, and structural and energetic imbalances.
The modalities that she draws from include Social / Cultural Somatics, Craniosacral Therapy
NeuroMuscular Reprogramming, Postural Assessment, Movement Rehabilitation / Pilates
Body-Mind Centering, Energy Medicine / Qi Gong, Attachment Theory & Character Styles
Improvisational Movement / Devised Theater Processes, Mindfulness & Awakening Practices.
Kristen's foundation is in Orthobionomy® which has its roots in Osteopathy. She has a certificate in Somatic Education from Moving on Center in Oakland, and is certified as an Advanced Conscious Bodyworker through Alive and Well! Institute of Conscious Bodywork in Corte Madera, CA. She is a graduate of the Luminous Body School of Integral Energy Medicine and is a Master Luminous Practitioner.
In her late teens Kristen was deeply influenced by her experiences on the Dineh land in Arizona where her heart and mind were opened by teachings from the indigenous elders, as well as by elders on Aboriginal lands in Australia. Here she landed inside of the animism within deep ecology and cultural ecology perspectives which have fueled her practices, perceptions, activism, and teaching ever since. She has been greatly impacted by her meditation trainings at the Spirit Rock meditation center with Jack Kornfield and Dr. Rick Hanson & Dr. Richard Mendius (co- authors of Buddah's Brain), Lama Tarchin Rinpoche (Dzogchen) at Pema Osel Ling, Khedrupchen Rinpoche (Ngöndro), Loch Kelly (Effortless Mindfulness), and Master Mingtong Gu (Qi Gong).
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Kristen is a former teaching artist and co-director of an intergenerational dance company at the University of San Francisco and often can be found dancing in experimental performance projects. She directed, performed and toured internationally with The Carpetbag Brigade Physical Theater Company from 2002 - 2011.
Brenton Cheng
CLMA, CMT-SE, MSME
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Sweet Gravity
With the ground established and the air opened, the second day will explore the intuitive, dynamic forming and un-forming of support structures within a dance. We’ll play with giving partial and sometimes full weight in a variety of positions, as well as bridging between solo, duet, and group improvisation.
Brenton Cheng is a teacher, performer, and director of movement-based performance,
as well as a core faculty of Integrated Movement Studies Laban/Bartenieff certification program and adjunct faculty at the University of San Francisco. In addition to directing his own work, he has performed with internationally-acclaimed Contraband, Zaccho Dance Theater, Angus Balbernie, Kim Epifano, Jo Kreiter & Flyaway Productions, Megan Lowe Dances, and many others, at such places as Jacob's Pillow, Bates Dance Festival, and the Festival d'Avignon, France. He teaches contact improvisation, Laban/Bartenieff Movement Studies, and somatically-based performance skills to professional and non-professional movers in classes and workshops around the world.
Megan Lowe
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Elevating Connection
Building on our grounded foundation and dynamic support from Days 1 and 2, Day 3 will take us into the exhilarating realm of lifts. We'll explore how to create and move through lifts with trust, clear communication, and body mechanics. Participants will practice giving and receiving weight with confidence, discovering the balance between effort and ease. We'll experiment with various lift techniques, ensuring safety and mutual respect, as we elevate our improvisational dialogues to new heights. By the end of the day, dancers will have expanded their toolkit for dynamic, airborne movement within contact improvisation.
Megan Lowe (she/they) is a fierce female dancer, choreographer, performer, aerialist, singer-songwriter, filmmaker, teacher, and administrator of Chinese and Irish descent creating work in the San Francisco Bay Area, situated on unceded Ramaytush Ohlone land. With an affinity for dynamic places and partners, her creations through Megan Lowe Dances explore complex identities and experiences by tackling unusual physical situations and invent compelling solutions, opening up the imagination to what is possible.
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Megan has performed with Flyaway Productions, Lenora Lee Dance, Dance Brigade, Scott Wells & Dancers, Lizz Roman & Dancers, Kambara + Dancers, Epiphany Productions, and more. Megan is a UC Berkeley Alumni with degrees in Psychology and Theater, Dance, & Performance Studies, where she currently works as the Program Associate and teaches masterclasses focused on contact improvisation, dynamic partnering, creative movement, and release technique principles. She is a Teaching / Choreographing Artist for Joe Goode Performance Group, Bandaloop, and Flyaway, and she has also taught for Kristin Damrow and Company, Bodies of Empowerment, Athletic Playground, West Coast Contact Improvisation Jam, the Finnish Hall, InterKinected, Shawl-Anderson Dance Center, and KULARTS, amongst others. Megan’s process thrives off of collaboration, prioritizing creating relationships of respect, generosity, and gratitude. She harnesses this culture of magnanimity as a teaching artist, and leads dance classes/workshops all over the Bay Area, for organizations, schools, universities, and dance festivals, serving movers of all different ages, experience levels, body types, races, cultures, and socio-economic statuses—building community and connection.
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With a movement aesthetic ranging from subtle to explosive, Megan has an affinity for dynamic/kinetic movement, site-specificity/space-interaction, and contact improvisation/partnering—always searching for something or someone to interact with. Singing is also a passion of hers, she enjoys integrating movement and sound, and she composes music for her own works. In addition, she finds love and comfort in athletic and daring movement, floor work, inversions, aerial dance, rock climbing (5.12d/V7 peak), Ultimate Frisbee, teaching, board game/video game playing, and kitty loving. Megan is always on the lookout for more performance, teaching, and administrative opportunities to continue growing in the field of performance arts and as a human being.
René Alvarez
Intelligent Surfaces and Sensational Structures
We will be undoing our patterns that interfere with our ability to listen and respond spontaneously.Bringing Intelligence to our surfaces and sensation to our structures, we will investigate what it is that makes weight bearing, rolling and lifts easy and safe even when sudden or surprising.
René Alvarez (he/they) is a Contact Improvisation fanatic since 2000 and has since learned from teachers such as Nancy Stark Smith, Sara Shelton Mann, Ray Chung, Martin Keogh, Frey Faust, Nita Little, Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, Scott Wells, Alicia Grayson, Ronja Ver, Carol Swann, Brenton Cheng, Keith Hennessy, Karen Nelson, Alito Alessi, Anna Halprin, KJ Holmes, and Terry Sendgraff .
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René considers themself a CI traditionalist (it’s physics!) and is influenced by Axis Syllabus, Flow Arts, Parkour and Motivity Aerial Dance. A practicing physician, René is also the founder of InterKinected LLC, whose mission is to investigate and promote Contact Improvisation, through organization and sponsorship of classes, jams, festivals, intensives, laboratories, films, media and showings. René teaches/curates weekly CI classes in Berkeley, as well as classes for Camp Contact at Burning Man for over 20 years. Since 2016, René has been teaching at the ODC school for contemporary dance in San Francisco.