"Body Mind Centering" with Ray Eliot Schwartz

Description: Body-Mind Centering is a creative approach to embodiment and movement re-education. Its principles lead the student on a journey towards understanding the powerful wisdom and mystery contained within the substance of the human body as well as how this substance expresses itself through fundamental patterns of movement (developmental movement patterns). This class applies the principles of Body-Mind Centering to the work of the dancer. The focus is on arrival, integration and expression through touch, movement and voice. Primarily working with the bones, organs, fluids and muscles, we explore how the body systems and developmental patterns can lead us towards delicious states of moving. (Schwartz)

In addition to his workshops, Mr. Schwartz will also be performing two solo pieces for the festival.

Date: Monday 9/9 from 6pm-8pm, Thursday 9/12 from 6pm-8pm, and Saturday 9/14 from 1pm-3pm
Location: ACDT's BeBe Theatre
Cost: $18, $16 for students w/ID
Co-sponsor: Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater

"Tensegrity, Suspension and Movement:
Exploring the Body's Dynamic Architecture" with Glenna Batson

Description: Several body education techniques popular today embrace principles derived from the collaborative effort of sculptor Kenneth Snelson and futurist engineer Buckminster Fuller at Black Mountain. The Alexander Technique and Rolfing, for example, exemplify how the human body is suspended, light, and incredibly free to move. In this experiential workshop, participants will tap this dynamic support through body awareness exercises and games. Using string as the learning tool, participants will explore their personal limits of alignment and effort, and evolve more complex, spatial relationships as they link with others. No movement experience is needed for this no-strings-attached experience!

Glenna Batson, MA, PT is a dancer, physical therapist and Certified Teacher of the Alexander Technique. She has been faculty of the American Dance Festival since 1988 and has participated in ADF's International Linkage Program in Ecuador and Venezuela. A leading authority on wellness and former physical therapist for the North Carolina School of the Arts, she has taught both nationally and internationally. She is currently Assistant Professor in the Graduate Program in Physical Therapy at Western Carolina University.

Further Information:

• Tensegrity by R. Buckminster Fuller
• Glenna Batson information

Date: Wednesday, 9/18
Time: 7:30pm
Location: ACDT's BeBe Theatre
Cost: $6
Co-sponsor: Asheville Contemporary Dance Theater

"Hearing Things In Pipes and Strings" with Tony Conrad

Description: Tony Conrad's workshop will be about the joy and inventiveness of hearing great sounds-sounds that we will make to listen to. And since the special sounds that we think of as music come from strings and pipes, these are the tools we will "play" with. Does that sound straight forward? WELL… Our strings will be made of thread, plastic, rope, wire, metal strips, and vegetable matter. Our pipes will be made of plastic, metal, hose, pipes, and vegetable matter. We will make "instruments," play them, record them, and contribute to a CD that each participant will receive after the event.

The workshop will include an opening performance of a recent piece, "Selling Short," by Tony Conrad. This will be followed by individual work with handmade instruments, some discussion of harmonics and the acoustics of music, a brief improvisation workshop, and a group performance. Participants will be asked to sign a performer release so that the group's music can be shared on a CD.

"When I first heard John Cage speak in 1958, I still believed that music was very difficult to play-and that idea was something I had been taught pretty easily! Even after years of lessons, I was still the last second violin in the school orchestra. Nevertheless, I was ready to take the big leap just then, and to agree with Cage: that good music comes from good listening. Playing is only one piece of the pie. And that change of mind was a very big step toward the best music that I have ever heard-or made."

- Tony Conrad

In addition to his workshop, Mr. Conrad will also be performing at the festival.

Further Information::

• Early Minimalism and Beyond: Tony Conrad in Music, Film, and Video
• Interview with Tony Conrad

"Deep Listening" with Pauline Oliveros

Description: Meditative music innovator Pauline Oliveros will conduct this "Deep Listening" interactive workshop, focusing on the practice the "life practice of listening in every possible way to everything possible to hear no matter what one is doing. Such intense listening involves the sounds of daily life, of nature, of one's own thoughts as well as musical sounds." For more than 40 years, she has combined improvisation, electronic music, ritual, teaching and meditation to create a large body of unique work. The New York Times has said, "On some level, music, sound consciousness and religion are all one, and she would seem to be very close to that level."

"Through Pauline Oliveros and Deep Listening I finally know what harmony is....It's about the pleasure of making music."

- John Cage, 1989

In addition to her workshop, Ms. Oliveros will also be performing at the festival.

Further Information:

• Deep Listening
• Pauline Oliveros Foundation

Date: Saturday, 9/21
Time: 3pm-5pm
Location: UNCA Lipinsky Auditorium
Cost: $5, Free for students w/ID
Co-sponsor: UNCA Cultural and Special Events Committee