Suggested
subject areas for side panels and labs:
- How
do we arrive at a particular dance that suits each partner
together, and what focus fosters
that skill?
- Maintaining
both inward and outward attention in the process of engaging
with a partner
- Immediate
vs. habitual responses
- When
does physical contact reduce the connection
- Relationship
of a fluid physical practice to mental flexibility and creativity
- The
Dive-in vs. the slow-go models/ways of learning and confronting
fear.
- Activating
spatial energy/relationship while remaining connected to
a partner
- Trio
Partnering
Group partnering (flowing with more than 3 partners)
- What
elements are necessary to find enjoyment in every dance (despite
level/compatibility of partner/self)
- What
role do archetypes play into the contact relationship.
- Engaging
the backspace
- Site
specific dancing
Contact as a contemplative practice
Activities
to do in the area:
Frank
Lloyd Wright's faous architectural home "Falling Waters" is
located 40 minutes from the farm.
Old
Bedford Village is an historic recreation of pioneer life with
many authentic frontier homes moved to its compound.
Shawnee
State Park is a few miles from the farm where canoeing, swimming
(sand beach), fishing, hiking and bird wathing. The canoes and
kayak are very reasonable.
The
Bedford area is known for its antique shops and deals.
Buffalo
Watching is at Cedarrow farm near the Wild Meadows Farm. They
also serve buffalo for the brave meat-eater.
Jean
Bonnet Tavern is a large historical stone tavern and Inn that
housed Washington's army and was also used during the prohibition.
They have a Sunday brunch with incredible bread pudding.
Schellsburg
has a rich Native American heritage. Arrowheads and fossils can
be found in the area.
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GENERAL INFORMATION: Wild Meadows is surrounded by secluded mountains ranges and fertile
valleys, an ideal location for reflective thought and investigation
into the practice of improvisation. Some previous experience is requested.
Break periods will be scheduled to enable participants to take in the
glorious natural surrounding of the farm.
FOOD: is included and will be communally prepared. Each participant will
be requested to assist in the preparation of 2-3 lunch/dinner meals
(with work study assistance).
COST:
Early registration sliding scale: $225 - $375
(full payment due by May 1st)
Regular registration sliding scale: $250 - $400
($75 deposit due by May 1st)
DEPOSIT: $75 deposit due by May 1st, remaining amount due June 15th
You're welcome to pay whatever you can afford within the sliding scale.
Please keep in mind when choosing your fee that the market rate for a retreat
of this scope is $375 or higher. We're offering a sliding scale a scale
rate to include folks with varying incomes/situations.
*Cost includes all food, lodging, and workshop, except travel
To
pay online see link above.
Checks should be made payable to:
The Phffft! Dance Theatre Company and sent to
Cyrus Khambatta, 5609 34th Ave SW, Seattle, WA 98126
WORKSTUDY:
Two positions available, first-come first serve for a discounted rate
of $175.
Please email Wildmeadows@PHFFFT.org a few sentences about your interest
in the retreat and financial need.
CONTACT:
Questions? Please contact us: register@phffft.org
TRAVEL: Participants
can arrange with others coming from the nearby cities of Washington
D.C. New York City, Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. The farm
is 2.5 hours from Washington D.C., 5 hours from New York City, 3.5 hours
from Philadelphia and 2 hours from Pittsburgh. There are also buses and
trains to
Altoona or Breezewood near the farm where pick ups can be made.
If you would like to drive click here.
CONTACT: for
more information, email Cyrus at Wildmeadows@phffft.org or
by phone at the numbers below:
NEW YORK CITY: (212)
404-7808
SEATTLE:
(206) 935-0459
WASHINGTON
D.C.:(301) 254-6930
Nicole Bindler,
(b.1977), is an experimental dance artist, inspired by her studies
of new dance, dance-theater, contact improvisation, and
butoh. She is also a bodyworker and uses healing practices, as a source
of creativity, inspiration and physical training. She researches extended
dance techniques, which are unique movements, individual to her particular
body and develops teaching methods to help other dancers find their own
extended techniques. Dance is a social art form and Bindler is a promiscuous
collaborator. She is mostly known for her collaborations with avant-garde
musicians, but also works with other dance, theater and visual artists.
Her dances are most often improvised with varying degrees of preparation.
Her work is always site-specific, seeking to activate and enliven all
performance spaces whether they are theaters, studios, homes, places
of business or the outdoors. Bindler has choreographed over fifteen original
dance works and has performed over 100 improvised dances in cities throughout
the U.S., Canada, Argentina and in Berlin and Tokyo. In August 2004,
her solo "Places I've Never/Been" was performed in Quito, Ecuador
by dancer, Stephanie Sherman. Bindler has performed in The High Zero
Festival, The Transmodern Age Festival, The Shawinigan Street Theater
Festival, The Imagine Festival of Arts, Issues and Ideas, The Philadelphia
Live Arts Festival, the D.C. Improvisation Festival, Fireside Festival,
the Performance Mix Festival and the nEW Festival. Her work has been
supported by Philadelphia Dance Projects and Dance Advance. Bindler holds
a degree in Muscular Therapy from the Muscular Therapy Institute and
a BA in Dance and Poetry from Hampshire College. She has taught New Dance,
Improvisation, Contact Improvisation and Experiential Anatomy throughout
the U.S. and Argentina. She is a member of the Spontaneous Performing
Artists Network, Mascher Dance Cooperative and she curates the StudioSeries
at Studio 34 in Philadelphia. www.nicolebindler.com
Cyrus
Khambatta has presented choreographed and improvised works independently
and with his dance
company in eight U.S. states and fifteen
countries on three continents. Some notable venues include The Spoleto
Festival USA (SC), The World Expo (Lisbon), New York Improvisation
Festival The Young Choreographers Festival (Venezuela), the Seattle
Festival of Alternative Dance and Improvisation and The Budapest Kontakt
Festival. In 2003, he was awarded California's
Daman New
Choreography
award and in 2004, his company was selected for The National Dance
Project's Regional Dance Development Initiative. He curates Beyond
the Threshold, a Seattle-based international dance festival that to
date has presented over 150 artists/companies from 15 countries. He
also organizes The Fireside Series, a local Seattle-based improvisation
festival, The
Youth Dance
Empowerment
Project
and Wild
Meadows Improvisation
Retreat. His own contact and improvisation inspired choreography has
been commissioned
by Ririe
Woodbury Dance
(UT), Donald
Byrd's Specturm
Dance Theatre (WA), and other companies and universities/colleges.
He has taught at numerous universities and dance programs internationally.
He also runs Grassroots a small studio in Seattle that invites national
and international CI artists to teach. For more information,
please
visit the company’s
website at www.phffft.org.
Sharon Mansur, MFA, CMA, is a Washington, DC area based experimental
multi-media dance artist with long time interests in improvisation, collaborative
dance making, somatics, visual arts, Laban studies, Reiki, site specific
dance, performance/installations and the dialogue between art and the
natural environment. Originally from Boston, MA she is currently is on
the dance faculty at University of Maryland. www.mansurdance.com
MORE INFO:
THE
HOUSE was
built in 1875 by Quakers. It is rustic but has all the comforts
of home.
It has three floors. There are five medium size bedrooms that can
fit 1-3 people each and a large finished attic space (the floor
is rough so bring something fo your feet) which can sleep up to
10 people. There are an assortment of mattresses, air beds and
futons. If you have special needs, contact us before coming. The
house has a kitchen, two full bathrooms, a laundry room (because
it is a septic minimal loads are permitted), nearly wrap around
porches. The first floor has a large dining and living room. There
is also an out of tune piano.
THE
BARN-STUDIO is
approximately 32 by 45 feet. It has three poles in the middle of
the space. It has an older marley floor (Paul Taylor's old marley).
It has huge doors that open on one side to the road so that it
can feel like it is open air. It is located about 100 feet from
the house.
Climate: The average
high temperature for the period we will be at the farm is 83 degrees
and the average low is 60 degrees. It rains at least once in the
week, so bring rain gear if you need it. It does get cool in the
evening, so dress accordingly.
Critters: Although
I have never seen a single tic during all my trysts through the
woods, ther is a good eal of poison ivy, so it is a good idea to
have an extra pair of long pants, socks and a 2nd pair of shoes
if you plan to traipse through the woods.
Other
Items to Bring: The
sun rises early and is quite bright throughout most of the bedrooms.
However, if you need an alarm clock to wake up, you will need to bring
this. For those who are light sleepers, it is recommended that you
bring ear plugs in case snoring is an issue. If you need allergy medicine,
please bring it.
Travel by Car:
Coming from Washington.
D.C.
From Constitution
Ave, take I-66,US-50 West for 0.4 miles. Bear right on ramp at
sign reading "US-50 W Arlington Blvd
/ G W Parkway" and
go Northwest for 0.3 miles. Continue on George Washington Memorial
Pky,Gw Pky and go Northwest for 9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign
reading "I-495
N to Maryland" and go West for 0.4 miles. Continue on Capital
Beltway,I-495,I-495 Innerloop and go Northeast for 3.9 miles. Continue
on I-270-Spur at sign reading "Exit 38 I-270 to Rockville /
Frederick" and
go North for 2.0 miles. Continue on I-270,Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy,Washington
National Pike and go Northwest for 3.9 miles. Continue on ramp at
sign reading "Exit 8 to Shady Grove Road" and go North
for 900 feet. Continue on I-270 Local,Dwight D Eisenhower Hwy,Washington
National
Pike and go North for 0.5 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-270
N to Frederick" and go North for 1000 feet. Continue on I-270
and go Northwest for 24 miles. Take ramp at sign reading "I-70
W to Hagerstown" and go Northwest for 0.7 miles. Bear left on
I-70 and go Northwest for 76 miles Continue on Lincoln Hwy,US-30
and go West for 26 miles to Schellsberg. At stoplight, take a right
on
Route 96, go about 1/4 mile, take a right at sign to Fishertown.
Go about 3 miles, pas an electrical substation and behind a large
red
barn situated immediately on the left of the road, take a left onto
Smith Road. Go up road (becomes gravel) and house (grey-blue) is
3/4 mile up on left.
Coming from New
York City
Take the Lincoln Tunnel at W 39th St at sign reading "I-495 W
Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey / Newark International Airport" and
go Northwest for 180 feet. Bear left on I-495 and go Northwest for
3.9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "N.J. Turnpike South
to Trenton / Newark Airport" and go West for 0.5 miles. Bear right
on I-95,New Jersey Tpke and go Southwest for 6 miles. Continue on ramp
at sign reading "I-78 to Exit 14-14A-14B-14C / Newark Airport
/ Holland Tnl and US-1 / US-9 / US-22" and go Southwest for 1.7
miles. Continue on I-78 and go Northwest for 400 feet. Continue on
I-78 Express Ln at sign reading "I-78 West Express to Garden State
Parkway / Clinton" and go West for 9 miles. Continue on I-78 and
go West for 126 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "I-81
S to Harrisburg" and go West for 0.8 miles. Continue on I-81 and
go West for 37 miles. Bear right on ramp at sign reading "Exit
17 US-11 to New Kingstown / Middlesex / Turnpike and I-76" and
go Southwest for 0.3 miles. Turn right on US-11,Harrisburg Pike and
go West for 1.0 miles. Turn right on ramp at sign reading "Penna
Turnpike to Philadelphia / Pittsburgh and 1-76" and go West for
0.7 miles. Bear right on I-76,Pennsylvania Tpke and go West for 81
miles. Bear right on ramp at sign reading "Exit 11 US-220 / I-99
to Bedford-Altoona / Johnstown" and go North for 0.2 miles. Turn
left on US-220-BR,PA-4009 and go North for 0.3 miles. Turn left on
ramp and go West for 0.7 miles. Turn right on US-220,Appalachian Thwy
and go South for 1.9 miles. Continue on ramp at sign reading "US-30
W to Greensburg" and go West for 0.3 miles. Bear right on
US-30,Lincoln Hwy and go West for 8 miles. From here, follow directions
as indicated
above. Coming from Philadelphia
Take highway 76 out of Philadelphia toward Harrisburg and continue
until Bedford exit 11. Follow directions as indicated above.
Coming from Pittsburgh
Take 376 out of Pittsburgh and onto The PA Turnpike (76) toward Harrisburg.
Exit at Bedford exit 11 and follow directions as indicated above.
*The deposit and
fee are non-refundable unless the workshop is cancelled for any
reason beyond the control of the payee.
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