HomeClasses and EventsAbout our Classes and WorkshopsWorkshopsContemporary Experiment
  • Tue–Fri, Apr 29–May 2, 2025 | 1:00–3:30PM
  • Mon, May 5, 2025 | 5:00–8:00PM
Three Black women exchanging gestures in movement side by side with various colors. A Black man in the background offering percussion as music accompaniment immersed in blue light. Photo by Henry Creel.
ID: Three Black women exchanging gestures in movement side by side with various colors. A Black man in the background offering percussion as music accompaniment immersed in blue light. Photo by Henry Creel.

Contemporary Experiment is a workshop session in improvisation. The focus of the workshop is primarily the individual body as a site/map for exploration. It is an embodied practice that expands capacity for a more nuanced, rigorous, and sensory approach to space, time, and energy to integrate the thinking-body with real-time presence; and to play with physical range while increasing flexibility of the spine for a deepening in awareness of strength and endurance. In this workshop, empathetic exchanges using collaboration in movement studies are significant to amplify grounded power, intuitive connection to the body and place, navigating dissent, and honing clarity in timing and rhythm.

We will experiment with choreographic phrasing including floorwork, contemporary technique, rhythmic timing, breath control, and moving with abandonment.

What to expect:
Expect moments in the workshop to have prompts led by audio-speaking, text, and movement phrases. We will practice deep listening skills to live music accompaniment as well as moments in silence for activating all the senses of our bodies to think, respond, and generate heat into full-embodied movement explorations.

PLEASE NOTE:
This workshop will include the opportunity to participate in a public sharing of the process on Monday, May 5 as part of Movement Research at the Judson Church. If you plan to participate in the public sharing of the process, please plan to be available for an afternoon tech rehearsal and public sharing at 7pm.

Accessibility Notes

  • This workshop includes auditive guidance.

To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email [email protected], subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, Leslie Parker” at least three (3) weeks prior to the first date of the workshop.

For access-related questions and requests, please contact [email protected], subject line “Leslie Parker.”

Past workshop

Location

MR, 122CC – Ninth Street Studio
150 First Avenue
New York, NY 10009

  • Get the Green - IRT Lexington Avenue Line numbers: 6 to Astor Place
  • Get the Light slate gray - BMT Canarsie Line numbers: L to 1st Avenue
  • Get the Orange - IND Sixth Avenue Line numbers: F to 2nd Avenue

Artists

Leslie Parker

Leslie Parker

Artistic Director Leslie Parker is a dance artist, director, choreographer, improviser, educator, and performer born in the traditional homeland of Indigenous people, mostly the Dakhóta and Ojibwe people (Twin Cities, MN).

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