Stillness in Motion

One of Canada’s leading contact improvisational dancers, and solo movement specialists, Andrew Harwood of Vancouver, will be appearing in performance at the Eye Level Gallery. The performance will consist of solo improvisational work by Harwood and contact improvisational with the well known dancers Sara Shelton and Diane Moore of Halifax.

This modern movement form called contact improvisation stemmed out of work by the noted American dancer, Merce Cunningham. In Harwood’s words, “There are certain demands and forces that preside over this activity. By familiarizing ourselves and channeling the effects of gravity, momentum, balance, inertia and friction, we learn to discipline our self-preserving and instinctual responses. We can then interact spontaneously with a partner making individual or mutual choices that allow us move safely and comfortably in any situation at all times. The body is trained to move in a relaxed manner, the mind is encouraged to calmy observe the dance without consciously directing it.”