[A 4-wk online session; Saturdays 3-5 pm EST; begins April 3rd]
Description: In this practice, we will create a laboratory of delight: move in improvisational play engaging with our inner and outer spaces, awaken the senses through freewrites, witness the breath in meditation, tend to self and other taking influence from and connecting through our community of zoom squares. Join us to cultivate creative self-care, communal and individual inquiries, and an embodied, moving writing experience. This can be a rich training ground for touching into and being with the unknown, a useful skill for these uncertain times.
There will be the option to share writing/drawing/markmaking between classes, with the emphasis on a generative creative space of witness rather than feedback or revision. There will also be readings offered prior to each class to support our investigations by authors like Alexis Pauline Gumbs, adrienne maree brown, Naomi Oritz, Pauline Oliveros and Barbara Dilley. Because of its improvisatory in-the-moment nature, this class is a synchronous offering.
Please note: No experience necessary, queer/disability led, LGBTQ+ folx and all bodyminds welcome, disability culture friendly. We strive to make a safe space for all bodyminds and gender expressions. Please make a zoom space nest equipped with whatever you need for sitting or horizontal meditation (chair, cushion, mat). This practice can adapt to and play with whatever amount of space you have; micromovements are welcome. Have close by any writing/art materials you desire (journal, pen, colored pencils, etc.). Dress in comfy layers to support movement and stillness.
Lineage: Contemplative Bodymind & Writing Practice is based on and adapted from Contemplative Dance Practice created and developed by Barbara Dilley at Naropa University, in Boulder, Colorado, where I had the pleasure of studying with her. Barbara’s history includes being a dancer in the Merce Cunningham Company and later a member of Grand Union and Judson Church, groups that played a pivotal role in shaping postmodern dance today. Contemplative Dance Practice found its origins in Barbara’s experiences in the Tibetan Buddhist meditation tradition. I honor this lineage and appreciate her invitation to adjust this “dancer’s meditation hall” to make it a living, changing thing to meet the moment.
[White woman with a turquoise shirt and big smile with a backdrop of Betsie Bay and the main street of Frankfort, Michigan on Odawa Land. Behind her, wildflowers and the salmon run.]
Stephanie Heit is a poet, dancer, and teacher of somatic writing and contemplative movement practices. She is a Zoeglossia Fellow, bipolar, and a member of the Olimpias, an international disability performance collective. Her poetry collection, The Color She Gave Gravity (The Operating System), explores the seams of language, movement and mental health difference. She lives on Three Fires Confederacy territory in Ypsilanti, Michigan where she creates Turtle Disco, a somatic writing space, with her wife and collaborator, Petra Kuppers. www.stephanieheitpoetry.wordpress.comwww.stephanieheitpoetry.wordpress.com
ALL ACCESS PRICING MODEL / PAY WHAT YOU CAN / COMPARISON COSTS:
Liminal Lab is committed to providing a source of income for our collaborators and facilitators in an increasingly precarious time for culture workers and educators. However, no one will ever be turned away for lack of funds. We ask that those who can pay the suggested price, and/or help cover the cost of scholarship slots in each of our programs by sponsoring other participants.
- Compare the below to the cost for a similar accredited workshop in a university setting (where most of the $$$ goes to institutional bloat): $1000 — we show you this so we can begin to think about wtf is happening in our institutions, where both students and faculty get the short end of the stick.
- At a standard “Market Rate,” at arts orgs: $300*
- Recommended Sliding Scale: $30-60/session → $120-240 for the series
- Precarity Pricing: $10-20/session
- Barter / Volunteer / No Cost Option Available
- Membership / Sponsorship: You may now become a member of Liminal Lab! Which allows you to support as well as participate in this and other programs. By becoming a member, you can also sponsor low or no fee participants in this workshop with a donation of any size.
Did you know? You can click here to become a member, or
to make a donation to support low and no cost participation in our programs for others!
