Masterclass with Kirstie Simson

Maiden Voyage is deligted to present an in-person masterclass with esteemed dance improviser, teacher and performer, Kirstie Simson. This is Kirstie’s first time in Belfast so is a wonderful opportunity for local dancers.

Saturday 9th October
Crescent Arts Centre
10.30 – 13.00
£10 – Book here
Numbers limited to small group due to Covid restrictions. 
 
About the session

In the first part of class we will focus on our relationship with the earth through our breath. We will go on to explore the head/tail connection that unites us with all vertebrates on this planet. Through witnessing and being witnessed, in the last part of the class we will move into meaningful dances with each other and the world around us.

About Kirstie

Kirstie draws from her knowledge of contact improvisation, dance techniques, the alexander technique, aikido, meditation and her extensive experience of improvisation in performance. Her work explores the huge potential of the body’s response to the primal urge to moveThere is deep inspiration and rigor in a practice of improvisation that posits vulnerability at its heart. Developing the skills to be able to care for, engage, respect and respond to that state of vulnerability in oneself and others gives life to improvisation that is powerful and transformative. Kirstie’s art form is her life practice, and she will share insights gleaned from forty-years of a vibrant dance improvisation & collaboration practice.

Kirstie Simson (UK) has been a continuous explosion in the contemporary dance scene, bringing audiences into contact with the vitality of pure creation in moment after moment of virtuoso improvisation. Called “a force of nature” by the New York Times, she is an award-winning dancer and teacher who has “immeasurably enriched and expanded the boundaries of New Dance” according to Time Out Magazine, London. Kirstie is renowned internationally as an excellent teacher, a captivating performer and a leading light in the field of Dance Improvisation. For the past thirteen years she has been a tenured professor in the Department of Dance at the University of Illinois.  In August 2020 Kirstie returned to her home base in Wales from where she continues to explore and share her work.  She is excited to start work with the Black Mountains College (BMC) in Wales, who are in the process of designing an innovative degree course in ‘planet-centric education for building a better future’ (launching in September 2022) and she will serve on the BMC Academic Advisory Board.