OPEN TRAINING: BODY WEATHER
COVID-19 UPDATE: Melbourne Lockdown #2
I hope you're all well and staying sane by dancing!
Here's the predictable update: Dancehouse is closed for the duration of the lockdown. Hopefully we will be back in the studio late August on Fridays 4-6pm.
You can keep in touch via
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/opentrainingbodyweather
Body Weather is an ideal physical training for any performer, or just a fantastic creative way to get fit. Developed by Japanese dancer Min Tanaka, perhaps the most well-known of Body Weather practices is 'MB' (Mind-Body, Muscle-Bone or Music-Body). MB is like a dancers' version of aerobics: a series of exercises traveling across space, to music. MB increases cardiovascular fitness, flexibility and co-ordination, in ever evolving combinations to twist your brain and extend your neurological pathways (there’s nothing quite like it!) Other aspects of Body Weather include perceptual tasks to heighten sensory awareness and use of imagery to evoke a vast range of embodied qualities. Gretel’s training sessions typically consist of a loosening warm-up, MB work-out and perceptual or imagery tasks leading into improvisation.
Participants can work at their own level, though some fitness is recommended. Dance experience is not necessary. The 'open' bit means that the facilitator participates too. Focus is on body awareness in a fun and exploratory atmosphere.
Gretel Taylor has taught performance, dance and live art at Victoria University, Monash University and RMIT, and presents guest lectures and workshops at many conferences and events. In 2019 she taught postgraduate students at Deakin University's Art and Performance. She continues to lead Open Training: Body Weather at Dancehouse, Carlton, as well as occasional outdoor workshops exploring Body Weather and site-responsive performance making. Gretel participated in Min Tanaka's intensive workshops in Japan in 1999 and 2000, and since then Body Weather has strongly informed her dance practice. She is a core artist of Environmental Performance Authority (EPA), a site-responsive group that use Body Weather as their underpinning method.