In partnership with Dance Saskatchewan Inc. and New Dance Horizons, Interdisciplinary Improvisation Workshop Series aims to build an interdisciplinary improvisation community. Composed of classes, a jam, and a labbing session, this initiative brings improvisation enthusiasts together. Many thrilling sessions are scheduled for an enjoyable journey. ​

---

Improvisation With I-Ying Wu: August 5

CA$0.00

Click To Register

Improvisation with I-Ying Wu
Date: Saturday August 5, 2023
​Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Location: New Dance Horizons
How do the unknown and the known intertwine during improvisation? Do we always have complete understanding of what is happening or how to navigate a situation? Can we find a transitory moment when something starts to emerge, and sense its presence? This class allows the unknown to guide our improvisations while using subtle awareness to remain in-the-moment. We will explore the internal space of our bodies through sensations and imagery, and delve into improvisation driven by curious questions, intuitive instincts, and a childlike spirit. Experimenting and observing, we achieve heightened consciousness that liberates us from unconscious confinements and fosters deep connections with others.

---

Contact Improvisation with I-Ying Wu
Date: Saturday, August 12, 2023
Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Location: New Dance Horizons
This class uses imagery to cultivate a gentle internal space within our bodies. This establishes a stronger connection between our bodies and the ground, allowing our weight to be fully supported. We will explore techniques to deeply connect with the ground, and allow the counter force to our body weight to flow through us. By first building awareness of our centre, we will then work with partners to practice giving, taking, and shifting weight with fluidity and harmony. Our class will delve into different qualities of contact to discover various dynamics, relationships, and possibilities in Contact Improvisation. Drawing inspiration from Subtle Awareness, and from Chinese meditative qigong and martial arts, this approach to Contact Improvisation will stress the importance of instinctive listening and responding to each other's dynamics and energy, going beyond mere physical perception.

Contact Improvisation With I-Ying Wu: August 12

CA$0.00

Click To Register

​Mixed Jam
Date: Saturday, August 12, 2023
Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 3:00-4:30pm
Location: New Dance Horizons
This jam creates a space where people from diverse backgrounds can immerse themselves and freely improvise. You are encouraged to improvise in any way – whether it is dancing, moving, singing, making sounds, speaking, playing instruments, drawing, photographing, filming, using multimedia, creating mixed media, writing, or simply witnessing. Feel free to bring items that you wish to use in your improvisation. If you require equipment support, contact New Dance Horizons. Jams are a great way to build a community of improvisers. Everyone is welcome!

Mixed Jam: August 12

CA$0.00

Click To Register

---

Outdoor Improvisation With I-Ying Wu: August 19

CA$0.00

Click To Register

​Outdoor Improvisation with I-Ying Wu
Date: Saturday, August 19, 2023
​Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Location: Wascana Park (the field in front of Science Centre)

​Workshop Description
In this outdoor class, we will immerse ourselves in a natural environments. We will tune into our inner selves and engage with people around us, and open our hearts to Nature as an improvisation partner. Through sensations, imagery, disposition (qi), and a felt sense of being, we will embrace the people around us, and the beauty of the natural surroundings throughout our improvisational journey.

---

​Improvisation with Johanna Bundon & Jayden Pfeifer
Date: Saturday, August 26, 2023
​Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 1:30-3:00pm
Location: New Dance Horizons

Workshop Description 
We share a dedication to the creation of new performance work, and a common interest in creating uncanny, perplexing live performance predicaments for two. These duet situations are most often created through improvised structures and action scores.
 
In our co-led learning spaces, we explore improvisation as an expression of five essential skills:
Availability, Listening, Accepting, Supporting, Expressing.
These skills are practiced in relationship to self, other, and group.
 
This workshop invites participants to explore generative tools to engage improvisation as a method for creation through moving, speaking, and writing.
 
All artists welcome.
Please wear clothing comfortable to move in.
Bring a journal.

Improvisation with Johanna Bundon & Jayden Pfeifer: August 26

CA$0.00

Click To Register

---

Labbing Hosted by I-Ying Wu: August 26

CA$0.00

Click To Register

​Labbing hosted by I-Ying Wu
Date: Saturday, August 26, 2023
​Cost: FREE while a small donation is appreciated to support facilitation
Time: 3:00-4:30pm
Location: New Dance Horizons

​Workshop Description
How can we improvise with individuals from diverse backgrounds? Is there an approach to improvisation that can be universally applied to dissolve boundaries between different disciplines? Most importantly, how can we find a common ground while maintaining our own characteristics during improvisation? This labbing session is a space to explore improvisation through a cross-disciplinary and interdisciplinary lens. Whether you are an improviser, an artist, or simply someone with a deep curiosity for improvisation, you are warmly invited to join this exciting journey. Feel free to bring a brief exercise that showcases improvisation within your field. It is a great opportunity to share and explore ideas together!

​For registration, please contact New Dance Horizons at info@newdancehorizons.ca or 306-525-5393.
For inquiries, please contact I-Ying at subtlepractice@gmail.com
 
Many thanks to Dance Saskatchewan Inc. and New Dance Horizons for their generous support.

---

Instructor Biographies

I-Ying Wu is a somatic and improvisation practitioner and researcher, who works closely with international artistic and academic circles in Taiwan, UK, and Canada. She completed a PhD at the University of Northampton, UK. Later, sponsored by the International Institute for Critical Studies of Improvisation (IICSI). I-Ying completed postdoctoral research at the Improvisation Studies Centre at the University of Regina. Informed by Contact Improvisation, Chinese traditional qigong, martial arts, and Daoist philosophy, I-Ying’s practice focuses on subtle awareness of the very moment when an improvisational phenomenon emerges. To her, improvisation itself is interdisciplinary and transcends boundaries of particular art forms. Currently, I-Ying is involved in teaching, performing, and undertaking artistic research as an independent artist.

Johanna Bundon is an independent artist whose practice includes dance and theatre performance, choreography, and teaching. She is a 2005 graduate of LADMMI (Les Ateliers de Danse Moderne de Montreal), a 2008 graduate of the Globe Theatre’s Actor Conservatory, and holds a BA in Arts & Culture from the University of Regina. Johanna is an Artistic Associate of Curtain Razors (Regina). She has worked with Curtain Razors on Moveable Feast Independent Artists Edition (2016), assistant director on Bad Blood (2017), producer on Carmen Angel (2018), and producer and lead artist on Trespassers Waltz – Grand Acts of Theatre (September 2020) and as producer of Trespassers Podcast (2020). As a choreographer, New Dance Horizons, Globe Theatre’s Sandbox Series, the National Arts Centre’s Prairie Scene Festival, and the Prairie Dance Circuit have presented her work. Her choreography has also featured in numerous Globe Theatre productions since 2006. Johanna's most recent passion projects include Untitled Peter Tripp Project (August 2021) created with Jayden Pfeifer & Lee Henderson, Live Duet (2016) co-created with Pfeifer, and the understory (2015) co-created with bee pallomina. As a curator and community organizer, her favourite projects are: Getting to Room Temperature by Arthur Milner (February 2022), Conversations for Love & Loss (Spring 2022) Parkour Practice for Artists -- Getting By: The Art of Resourcefulness & Making Do with Darci Anderson (2021), SIT UP Regina: an Urban Mindfulness Retreat with Michael Stone & Heritage Community Association (2015), The Blanket Folding Project (2014). Johanna frequently teaches movement practice through New Dance Horizons’ Dance Core, has been a  faculty member of the Globe Theatre’s Actor Conservatory (2010/2012/2014/2016), and was the 2017 director of Globe’s Start Up training for emerging artists. Johanna a 2020 graduate of the San Diego 4 Feldenkrais Professional Training Program and an Authorized Trainee Awareness Through Movement® teacher.
 
Jayden Pfeifer is a Regina-based artist whose work in theatre and improvisation, as creator and performer, has spanned the last 22 years. He holds a BFA in Theatre Performance from the University of Regina (2003), and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Studies (2017), specializing in Improvisation and Ensemble Facilitation. He currently teaches Improvisation for the Faculty of Media, Art, and Performance at the UofR. Pfeifer’s monthly comedy variety show, Red Hot Riot with Jayden Pfeifer, ran for seven seasons in Regina, and he hosted the monthly comedy show TALKIES at the RPL Film Theatre from 2013-2020. Jayden is an Associate Artist for Curtain Razors Theatre, and has appeared in Curtain Razors' productions of Live Duet, Bad Blood, and Carmen Angel, performs regularly in Burnt Sienna with Kris Alvarez, and was a producer and lead artist for Curtain Razors’ Trespassers Waltz, as part of National Arts Centre’s ‘Grand Acts of Theatre’. Jayden directed wanisiniwin/ kwêski-pimâtisiw for Globe Theatre in 2020, and recently co-directed Sir John A: Acts of a Gentrified Ojibway Rebellion for Globe alongside Erin Goodpipe. Alongside collaborators Johanna Bundon and Lee Henderson, Jayden co-created and has performed in multiple iterations of Untitled Peter Tripp Project; a project that has been ongoing since 2018.

​