MAKING CONTACT

Company Chameleon presents:
MAKING CONTACT
Summer Professional Intensive 2023

Fri 21, Sat 22 & Sun 23 July 2023
Company Chameleon, Manchester, UK

We invite final year students and professionals to take part in our Summer Professional Intensive with Company Chameleon’s Co-Artistic Directors, Anthony Missen and Kevin Edward Turner and Guest Artist, Riccardo Meneghini.

Want to build your confidence and learn new skills in contact work?

If the answer is yes, then our three-day intensive is for you!

Did you know for many dancers, contact is the area of their practice where they feel most vulnerable and unsure. That’s why Chameleon have taken our 15+ years’ experience in contact work to create a three-day masterclass that will:

• Boost your confidence.
• Broaden your palette.
• Strengthen your skillset.

What’s more, the three-day-er is an opportunity to join the lovely team at Company Chameleon at our studio in Manchester and connect with other dance artists.

Expect to leave feeling energised, inspired, and ready to embed your learnings into your own practice.

Anthony Missen, our Co-Artistic Director, said, “There’s been a notable touch deficit in dance training and a real lack of training around contact work through Covid.

As a dancer, it’s easy to learn partner-based choreography as shapes, without fully understanding how another body works.

Contact work gives you a deep understanding of the human body because the key to understanding another body is through touch.

When you create the space to listen to another person’s body, there’s a process of going from the inside out, finding where you meet in the middle, and cultivating a feedback loop. You can work with each other’s energy, and distribute and redirect energy together, and in flow.

Touch has many different meanings. We can touch in different ways. Violently, aggressively, supportively, for pleasure, fun or relaxation. In this way, contact work opens up possibilities for expression and allows stories to be told in a more honest and experimental way.”

The programme

DAY 1: RICCARDO MENEGHINI, GUEST INTERNATIONAL ARTIST
Fri 21 July, 10am-6pm

ABOUT RICCARDO
Riccardo Meneghini was born in Italy. He has a background in competitive judo and graduated from the University of Verona in Physical Education before training professionally in dance at the Accademia Isola Danza, Venice and Trinity Laban, London.  He has worked with such choreographers as Russell Maliphant, Carolyn Carlson, Janet Smith, Malou Airaudo, Rui Horta, Didi Veldman, Kim Brandstrup and Arthur Rosenfeld. He has performed with companies including Scottish Dance Theatre, DV8 Physical Theatre, Company Chameleon, CCN Robuaix and Balletto Teatro Torino. Through his lifetime of training and performing as a professional dancer, he has developed a great love and understanding of the human body in all of its wonder, and the intricacies and heart and spirit needed to be a dance artist.  Riccardo is an international dance teacher and has extensive experience of teaching technique, creative movement, improvisation and composition workshops across the globe.

What’s involved?
On day one, you will begin to explore the transformative power of contact. Beginning with the core fundamentals, day one will establish an open and safe environment, for you to embark on a journey of self-discovery, creative expression and embodied communication. Through a series of guided exercises, you will delve into concepts such as weight-sharing, balance, momentum, listening, and responsiveness, allowing dance to emerge organically from the present moment. Along with expanding your movement repertoire, by the end of day one, you will understand how contact is an embodied practice that encourages self-reflection, deep listening, and personal growth. You will also have fostered a greater sense of connection with yourself, others, and the surrounding environment.