ProfitrainingLeo Kees

1. In this class will we be working on solo improvisation as well as in contact?
Yes, While the core of the class involves exploring technical principles of duo partnering, there will also be moments when participants focus on solo improvisations, embracing the concept of “having a duo with the floor.”

2. Could you say a bit about how the class is structured?
In terms of methodology, the class focuses less on exercises and forms that you have to observe, copy, or reproduce, and more on exploring anatomical and gravitational principles within your own body, generating multiple versions of each principle or task. Structurally, we will start with a warm-up that emphasizes soft landings and adapting your anatomy to the surface of the floor. We will then move on to rolling patterns across the floor in both solo and duo formats. As the class progresses, we will delve into technical principles for giving, receiving, transferring, and diverting weight with different partners. Towards the end of the class, we will work with more open improvisation scores where the principles explored during the session can be applied in short improvised duos and solo formats.

Leo Kees is an Argentinian/German choreographer who works in the fields of dance, theatre, and performance. In his Improvisation & Partnering class, as well as in his stage work, he mixes elements of Contact Improvisation, Release technique, and Physical Theatre. His productions have toured in more than 20 countries - often in collaboration with the Goethe Institute - and have been performed in venues such as the Sydney Opera House or Sadler’s Wells in London. He is a guest lecturer at the Folkwang University of the Arts in Germany, at the Physical Theatre department.