After an ample and enjoyable warmup that prioritises connection to self and others, we’ll get up to some juicy dancing that honors the individuals present and addresses some of my current choreographic and spiritual questions: For a witness/audience, what is the benefit offered by improvisational choice that is made from a place of not-choosing and radical withness; which prioritises pleasure, radiance, and responsiveness? How can we find and develop joy while doing the hard, sometimes deeply uncomfortable work of actually being at ease with ourself in offering ourself? We’ll get into these questions with the light aspiration to create a “something” together that brings each of us deeper inward and closer to each other.

Improvisation, to Raven, is a means by which any human, of any age, any ability, any experience, can connect with their body and discover what expansive feelings and possibilities exist in themselves. She believes that learning to move with freedom, with ourselves, is world changing. Thus, Raven is devoted to bringing the possibility of movement and self acceptance to any who wishes to listen.

Failure Party - a dance improvisation workshop

What environment do we need to be able to fail? How do we create those conditions? How do we allow it to be a gateway to the next thing? Failure, in a positive light, is a part of learning and building curiosity about how to achieve something. It requires honoring experimentation and allowing the unexpected to guide our next move.

This workshop is open to all. No prior dance experience needed. The beginning of our time will be dedication to warming up ourselves and our environment via guided practices that offer movement, listening and breath as our impulses. The second half will be devoted to an open practice failure party score where all our unique curiosities will be thrown into the pot towards an unknown outcome.