DANCING OUR EDGES with Aaron Finbloom
Saturday 20th // 2pm-5pm // FLOCK
$20-$40 (sliding scale) // REGISTER: HERE
In this workshop we will attempt to dance those parts of ourselves (those facets of our lives and psyches) which are the hardest things to dance. We will attempt to hold two intentions and braid them together: the first is to emotionally and somatically access more challenging aspects of ourselves in order to accept them, love them, experience catharsis, and gain distance from them. One could name this intention: healing, transformation or integration. The second intention is to aesthetically represent these challenging aspects of ourselves through dance, movement, gesture and embodied expression in order for us to find our own unique artistic expressions of these parts of us such that we may beautify them. Together these braided intentions can be named: beautifying our psyche as a way of healing and integrating.
Some examples of challenging aspects of ourselves that we will work with may include: shameful parts, judgmental parts, fears of illness, disease or death, fears of ostracization, desires to hurt others or manipulate them or destroy them, etc. The exercises that we will use are inspired by: Butoh, Clowning, Process Oriented Psychology, and Psychodrama. Some of the activities at this workshop may include: a) warmups that involve exaggerated emotional gestures, laughing, crying and extreme gesticulations b) a here-and-now practice whereby a single participant stands up in front of the group, names emotions, and then is encouraged to express one of those emotions through a march or dance c) psychologically challenging scenes devised by the facilitator that present a singular image for participants to dance simultaneously in the room d) participants creating their own singular, clear image from some challenging content within their psyche to attempt to dance.
A Note on Emotional Safety: The practices on offer are designed to cultivate vulnerability, with its pleasures and its hardships. The practices tend to surface conflict and hurt that might conventionally be quieted or minimized. It is common to experience triggers of past psychological wounds within this practice, and this should be accounted for as a possibility. The facilitator will use techniques to contain and care for what arises, but will not be able to provide ongoing care for emotional fallout. The invitation is to be watchful of one's own safety and opt out in little and big ways as needed, and to have emotional processing methods in place (such as therapy, meditation, journaling, processing with friends, etc) that can help you learn with and from what happens at the intensive. This workshop is not therapy, in spite of it being potentially therapeutic or possibly transformative.
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Price: Price is tiered based on an sliding scales of income/subsistence and ranges from $20-40. Please try to reasonably and honestly select the price that reflects your economic situation. If you are unable to find a price that is suitable for you, please get in touch. We are committed to covering our basic costs, while also making this possible for everyone who needs it.
Cancellation Policy: Refunds are available up to 1 week before the event - minus a $5 processing fee. After this time we are unable to provide a refund for the event.
Maximum # of Participants for the workshop is 18.
Any questions? Please email: thedeepplayinstitute@gmail.com
About the Facilitator: Aaron Finbloom
Aaron Finbloom is a philosopher, artist, therapist, and educator whose work aims to expand transformative inquiry through relational games, role play, performance art, and conversation scores. He co-founded The School of Making Thinking (SMT) and is the founder and director of The Deep Play Institute (DPI). His projects have been featured internationally at venues such as the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Gallery 151 in New York, Maschinenhaus Kulturbrauerei in Berlin, UNAM in Mexico City, Performance Works Northwest in Portland, and MainLine Theatre in Montreal. Trained in Circling, Psychodrama, Buddhist Meditation, and Processwork, Aaron holds a PhD in Interdisciplinary Humanities from Concordia University in Montreal and teaches philosophy at the City College of New York. www.finblooming.com.