Big Universe
Sue Schell and Karen Nelson

August 1(Friday evening) - August 3 (Sunday, afternoon)

Land Dreaming was cancelled, as unfortunately due to personal circumstances, Zjamal Xanitha is not able to attend.

With our moving senses and our imaginations as guide, we will inhabit the changing environments of the "in" and "out" of doors. Any kind of creative process necessarily involves commitment and relationship. Nature has patiently been coaxing us in this direction, extending all the way back and deep into childhood when play often involved physical conversations with nature. We experienced something that attracted, intrigued, or even frightened us and we would soon find ourselves taken up in lively exchange. When we see and enter, with our whole selves, into that otherness that surrounds us, these meetings carry with them a strong sense of having received from and given to, a sacred order who's language is our language as well, the language of the body, of connection, the language of being. This workshop will weave together structures based in the forms of Authentic Movement, Contact Improvisation and Contemplative Dance Practice.

      We bear the universe in our beings as the universe bears us in its being.
      The two have a total presence to each other and
      to that deeper mystery
      out of which both the universe and ourselves
      have emerged.       

As a part of our SEEDS Festival, this workshop may be taken individually or may be taken in combination with other SEEDS Events.

Susan and Karen have collaborated since1988 in workshops, performances and research projects including Acapella Motion and Moving's View, the latter which they taught at Earthdance with Nancy Stark Smith from 1998-2005.

Susan Schell teaches and performs in the US and abroad. Her work is deeply influenced by her study of Contact Improvisation, Authentic Movement, poetry, the people she teaches and the land she lives on. She has been on the faculty of several programs for the study of Authentic Movement and has been a contributing editor for A Moving Journal , a publication exploring themes related to the practice and study of Authentic Movement. She has also served as adjunct faculty in dance at the University of Maine, near where she lives in Chesterville. 

Karen Nelson has been practicing dance improvisation, contact improvisation, meditation, and performance for over thirty years. She has toured in Europe, South America, Asia, the United States, and Canada, working with a variety of dancers and performers. Her dance and performance practice has been directly influenced by Steve Paxton, Nancy Stark Smith and Lisa Nelson and their respective work in Contact Improvisation, Material for the Spine and Tuning Scores, and through exploration with other forms including Contemplative Dance Practice as introduced by Barbara Dilley at Naropa University.  Over the decades, Karen co-founded Joint Forces Dance Co, Breitenbush Jam, Dance Ability, Diverse Dance Research Retreat, and performance group Image Lab among other projects. Since 2002 she has been caretaker of 240 acres of retreat land near Goldendale, WA called Ser Chö Ösel Ling or Land of Clear Light Golden Dharma, a project of Kagyu Changchub Chuling in Portland, OR. Here she is currently involved in all aspects of building a rural meditation retreat facility including fundraising, construction support, land stewardship, volunteer coordinating and collaborating within a community decision making process, and where she aspires to one day participate in a traditional Buddhist 3-year retreat in the Shangpa Kagyu lineage.  

Total Workshop Fee = Tuition + Room & Board.

Tuition (3 Tiers Available):
   Student Rate: Economically challenged students and the unemployed: $120
   Regular Rate: Employed but struggling (teacher, librarian, lots of kids, etc.): $145
   Professional Rate: Actually contributing to your retirement plan (support the arts!): $170

Standard Room & Board: $120 (includes other SEEDS Festival Activities as well as accomodations and meals)
Early Registration Discount: $25 off if registered by June 15
Deposit Required: $75

Arrival Friday, 8/1, after 5 p.m.
Last session ends Sunday afternoon 8/3