Begegnung
Group performance with mature dancers
Concept and choreography: Andrea Berchtold
Performance: Jürg Ramseier, Christine Ramseier, Ruth Rohrer, Katharina Grünig, John Wittwer, Franziska Hauser
Music: compilation
Duration 15 minutes
“Begegnung” is a 15 minute dance piece for mature dancers 55+ and was filmed in Switzerland as part of my diploma in facilitating dance for older people. The piece was collaboratively created with the dancers, by researching touch, meeting and encountering others in life and in dance as a mature person.
“How does my body respond when I encounter/meet a not familiar person? Does my body stay in a familiar pattern? Is there a space for new responses? What is authentic physical response to impulses?” These question have become very relevant in my life, especially observing interactions between older people.
The project had three stages:
Workshop: The initial meeting in an improvisational workshop setting was the most crucial one for me for observation, as most participants did not know each other, and that meeting gave me most information on how we express physically during such close initial encounters.
Somatic movement sessions: After the initial meeting I scheduled six weeks of movement sessions to encourage physicality, awareness of body, enjoyment in movement exploration and enhancing soft skills.
Performance: Another four weeks of bringing together the improvisation/research findings, new body awareness and compositional and choreographic input resulted in a presentation captured by video.
