In this workshop led by Raphaël Beau the participants are invited to find their own connections with themselves, each other, and the place through different embodied experiences: touch, look, proprioception, memories, imagination.

This workshop is a continuation and expansion from the open practice Raphaël Beau facilitates during his Zodiak Laboratory period in November 2023. Raphaël Beau approaches facilitating in the same way that he approaches performing: working from being in the moment, listening, and taking information from what is here in and around us.

In this workshop the participants are invited to find their own connections with themselves, each other, and the place through different embodied experiences: touch, look, proprioception, memories, imagination. The embodied experiences emerge at the meeting point between each participant’s interests, the place, and a topic from Beaus' creative process: inside/outside, here/there, reality/imagination, overlapping of times, home, layers, rhythms, etc. These topics will be activated in motion. What is it to activate thoughts in motion? How does motion impact thoughts? We will attempt to make space for the inner flow of thoughts to unfold in movement, finding our own ways to channel them. The workshop is about playing, seriously playing, about letting oneself be curious, here and now, about sensing, seeing, listening, about letting one’s own skin be touched by the skin of the place. It is inspired by somatic practices, improvisation, and instant composition. It is an invitation to relate and be attentive with playfulness and curiosity to self, others, and the place where we practice.

 

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Raphaël Beau is a performance artist based in Helsinki. His artistic practice is inspired by community animation as well as improvisation and instant composition, which he has been practicing for 15 years with various choreographers, dancers and performers. This workshop is a continuation of the weekly open practice Raphaël has been facilitating, as part of his studies in the Master Dance Performance (2021-2023), at the Theatre Academy, Uniarts Helsinki.