11th International Dance Festival Warsaw CI Flow – Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art

Artistic Foundation PERFORM invites to a unique because organized in unusual circumstances, edition of the event, which will start the new 3-year edition of the Warsaw CI FLOW Festival.

Warsaw CI Flow is an international dance festival, which developed and evolved under the influence of the trends shaping Contact Improvisation technique (CI), as a cultural and social phenomenon. The technique is a communication system, a tool for self-discovery and change at the level of perception. The festival is a space for research and experiment, both in the area of CI technique itself and in a broader context.

CI dates back to 1972. Steve Paxton, a pioneer of this technique, combined his experience with contemporary dance, acrobatics and Aikido. The various faces of CI are influenced by the individual approach of practitioners and teachers, who this year will bring their artistic experiences from such corners of the world as Great Britain, Italy, Belgium, the USA and Poland.

The 11th edition of the Festival is organized in an atmosphere of awakened sensitivity and readiness, which is a consequence of uncertainty and constant changes. Despite the extraordinary time and in response to the need to find new communication channels, the organizers are trying to create the opportunity to dance, regardless of the difficulties caused by the global pandemic.

How? Through a multi-dimensional, free exploration of movement and creativity, through listening to intuition, increasing self-awareness and deepening sensory perception. Thanks to these characteristics and tools of artistic expression, the CI technique enables transformation both at the individual and collective level.

Nancy Stark-Smith (1998) defined the main assumptions of this technique: “(…) To grapple with the physical forces and grapple with each other on a physical level, and a nervous system level. Seeing human nature manifested in micro version in the dancers, the movement, the pauses, the excitement, the dilemmas, thrills, virtuosity. All of that you can see in a very non-linear, and not particularly narrative form.”

CI practice is an open exploration in which two or more people (masses) meet through a point of contact and together examine senses and impulses. Dancers use intuition and their own interests in dance. They test their skills, needs and, more importantly, their limits. CI teaches sensitivity, openness and awareness of "here and now". Each partner is part of the ever-changing landscape that evolves under the influence of an individual sense of time, space and energy.

The festival will take place in the heart of Warsaw and at the Ujazdowski Castle Centre for Contemporary Art, in the vicinity of Ujazdowski Park, where some of the festival's activities will take place. The number of festival participants will be limited in order to maintain safety and because of the introduced regulations. We will ensure the highest possible level of safety in the practice space. Participants will have the choice and the chance to dance solo as well as in duo, in small or large groups, outdoors and indoors.

In order to reach those who will not be able to participate in the festival physically, the program has been extended to include activities in the Internet space. To enable everyone to meet and practice despite distance and sanitation regime, some of the workshops and events will be available online.

This festival is open to participants at all levels of experience.

• The festival program includes:
• – CI & Composition Intensive Laboratory with Anouk Llaurens: Composing the body-ies, composing the space. A composition observatory guided by Anouk Llaurens,
• – CI & Embodied Anatomy On-line Workshop with Nicole Bindler: Grounding in Our Tissues During Uncertain Times,
• – Site-specific Intensive with Paweł Konior: Organized chaos,
• – CI Intensive with Caroline Waters: Sensing Body,
• – Lecture by Nicole Bindler: Beyond Sex. Consent as liberation,
• – Performative practice sharings.

During the festival, there will also be film screenings, talks, laboratories, and the Contact Improvisation Library will be operating. The full festival program is available on the website.

A detailed price list of passes for the Warsaw CI Flow festival, also online pass, can be found here.