The Emerge Winter Intensive is a two-day intensive for pre-professional and professional dance artists to expand their practice through 10 hours of professional based technique and practice.
January 25th
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Street Dance Tegvaran Sooch
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Freestyle movement and finding intersections between street dance and contemporary. Punit Singh
1:30 PM - 3 PM Break
3 PM - 6 PM Indulging with Arash Khakpour
January 26th
11:30 AM - 12:30 PM Street Dance Tegvaran Sooch
12:30 PM - 1:30 PM Freestyle movement and storytelling and character development. Punit Singh
1:30 PM - 3 PM Break
3 PM - 6 PM Indulging with Arash Khakpour
*Class times and instructors are subject to change depending on availability.
About workshops:
Indulging | The Dimensions of Imagination in Contact Improvisation
In this workshop for dancers, we will bring the value of agility and tactility to awaken our inner CATS. We will work on conscious duetting by using rolling point, sloughing, bridging, yielding, anchoring, pressure modulation, internal expansion and weigh-sharing to sharpen our physical awareness and dexterity.
We will explore how the physical skillsets can expand through indulging in the range of our senses, the energetic circumferences of our bones, noticing emotions and tapping into imagination. Can imagination guide us to inhabit our bodies of knowledge and generosity? This leads us into dreaming the body and the extensions of our bodies as a way of expanding and exceeding the physical body. Can the heart as an organ play a part in our dancing together?
This workshop will invite us to dive into perceptual possibilities of what it feels like to awaken and develop our imagination as a way of bridging the unconscious to the conscious. Can imagination guide us to dream our ancient bodies of otherworldly wisdom? We will work on enhancing personal suppleness and virtuosity through short improvisational duets, tuning into the perception within the group, and utilizing the group's intelligence.
About artists:
Arash Khakpour (آرش خاکپور) is a dancer and choreographer from Tehran and is privileged to be a dance artist based in the Coast Salish Territory (Vancouver). Arash has been practicing dance and performance for the past 15 years and has been a company member of the EDAM Contact Improvisation ensemble since 2017. He tends to invest in the nuances of prejudices in the body as a way of inviting the unconscious to the conscious, and as a doorway to confront unknown emotions. He sees dance as a process of physical, emotional and spiritual discovery and a mode of transformation. He works with dance as a language that researches the human condition through mythical, historical, social, political and existential interpretations. As a first-generation immigrant, he continuously considers what healing he can bring to the land and communities he works with. He is building a culture of relationality and reciprocity that celebrates the multiplicity of presences and approaches. Arash is the co-founder and artistic director of the dance-theatre-film company The Biting School (alongside his brother Aryo Khakpour).
Tegvaran Sooch is a versatile artist from Surrey, BC, training in styles like Hip-Hop and KRUMP. Representing the “illest illusionz” crew, Teg has had the opportunity to compete in various local and out-of-town street dance tournaments, spanning cities such as Toronto, Calgary, Montreal, and Seattle. For Teg, dance is a way of storytelling and emotional expression. He draws inspiration from the energy of the people around him, movie characters, and anime. His artistic approach involves the fusion of experimental concepts with foundational elements in unconventional ways, resulting in distinctive and captivating movement.
Punit Singh is an Indo-Canadian first-generation immigrant residing in Surrey, BC. He has been professionally dancing for over two years, performing in productions such as "Plunge" with the Falling Company in 2023 under Marissa Wong. Additionally, he has performed with the street dance company Higher Ground, led by Natasha Gorrie, at festivals in Surrey and Vancouver.
Recently, Punit led a comprehensive dance project involving dancers and AI animation, working with mentors like Erin Lum and Marissa Wong, supported by the Canada Council for the Arts. In February 2024, Punit debuted his first duet, "Office Playground," alongside Sarah U for the Chalk Festival. He also performed his solo, "Human" as part of a show "Collabor8" by Kylah Powell. This piece is now being further developed during his residency with the Dance West Network under the mentorship of Arash Khakpour.
A huge thank you to Dance West Network's Re-centering/ Margins residency peogram. To learn more about the program click here.
As part of their residency Punit and Teg will host an in-formal showing of their residency work at PG Playhouse January 25th at 6:00 PM with a talk back. Admission is free.
Bursaries are available to those facing financial barriers. Please contact outreach@methoddance.ca