COMPANY

I have developed a dance company called “Company” which is the counterpart to the Body Movement class. It is a similar format, open to all whom are interested, but this membership requires dedication. The membership of Company currently includes photgraphers, architects, web designers, architects, environmentalists, politicians, dancers, actors, costume designers and more. All are welcome to join Company. Company is interested in creating happenings and performances mostly in the outdoor arena. Our first project is located on a politically charged site, a “pop up park” that has become “slightly permanent”, Grand Central Park located in Downtown Miami. It is home to our first piece that will last for 3 months, where we will inhabit a piece of land and translate the environment and our experience through movement and structures that will be built over time based on an organic process of observation and documentation. Come join us! Sundays at 1:00 pm at Grand Central Park, located at the corner of NW 1st Ave and NW 8th St (700 N Miami Ave) in the heart of Downtown Miami.

Check out the Facebook Event Page for updates: http://www.facebook.com/events/186761344800453/

Learn about the park and it's interesting history: http://grandcentralpark.org/gcparkmiami/

 

 

 

 

 

The Possession: A Collaboration Between Jenna Balfe and Otto Von Schirach

http://youtu.be/vMHKdvM85ws For Downtown Art Days, Southernmost Situations hosted an event at the Corner on September 9, 2012 for performance. Otto and I decided to explore the less visited realms of our experience via otherworldly sounds and the movements that corresponded. For about 3 minutes our goal was to give strong vibes to the audience via the performance and then the take the energy of the audience pull it in to our zone of cleansing, finally releasing it back to them, creating a triangle circuit.

Press: Art is About

Art Live Fair 2012

On October 27, 2012 the Body Movement Class (The End/Spring Break, me (Jenna Balfe) and Mr. Feathers (music)  held workshops at the Art Live Fair. We had two workshops and at the end of each workshop participants were asked to use their newly aquired physical information to answer a simple question with their skillz. This quick “answer”was video recorded. click here to see a video!

We explored the concepts such as:

Weight Sharing - We will lightly cover technique that will give movers the ability to share a center of gravity and find momentum to dance. The play of balance and off balance will also be touched upon.

Gesture - Playing with the concept of everyday expression and movements, we will explore and re-contextualize their meanings and use.

Dancing with someone else- Really tuning into another person’s rythym and initiative to move is an art that extends beyond dance... but for the purposes of this small workshop we will focus on trying to listen to our partner as well as inspire their movement.

Sensitivity and awareness skills- This is a group movement oriented workshop. We will play with the concept of telling the same story at the same time as one entity with different moving parts.

Body Movement Class has been an ongoing class since January 2012 (with a 2 month summer break) These workshops were helped by people who had been attending the class regularly. Because of the skills they learned we were able to more easily delve into physical play with the attendees of the workshop. Thank you to: Jean Crystal, Misael Soto, Natasha Velez, Alicia Ziatsu, Patricia Margarita Hernandez, Domingo Castillo, Natalia Sturlia and Mauricio Abascal.

Press:

Art Is About

The End

BODY MOVEMENT

Body Movement - A class based on contact improv with elements of dance theatre, improv and general playfulness. The class is open to all people ! Not just trained dancers. The goal of the class is actually to get people who are not aware of their movement capabilities to become aware of them and enjoy! Come visit!

Where: http://miadancestudio.com/

This movement workshop has a goal of engendering confidence through exploring human interaction and communication through movement. We will sample different movement styles and practices such as: capoiera, contact improv, dance improvisation, yoga and modern dance. I will direct a collaborative process of creating our own movement vocabulary based on each individual's movement style (we all have a movement style, whether we are conscious of it or not). Over time we will build a dance vocabulary based on these personal gestures and influence from other movement styles. We will learn how to create“scores,”( a set of physical instructions that can be interpreted and repeated loosley) We will learn how to read one another and recognize “triggers” that will allow us to move together and play off of each others movements creating loose scores that will enable us to jump into using a particular vocabulary in a mildly pre-determined manner.

Another goal, separate from our studio time is to take this to the streets! To other places, to the sidewalk, the median, the grocery store, the beach, a gallery, a party we were not invited too, a tree, on bicycles... The idea is to create a movement vocabulary and sense of each other in space that we are comfortable with which will enables us to create site specific works with ease. Perhaps some flash mob type things as well... Sometimes our audience will only be ourselves, other times it could be the pedestrians on a busy sidewalk or guests at a gallery...these are the details we will work out as the time comes.

Why:

We look at each other and a million or more thoughts are going on in our own individual heads... We filter/distill this muck of consideration down to a poignant expression, a linear abstraction of our emotions, thoughts and feelings intended to explain our state of being to other beings. By exploring the language of touch, sight and sound through movement we can get at these deeper truths from a perspective unencumbered by the barrage of verbal language that is tainted with pre-determined meaning. Find some freedom with the body and then spread this freedom through the streets of weird commercial beautiful Miami, a land of contradiction.

Press:

http://artpractical.tumblr.com/search/miami

http://artisabout.com/2012/12/26/art-body-contact-and-improvisation/

http://www.facebook.com/bodybodymove