The Great Menorah of the Palace of Applied Arts will host contact improvisation sessions led by Aistė Jančiūtė, an artist and specialist in movement practices.  These sessions will be inspired by one of the works of the contemporary art exhibition "Refuge" at the Sapiegas Palace, Bojana Cvejić's and Lennart Laberenz's video work "Without Shaking the Kink". It features an interview with choreographer Steve Paxton and invites participants to try out contemporary dance techniques with their own bodies. 

Contact improvisation is one of the art forms of dance and improvisation, where communication takes place through movement in contact with another. Touch is one of the essential tools of contact improvisation and invites exploration and discovery of new trajectories of movement. This dance form helps to establish a better relationship not only with one's own body, but also arouses curiosity to move, playfulness and spontaneity. Free movement, touch and non-verbal communication can bring unexpected insights about oneself, the environment or the world. These sessions communicate through movement, listening to oneself, one's partner and the environment. Participants focus on the sensations of the body, touch and fluid, empathic movement together.

These sessions are open to participants with no dance experience. Loose, non-restrictive clothing is recommended (there will be an opportunity to change) and the session will be barefoot.

Aistė Jančiūtė

Aistė has been teaching contact improvisation classes and workshops since 2013, and has been actively involved in creating and supporting the contact improvisation community in Vilnius. She has studied contact improvisation and performance art from experienced teachers such as Eckhard Müller (DE), Daniel Schwartz (AR), Katie Duck (NL) and Alfred Genovesi (UK), Angel Doniyaus (RU), Ray Chung (US), Yaniv Mintz (IL), Anya Cloud (US), Daniel Lepkoff (US), and others. Aistė is also interested in other movement practices: yoga, active meditation, contemporary dance. This year Aistė graduated from The Institute for Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy in the UK.

For more information: https://sapiegurumai.lt/renginiai/kunai-ir-rumai/