Santiago Mariño

19.01 / 21.01 - Improvisation

What to expect:

We gather around creative durational sessions of improvisation and deep movement studies. We warm up the body through the space, connecting to our own bodies and to each other by moving alone and together, speaking, observing and listening. We then flow into a movement practice in which we take different movement qualities that we pursue to sustain durationally by means of improvisation and artistic self-expression. This class is both a technical dance class as much as it fosters creativity. We play with speed, isolations, coordination, musicality and rhythm, as well as with physical and more-than-physical connections with others around. We nurture the mindfulness we achieve through our dance by discovering the potentiality of every instant to become a moment of transformation. We dig deeper into what movement holds as an artform that is meaningful for our bodies just as much as it attunes us to collective intuition and motion. You can expect a movement class that is emphatically open to all dance professionals and movers alike, who feel curious about improvisation, durational practices and the experience of togetherness.

Biography:

Santiago is a contemporary dancer, dance artist and dance educator from Bogotá, Colombia. He has worked as a dancer for over 10 years across South America and Europe, collaborating with companies in Colombia, France, Equator and Germany. He holds an MA in Choreography and Performance from the Hessische Theater Akademie and Justus-Liebig Universität. As a teacher, his approach is person-centered, taking the time to actively accompany each dancer's process. His understanding of technique is that of physical sensations and anatomical coordinations, so instead of following a particular style, he focuses on what structured movement languages provide as an integral kinaesthetic experience. He holds pedagogical spaces where hierarchies of teaching are revisited and knowledge can be constructed and shared horizontally, circularly. Santiago has trained professional dancers in varied contexts such as Künstler:innenhaus Mousonturm, Hessisches Staatsballett, Stadttheater Gießen, Teatro Mayor Dance Company and National Center for the Arts Bogotá.