Sunday Sessions with Taja Will: An EcoSensual Movement improvisation Workshop

States of Remembering & Belonging: 

An EcoSensual Movement improvisation Workshop with Taja Will

This workshop is a synergistic collaboration of decolonial praxis, environmental sovereignty, sensation play and dance improvisation. 

I hypothesize it is a human birthright and essential need to be bonded with the Earth. As an urbanite, I recognize the responsibility to be intentional about bonding. 

From my indigenous perspective, as a person far from my native lands, I bring bonding with my motherland with me to a new place, where I am a guest. As a guest, I take the responsibility for getting to know the species and DNA of this land. As an artist, I am devoted to improvisation, as an improviser I am curious about the creative input offered to me through sensation. 

This workshop aims to engage movement through solo and small group research. The research modalities offered are sourced from somatics, dance improvisation, adapted indigenous practice (specifically limpias), and kink play (impact & sensation). Sensation refers to the primary five senses and the more nuanced senses: weight, space, time, felt sense and embodied connection.

* Sunday Sessions is produced by Beth Graczyk Productions, Inc., a nonprofit based in Brooklyn, NY. Curated by Beth Graczyk, the series creates intersections between diverse artistic communities and students, centering the practices of improvisation from dance artists who are also makers of performance.

Venue Access:

• Exact address will be provided upon registration. The studio is located in Bushwick, just a 3-minute walk from the L train Morgan Ave stop.
• Free street parking is available (please check posted signs for restrictions).
• The studio is a walk-up space on the 2nd floor with stair access only. Please contact us in advance to discuss specific accommodations.
• Drinkable tap water is available on site.
• The space is a beloved older building with some uneven spots in the floor. Dancing barefoot is welcome, but you may wish to bring socks or soft shoes for comfort.
• (covid or viral harm reduction practices) **Chronically ill, disabled, elders and children are around us in ways we know and predict and unpredictable ways. Please be responsible for your own health and wellness and considerate of others, do not attend if you feel unwell. We recommend rapid testing for covid if you are able. You may choose to wear a mask throughout the workshop. 

Taja Will, they/them, is a queer, disabled, Latine indigenous adoptee, who is simultaneously a choreographer, performer, educator, and Healing Justice practitioner. They are home-based in what is colonially known as Minneapolis, MN, the contemporary and ancestral lands of the Dakota and Anishinaabe. 

They blend movement improvisation, performance research and lived experience in a multi-dimensional, transdisciplinary world of embodiment. Their work has often been hailed as “deeply visceral, transporting, confronting and utterly moving.”