Anouk van Dijk
COUNTERTECHNIQUE: BODIES IN COMMUNICATION
This workshop with Anouk van Dijk will introduce Countertechnique, the movement system she developed over the past 25 years to provide dancers with applied tools for a versatile dance practice in the 21st century – focusing on the process of incorporating information into action. This five-day workshop consists daily of three parts: a Countertechnique class, a Practical Tools session, and after lunch we will look at how Countertechnique tools can be implemented in improvisation and creation, with a special focus on collaboration and partnering work.
Since work environments differ from project to project, from moment to moment, as performers we need strategies to respond, adapt and remain versatile during rehearsals and performance seasons. Countertechnique offers specific tools and tasks to make training and dancing easier, more fun and more sustainable. Practical knowledge about the relation between gravity, energy, space and the body, and how thought, observation and sensations are related, promote a pro-active relationship to dancing and performing. With a clear set of tasks and tools, and the free choice to implement these whenever most suited, dancers make their own choices whilst training, dancing and performing.
This workshop is most suitable for professional dance artists who like to dance, work physically, and want to continue doing this for a long time. Dancers new to Countertechnique and those who would like to deepen their practice, are all welcome. We will be working within codified exercises and explore different aspects of task-based improvisation as we generate new movement material and performance situations.
Anouk van Dijk’s biography:
Anouk van Dijk is a choreographer, director and the creator of the movement system, Countertechnique. From 2012 – 2019, she was the Artistic Director of renowned contemporary dance company Chunky Move in Melbourne, Australia. Currently Anouk van Dijk works as a freelance choreographer internationally and is the Founder and Artistic Director of Countertechnique.
Between 1999 – 2012, Van Dijk ran for her own Amsterdam-based company, anoukvandijk dc, dedicated to creating work that sought to provide an insight into the many facets of the human experience through the lens of contemporary dance. During her tenure of Artistic Director of Chunky Move in Melbourne, Australia, she created a series of large scale productions, amongst others An Act of Now (2012), Complexity of Belonging (2014, with Falk Richter), Depth of Field (2015), Rule of Thirds (2016), Common Ground (2018). She has collaborated across disciplines with artists such as Ho Tzu Nyen (Singapore), Theun Mosk (Netherlands), Marg Horwell (Australia), Ian Strange (US/Australia) and most notably created 7 large-scale works together with German writer/director Falk Richter, amongst others TRUST (Schaubuehne Berlin) and RAUSCH (Schauspielhaus Düsseldorf). Since 2019, Van Dijk has worked internationally as a free-lance choreographer, and created amongst others Distant Matter (Staatsballett Berlin), TOUCH (collaboration with Falk Richter, Munich Kammerspiele), and Out of the Blue (Skanes Dansteater, Malmö Opera).
Central to the foundation of Anouk van Dijk’s artistic work has been Countertechnique, the movement system she developed to provide dancers with applied tools for versatile dance practice in the 21st century – focusing on the process of incorporating information into action. Anouk has worked with dancers around the world, and teaches internationally between Europe, USA, Australia and Asia. Currently, Countertechnique has 52 certified teachers around the world and the method holds a prominent place in the publication Dance Techniques 2010, co-written by Prof. Dr. Gerald Siegmund and Anouk van Dijk.
Dates and times:
November 4-8
10:00 – 13:00 and 14:30 – 17:30
Price:
80 € registration fee
300 € total
