David Zambrano

This 4-week (20-day) intensive offers a deep, immersive learning experience in Flying Low and Passing Through, transmitted directly by David Zambrano. Participants are invited to dive into an extensive–intensive process that develops both technical precision and improvisational-compositional awareness. The intensive includes a Passing Through performance with the whole group on the last Thursday. An additional Post-Intensive Passing Through Week is available, also to be joined by other ex-participants.

Flying Low
This workshop focuses on the dancer’s relationship with the floor. Through simple yet highly articulated movement patterns, the class works with breathing, speed, and the release of energy throughout the body. These principles activate the connection between the center and the joints, allowing dancers to move in and out of the ground with greater efficiency while maintaining a centered state.

Special attention is given to skeletal awareness, supporting the development of physical perception, responsiveness, and alertness. The practice includes partnering work and movement phrases that explore fundamental laws of physics such as cohesion and expansion.

A core image of the practice is that when one body moves, the whole room moves with it. The body is understood as constantly spiraling—whether running, walking, standing, or dancing. Working with spirals allows dancers to enter and exit the floor with ease and to perceive themselves and the space from multiple perspectives. These spirals propel the class continuously through space, both grounded and upright. This is the essence of the Flying Low technique.

Passing Through
In the creation of movement compositions, David Zambrano focuses on developing dynamics for complex systems in which leadership emerges as a collective web. In nature, cells do not require a single protein leader to generate life, just as the brain does not rely on one protein to create thought. Following this principle, Zambrano approaches movement creation as a leaderless process.

Passing Through guides participants through a series of exercises that embody this philosophy. The group generates flexible and complex dynamics—moving together while always leaving space for the unexpected. The ensemble remains in constant motion, leading and following itself, continuously transforming the dance environment.

Through this practice, participants develop the ability to connect instantly with their surroundings and to make spontaneous, informed choices. These skills support dancers as improvisers, choreographers, and performers within their own work or the work of others.

How to apply
Participation in this intensive is by selection. The first selection of participants will be announced on February 1st, March 15, May 1, and July 1. After that, applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until the group is full.

Post-Intensive Passing Through Week
In the week following the 4-week intensive, David Zambrano offers a dedicated Passing Through Week for artists who have previously completed a Passing Through Intensive and are fully familiar with the composition. Participants of the 4-week intensive are warmly encouraged to extend their experience by registering for this additional week. It provides an opportunity to further practice and develop Passing Through with David Zambrano and a group of like-minded, experienced dancers within a new group constellation.

Opportunities to prepare
Throughout 2027, David Zambrano will share Flying Low and Improvisation workshops at Tictac. These shorter workshops offer an introduction to the work and allow potential participants to experience the practice firsthand. They also provide an opportunity for David to get to know participants in real time, supporting the selection process for the intensive.

This workshop does not apply to the Early registration or multiple workshop discount.