Groundation, Sensation, Connection
Funmi Adewole
Saturday
11:30 - 13:00
LaborGras
Workshop
This workshop explores movement principles found in many African dance styles – low centre of gravity, spine, foot, floor connections, the production of vibrations, rotations, undulations through the body. The warm-up will provide a starting point for improvised dancing, alone and with others. The focus will be interaction - between body parts, individuals and space. There will be opportunity to watch each other explorations.
Funmi Adewole has a background touring with African dance drama and physical theatre companies. She is a senior lecturer in Dance at De Montfort University, Leicester with research interests in somatic self-inquiry and performance practices.
She started out as a media practitioner in Nigeria and moved into performance on relocating to England in 1994. For several years she toured with Physical/Visual theatre and African dance drama companies. Her credits include performances with Ritual Arts, Horse and Bamboo Mask and Puppetry Company, Artistes-in-Exile, Adzido Pan-African Dance Ensemble, Mushango African dance and Music Company and the Chomondeleys contemporary dance company. She was chair of Association of Dance of the African Diaspora in Britain (ADAD) from 2005 to 2007. In this role she initiated and directed the ADAD Heritage project, which contributed to the documentation of black-led dance companies and choreographers in England between the 1930s and 1990s. She continues to perform as a storyteller. As a dramaturge she works mainly with makers who are interdisciplinary or cross-sectorial in focus.