“With Material for the Spine, I was interested in alloying a technical approach to improvisational results. It is a system for exploring the interior and exterior muscles of the back. It aims to bring the light of consciousness to the dark side of the body, that is, the sides not much self-seen, and to submit sensations to the mind for consideration.” Steve Paxton
Material For the Spine concentrates accumulated knowledges from Paxton’s study of walking, Contact Improvisation and Aikido practice to explore the movement possibilities in the spine and the connections between the head, pelvis, and vertebrae. This solo practice is a meditative study of a series of exercises, body puzzles and ideokinetic imagery. These sensations can also be used as a palette for improvisation. This weekend intensive takes the work into more extended explorations and improvisations.
Otto Ramstad is a dance artist who works with movement research to create performances, video work and installations for theaters, galleries, museums and different site and context specific encounters. He began studying Body-Mind Centering® in 1981 at six years old with his first dance teacher Suzanne River and is now a Certified Teacher of Body-Mind Centering® , teaching internationally and working as the Educational Director of Somatic Education Australasia. He has a MA in Choreography from KHiO, Oslo. He has worked intensively over the last twenty years with primary teachers: with Lisa Nelson, assistant teaching for Bonnie Bainbridge Cohen, founder of Body-Mind Centering®, and since 2010 with Steve Paxton’s Material for the Spine which he teaches for Paxton internationally including at Steve Paxton: Swimming in Gravity, Contredanse Brussels. He has been dancing in the work of DD Dorvillier, Miguel Gutierrez, Sara Shelton Mann, Karen Nelson, Mia Habib and Kitt Johnson.