PR ARCHIVES
Ontario Jam 2016, 2017
Each year we have had the pleasure of attending the Ontario Regional Contact Improvisation Jam and sharing Parcon. Here are photos from 2016 and 2017
Javaka Steptoe taught a Parcon class at the 2016 Ontario Jam!
The 2017 Ontario Jam I taught. It was amazing! 75+ people Parconning in the park. At one point in time I looked across the whole park and everywhere I looked people were engaging in weight sharing and climbing on the objects around them.
Art of Retreat
Thank you The Movement Creative and Caitlin Pontrella for inviting us into the Parkour community. Each year we have gotten a chance to share our work and be enriched by the parkour community!
The Art of Retreat is a North American conference for Parkour instructors to share knowledge and best practices. In 2015, In New Jersey, I was invited to teach a Contact Improvisation class. This evolved into the first exploration of Parcon.
Javaka Steptoe went to teach in 2016 on Roosevelt Island, NY
2017 took place around Battery Park , NY ....I unfortunately do no have any photos for this one!
Tutorial video on Parcon Lenses
Want to try out some Parcon? Watch our first instructional video here! Let us know what you think! There are many more to come! -filming by Brandon Hoshiko
Thank you to Sam Hoshiko (son of a friend) for allowing your learning process to be shared with others!
Fall of 2017 in San Jose, CA
6 different Parcon Resilience lenses
Place, Body, Touch, Locomote(Mobilize), Connect and Imagine
University of London: undergrad architectural design class
This workshop highlighted how the body can be used to understand human design.
Where: City Hall 4-5-6 Subway, NYC, NY
When: 3/21/17
Who: Royal Haolloway, University of London
What: Parcon for undergraduate design students touring NYC. The workshop highlighted how the body can be used to understand human design.
Harlem Arts Festival: SPACES
Parcon partnered up with the Kaimera Productions and Human Collective to play with using Parcon to emphasize the tactile and kinesthetic cues from live local story tellers from Harlem.
Where: Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church (15 Mt. Morris Park West, NYC NY)
When: June 24, 2017
Who: Akojaiye Ausar, , Cecilia Fontanesi, Funda Gul, Andrew Suseno, in collaboration with Kaimera Productions,
What: Parcon NYC partnered up with the Kaimera Productions and Human Collective to play with using Parcon to emphasize the tactile and kinesthetic cues from live story tellers.
Revolutionary Fitness: Parcon
Free Parcon classes to member of the Rev Fit East Harlem community. "Revolutionary Fitness trains our community members so they can help and empower their friends and family with the message of health and fitness."
photo by Shawn Garcia (on timer)
Where: 1637 Park Avenue, NYC, NY
When: Summer/ Fall of 2017
Who: For member of the Rev Fit community (low income POC of East Harlem)
What: Free Parcon classes to member of the Rev Fit community. "Revolutionary Fitness trains our community members so they can help and empower their friends and family with the message of health and fitness."
Mixed Abilities @Nelson A Rockefeller Park - summer 2017
Summer of 2017 a handful of mover with disabilities and Andrew began to build curriculum for Mixed Abilities Parcon at the Nelson A Rockefeller Park, NYC, NY.
Mixed Abilities Parcon classes is an affinity class for people who identify or have been forced to identify as a person with a disability and allies. These workshops and classes are co-created with people with disabilities in the Parcon community to craft curriculum for all that centers the experiences of people with disabilities.
Location: Nelson A Rockefeller Park: West on Chambers St toward the Hudson, NYC NY
*All Parcon Resilience classes are physically integrated! These classes in the summer of 2017 were particularly centered on the development of affinity and tools for people with disabilities.
Testimony: "As a movement form, Parcon has the capacity to publicly expose and dismantle the limitations that society has imposed on our identities one collective exploration at a time. It's ironic the very bodies which dehumanize us in the eyes of the powerful, also serve as containers of the strength, resilience, ingenuity and creativity we use daily to thrive in environments that are often unjustly restrictive and oppressive." -Colleen Roche
Parcon Generations:
Parcon Gen seeks to build relationships between adults and children that support empathy and transformation. We seek to create curriculum that honors the development of children and the particular role to movement and the body of caregivers.
Children take to Parcon as a natural extension of what they do. They request help to meet challenges around them and will use any body part to achieve their goals. The above video shares the exploration of Lenses with Sam, the son of a friend’s in California. Through this video you will see how Parcon invites and enhances the movement dialogue between bodies of varying sizes.
Parcon Generation classes took place in the Summer 2017 (Jefferson park 1st ave and 114th st) with local parents and 4-5 year olds. Then in the school year of 2017-2018 Parcon was shared after school with children in the Central Park East 1 public Elementary school.
Mixed Abilities Parcon at the Axis Project 2017
Axis Project is a a gym, rehab center, social gathering place for people with physical disabilities. Parcon Mixed Abilities is a class geared toward understanding and teaching toward their experience.
Where: Axis Project 1325 5th Avenue, NYC, NY
When: Every Wednesday 4-5 from summer of 2017 -
Who: Open to all members of the gym
What: Axis Project is a a gym, rehab center, social gathering place for people with physical disabilities. Parcon Mixed Abilities is a class geared toward understanding and teaching toward their experience.
Sticks Stroll IDACO 2017
Parcon NYC opened the Italian Dance Connection Festival with 10 minute structured improvisations using wooden poles to vault, sense, and influence each other and the environment.
Where: Baruch Performing Arts Center (55 Lexington Ave, New York, NY 10010)
When: June 2 & June 4, 2017
Who: Akojaiye Ausar, Cecilia Fontanesi, Funda Gul, Andrew Suseno (Parcon NYC) in collaboration with Jose Gabriel Alvarez-Manilla Sanchez, Ruby Romero, Albert Yau (Movement Creative)
What: Parcon NYC opened the Italian Dance Connection Festival with 10 minute structured improvisations using wooden poles to vault, sense, and influence each other and the environment.
flim by Perry Sheffield
Click here to see a video of one of our performances!
Parcon NYC #1: Subway Stops
Silver Judges Award for the Contact Dance International Film Festival 2017
Where: 96 st station 2/3 train Subway stop, nearby scaffolding, train, and house in the Bronx.
When: Screening NYC, [National Debut] May 27, 2016 ; Screening Venezia, [international debut] May 14, 2017
Screening Toronto, June 28 to July 2, 2017: Silver Judges Award for the Contact Dance International Film Festival 2017
Who: Dean James Beckwith, Cecilia Fontanesi, Richard Kim, Javaka Steptoe and Andrew Suseno.
What: A Latinx teenager makes her way through NYC using the subway and begins to notice interesting movement in the background of her everyday world.
Filmed and editted by Martin Martin and Satoko Sugiyama
Press here to see the short film!
Project East Harlem (LMCC)
Parcon Lenses, each one expressed at a different location on a shared walking tour of the park. By the final location the audience and performers had a Parcon moving experience together on the playground. Photo by Luka & Editting of film by Jacqueline Wade
Where: House of Duende and Jefferson Park (1st ave & 112th street)
When: September 23 & 24, 2017
Who: Akojaiye Ausar, Cecilia Fontanesi, Funda Gul, Andrew Suseno (Parcon NYC), Dorren Moglii Smith (House of Duende), and (Brianna Anderson, Leah Moriarty) Movement of the People Dance.
What: Our performance consisted of exploring Parcon from different lenses, each one expressed at a different location on a shared walking tour of the park. By the final location the audience and performers had a Parcon moving experience together on the playground. Project East Harlem was made possible in part with public funds from Creative Engagement, supported by the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council.
Thanks to Jacqueline Wade for editting the camera work.
Testimony:
Beyond Playing Chicken INSITU 2017
Photo by Javier Gamboa #insitudancefestival + #insitudance2017
Where: Queensbridge Park Playground (Vernon Blvd, Long Island City, NY 11101)
When: July 8 and 9, 2017
Who: Akojaiye Ausar, Cecilia Fontanesi, Funda Gul, Albert Yau, Dorren Moglii Smith, Andrew Suseno (Parcon NYC) as part of the INSITU site specific dance festival
What: 6 performances on a playground where we explored how the textures of the playground influenced our solo and duet Parcon movement. We were also curious about how we could use Parcon to invite audience members into playing together across differences on the playground.
Resilience Collaboration with Daniel Mang
Testimony:
”Most of my training is done in isolation. Either working on my jumps, range, strength or balance, most of the time is done with introspection. I didn't realized how spending time in isolation impacted my interaction skills with others. After deciding to try Parcon, I discovered a way to train how I could better interact with people.” -Steve Lee Ung
Links to more Info:
Where: Randy Warshaw Dance Studio, NYC, NY 10012
When: Dec 17th, 2017
Who: 4 attendees
What: Parcon Resilience and Radical Contact collaborative workshop exploring how consent based work, Parcon and Non-violent communication can come together.
Flash Mob on the Highline!
Where: Highline, NYC NY 10012
When: November 17, 2017
Who: 25+ movers drawing from Parcon NYC, Movement Creative, Parcon classes, and a Parson's Design class thanks to Kimberly Tate.
What: A one hour class combining Parcon with investigation of design followed by a filmed Flash Mob where movers intermingled with pedestrians and then went into Parcon.
Parcon 101
A fun night at the Duke Ellington Circle in East Harlem, where we came together to learn the Parcon Lenses for approaching connection.
Where: Duke Ellington Circle at 5th ave and 110th st, NYC, NY 10029
When: Evening, August 24, 2017
Who: 20+ friends, neighbors, Parcon students, passersby, and contact Improvisation community members.
What: Share Parcon 101 is the pilot for the Parcon Lenses, an easy way to teach people how to do Parcon. Participants received a double sided flyer that contained all the steps for teaching Parcon to another.
Testimony:
"Movement is the flowing of energy. Energy in concert with one another is synergetic. How we move isn’t as important that we move with the awareness of ourselves and others. There is no judgement just folks moving in a tuned up way in a safe place.
We all share the same the space and thereby can equally honor each ones presence and right to be in the arena Parcon opens.
Power dynamics are shared and mutually agreed upon. No one is forced to connect but instead is invited to engage. " -Chandra Travis
Revolution Jam to remove racist statue
Protesting to remove the Marion Sims statue in East Harlem. (white gynecologist who experimented on enslaved African women).
Where: Duke Ellington Circle and J Marion Sims Statue
When: Afternoon in October 15th, 2017
Who: 6 Movers and Activist expert to guide discussion
What: The first hour we held a Parcon class investigating our sense of belonging and our self-determination to bear weight through any surface in relation to others and the environment. The second hour, conversations with a field expert on DACA, and the final hour a Parcon Action on the Marion Sims statue. Sims was the founder of "modern day gynecology," who maimed and killed hundreds of enslaved women to develop his techniques.
TESTIMONY:
"Parcon brings us back to our bodies and our inherent need for play and adventure... Various exercises were explored in such a way that gave each participant to experience what it means for them be in a position of power, and in other cases to be the one who does not have power. Exercises were also culminated with a discussion and feedback. These allowed the participants to have a chance to express more ideas, make connection between the exercises and her daily lives, and also create meaningful conversations with other participants and through their different lens and experience. " - Ea Torrado
Links to more Info:
What's happened to the statue to date?