PR ARCHIVES
Parcon at J4J EarthDance jam: and as the co-facilitator
The theme for the July 4th Jam was Knotty Growth, representing how growth can be messy. And it could also be heard as “naughty,” as in subverting expected behavior and encouraging play. À la PISAB, we began the festival with community agreements that called for respect and learning. Part of our definition of respect meant that in the event of backlash to the emergence of a newly race conscious space, white allies and organized emotional support would be the first line of contact to address threatened white people. We had POC meals and jam times, designated white ally workshop times and movement workshops integrated with social reflection. Roberta Wilmore, Earthdance’s new part-time diversity coordinator, led a workshop on intersectionality and lead discussions. I also modified logistical town hall meetings, to have “heart-to-hearts,” where the community could revisit agreements and offer appreciations. Although I was fairly alone within the organizing team as a person of color, the jam felt like a huge milestone in my learning and my facilitation of collective process. Most importantly, I felt respected, safe, seen, and a sense of belonging. I suspected that I was not alone.
Joya Powell and Movement of the People Dance Company
Joya Powell and Movement of the People Dance Company
Embodied strategies against micro-aggressions
Joya Powell and Movement of the People Dance Company
Parcon Resilience class to Movement of the People 11/5/2018
TESTIMONY:
JOYA POWELL AND THE MOVEMENT OF THE PEOPLE DANCE COMPANY
"WHAT A PHENOMENAL MORNING EXPLORING MOVEMENT POSSIBILITIES AND LIFE POSSIBILITIES WITH GUEST ARTIST ANDREW SUSENO IN HIS -RESILIENCE THROUGH MICRO-AGGRESSIONS CONTACT-IMPROV WORKSHOP. THE EMBODIED PRACTICE WAS EMOTIONAL AND INSPIRING, GIVING US SEEDS FOR MOVEMENT MAKING AND LIFE. WE ARE EXTREMELY GRATEFUL! " - JOYA POWELL #MOPDC #DANCEISRESISTANCE #DANCEITOUT#MAGICINTHESTUDIO #DANCEREHEARSAL #EMBODIEDPRACTICE
Keynote Speaker at the Creative Aging Conference
Gale Brewer (Manhattan Borough President) facilitating Keynote Panel at Aging Artfully conference
Over 1000 seniors came to the Conference for Aging Artfully. I had the honor of being asked by Gale Brewer to be a Keynote Panelist to share about my Su Casa Parcon work with seniors and to speak about my thoughts on Creative Aging. It was so wonderful to be aligned with Gale and my fellow panelist. I am excited to be part of this movement!
Thank you so much Gale Brewer! It was a pleasure to meet you!
When: August 8, 2018
Where Fordham Law Center
Cada Paso
Water, Sun, and Soil are the components to help a plant grow!
Cada Paso is a non-profit in East Harlem that leads walking tours for mostly Latino families to learn about health living options in NYC. They cover topics such as the Green market, Play, Civic Engagement, WIC, education for adults, and etc.
What: This summer we began to experiment with teaching Parcon around a theme that Cada Paso was focused on. If it was Green Markets, we used Parcon to embody the dynamic relationship between local farmers and consumers versus a big faceless corporations with blander food. If it was play we invited the adults to engage in novel movement on the children’s playground and invited creative interactions with their children.
When: During the summer of 2018
Special Thanks to
Doctor Cappy Collins. The project was a success. Perhaps we will continue again once COVID lifts. A couple of the participants from these workshops ended up coming to local East Harlem classes at the Johnson Houses in East Harlem in the Winter of 2018.
Highline GO * Kimberly for photos?
The Highline was excited to pull us in to teach an intergenerational class on design for their summer event GO!
Who: Kimberly Tate (D A N C I T E C T U R E) and Andrew Suseno collaborated.
What: Two 20 minute mini workshops for parents and toddlers using an open space with colored tape on the floor in beautiful patterns to inform our movement and Parcon with each other.
Special Thanks to:
Highline programming team for giving us this opportunity to share the work.
We got some advertising press in the NY TIMES for the event!
Move Different Research
Move Different Research 2018: Ione Lewis and Andrew Suseno
When: October 19th, 2018
Performers: Ione Lewis and Andrew Suseno
What: We performed for the opening night of Move Different Research! This was the opening of a new studio called, MDR.STUDIO by Kenta Naoi. “The goal of this exhibit is to create a space to build community around examining our relationship with movement through an interactive installation, performance, workshops, and discussion.” They created a cool modular gym that interacts with the participant through light and sound!
Where: LES at 198 Allen St Gallery in Manhattan.
Special Thanks to:
Ione Lewis for an awesome performance
Kimberly Tate and Akhim(Funk Buddha) for helping me with the music selection.
Nelson Gutierrez for allowing us to share this and rehearse with the seniors at La Corsi.
AND Kenta Naoi and Laura Ravn for inviting us to be part of opening night performances for this amazing weekend.
Flow and Rhythm Studies
I am curious how music and House can integrate with Parcon. The following are my on going experiments into flow and musicality.
These are links to other videos I could not post:
Intergenerational Parcon Play
This was the first Intergenerational Parcon Workshop. Our youngest participants was 4 and the oldest over 70! Thank you to LMCC for funding us to make this possible through the Su Casa Residency!
Where: Church of the Living Hope, 161 East 104th St, NYC, NY 10029
When: 2-5pm May 19th, 2018
Who: An intergenerational Parcon workshop with participants from the Su Casa Residency program and their families.
What: We explored objects exploring the environment. A plastic shovel sliding along and around a metal railing versus a rubber stopper needing to roll along its surfaces. Then we explored consent in making contact with each other. And we ended by moving our partner as we did our objects, and then found ways to support their exploration in Parcon.
Andrew Suseno is a participant in SU-CASA. SU-CASA is a collaboration among the New York City Council, the Department of Cultural Affairs, the Department for the Aging and the City's five local arts councils. This program is administered by Lower Manhattan Cultural Council and supported by public funds from the New York City Council in partnership with the Department of Cultural Affairs and the Department for the Aging. LMCC.net.
April Immersion 2018
Group photo after exploring boundaries, extension, weight-sharing and consent at Nelson A. Rockefeller park
Our April immersion focused on falling, consent, comfortability and extensions.
April 7th, 2018
Ione and Colleen working on extensions
Joanna working with an extension
Nancy and Gabe testing out their comfortability
Nancy working on weight-sharing with different parts of her body
Shana using extensions to explore the environment
Joanna working on weight-sharing
Gabe falling with grace
Radical Contact (March)- led by Aurora Westerfelt
Aurora taught Parcon at the 2nd Radical Contact Gathering for 2018! “I like that it becomes like a long trip, step by step - the clear frames with a stream of improvised talk through it like a long story....” - Aurora
Class taught and recounted by Aurora Westfelt:
Where: Sweden: Blekinge Folkhögskola
Who: Two people of color and three cis-men, and four non binary persons and a bunch of cis-women, and one child
When: Mar 30- Apr2, 2018
What: "I felt most inspired in a space upstairs that had tables and chairs and doors and stair case so we spent the first of the two hours there (starting with walking up together after telling about Parcon and what you do Andrew, as well as I could..). Then I went through all the lenses, reminding and giving examples of no-s al through, as well as going for the yes-es… I like that it becomes like a long trip, step by step - the clear frames with a stream of improvised talk through it like a long story.... People where floating and playing and climbing and almost falling asleep and also laughing and giggling some witch surprised me a bit, but it was a very giggly group… A few people said they specially liked this first part. Someone said they liked that I talked all the time, someone else that they liked how I lead it. Many liked the playfulness.
Second part we spent in the dance space. I divided them so half the group was furniture/obstacles in the space and the other half explorers and then we changed. Then I told my ideas about working with borders and we did the same thing but the obstacles being borders. People where a bit sleepy and the obstacles and borders where a lot like lumps on the floor, haha. But some where really exploring.
Aurora Westfelt
When I told the idea I noticed people where first thinking of personal borders, so I said the different kind of borders I have been thinking of - inside the body the cells, the skin towards the world, borders between people – but that I mostly was thinking of borders between countries - something that is put up by those that have power over other people, power deciding who get through and who don’t, and when and how – ruling over how peoples bodies get to travel/not travel I space… When I told my ideas I realized that there where only two people in the space that gets to experience how country borders restricts their possibilities to travel because of where they come from and the color of their skin.
I’m anyway encouraged to continue working on this thing with borders… It connects with my ideas about working with directions – different directions opening up, closing in, giving possibilities, stopping possibilities, making people move, making the body move in space (and spirals...)…"
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.
Immersion Weekends of 2018
The Immersion weekend is a chance to take a deep dive into the Parcon world. Any combination of classes can be put together depending on who is coming and what they are interested in. A general Immersion schedule consist of Parcon classes to orient movers to the Resilience currilculum, skill development in solo, duet, and extensions in Parcon, and social justice investigation.
Where: These weekends happen in a variety of public and private locations. Depending on the weather, public spaces may be in parks, near or on statues or on benches or it may be in a stairwell, or on the subway. Private spaces may be rentals to allow for more vulnerable and deeper investigations. It all depends on what the focus of the weekend is.
When: 9-7 with 2 hours break for lunch. In New York we try to crash the Saturday Jam space.
Who: Anyone, but especially marginalized folks who do not normally attend. We proactively reach out to populations through our regular affinity classes that happen once a week. I give discounts to weekend fee organizers in other cities if they are able to reach out to marginalized communities.
What: The Immersion weekend is a chance to take a deep dive into the Parcon world. Any combination of classes can be put together depending on who is coming and what they are interested in. A general Immersion schedule consist of Parcon classes to orient movers to the Resilience currilculum, skill development in solo, duet, and extensions in Parcon, and social justice investigation.
To read about the prior Immersions click below
June Immersion is still being processed.
Puerto Rico: Negotiating Boundaries
Parcon in PR with a phenomenal community!
“Testimony:
”PARCON in PR. The workshop of Parcon Resilience provide us an opportunity to explore the space and our relationship with the structures and ourselves as a group and as individuals. Andrew Suseno facilitated a beautiful and thoughtful workshop with our community here in San Juan, PR. Through the workshop I was able to explore body awareness thru the understanding of tension and non tension place when we relate to each other and our surroundings. PARCON gives us opportunities to understand relationships between bodies and structures as an exploration of self awareness and trust.”
”
Who: 14 attendees from the Danza Contacto community and others!
What: We examined how the tone in our body changes when our boundaries are respected versus crossed in space. This exploration informed the contact we made with each other and the places we occupy.
Photos from PR community
Black Panther Women Collaboration (Feb 23 & Mar 4, 2018 -Fundraiser)
Supplemental Audience engagement workshops!
Testimony:
Dear Andrew,
I had an amazing time at your Movement Through Space workshop, I enjoyed learning about the various ways of distributing weight throughout the body to create an entirely new form. In the long run, your program has made me think of extending the limitations that I have allowed my body to develop over time. Stability, balance & flexibility are things I highly focus to work on a daily basis. I can't wait to see what you will present in the next lesson." - Maggie Ramos
When: February 23, 2018
Where:: Sanctuary Theater 165 W 86th St, NYC, NY 10024
What did we do?
Total Play for Empowerment was a workshop that took place before the Black Panther Women show.
First movers learned how to safely Parcon with the church pews in the theater and each other. And then we explored one of the tenants of the Black Panther 10 point program. We chose to project our relationship to "housing" onto the church pews and we made contact with them from a place of abundance, scarcity and then as ourselves. Then we reflected on our experience together. Then with consent, we used Parcon to enter back into the solo experience of one of the movers to support their need for stimulation while engaging in a relationship to housing that felt stagnant for them.
Following the class, some of the participants stayed and watched the powerful performance of the Black Panther Women (BPW) written and directed by Jacqueline Wade. It was fascinating to have a movement experience to embody our sense of justice around the 10 point issues and then to see how these actors embodied the sense of justice that BPW had for the black community in America.
March 4th followed a similar flow only the location for the workshop was the Soldier and Sailor Monument on 90th and the Hudson River.
First Parcon Jam!
Where: The Rocks along the Hudson River first at 23rd street then 25th street.
When: 2-5pm April 21st, 2018 - post Highline Performance
Who: 14 attendees drawing from Parcon NYC, Contact Improvisers, and Parcon movers.
What: A Parcon Jam with a discussion about how to engage the public and review of a Safety Sequence handout.
Testimony:
Movement
By Ione L. Lewis
Moving around not sure where my body is going to take me
Trusting myself and not having to worry about how I look
just focused on moving to the groove of my on beat
Not having to worry about boundaries within my walls
For the longest time I felt restricted and powerless in my own body
Not feeling that I had the strength or the ability to move the way I wanted
Now I feel strong, free and alive
Adding a person to my movement is kinda of scary
I have to trust them, I don't trust easy
We have to move together and listen to each other's rhythm
My balance is not so great, I may need some assistance
Will they hold me up and catch me before I fall
This awkward C.P. body, who will understand the way it moves
Who will be able to move with me and pick up my rhythm
It actually happened I was able to move with other people and trust myself
as well as them, I let go and let my my body lead me
Rolling around on a rough surface of earth, afraid of falling on my face or head
as I gripped onto the rock
Pushing my body up at first I stumbled, that's normal on unfamiliar surfaces
Finally I'm on my hands in knees
Wow, now someone is holding me up and I'm flipping over their back
Up in the air I never felt a rush like this
moving together side by side, feeling each other's energy and movements
Communicating through touch is amazing
Feeling what we may be thinking without a single word
Knowing when to start, stop or continue with just moving my body
Feeling free and alive, now I can not stop
Moving!
Parcon Immersion Weekend 1
Where: NYC
When: January 27 & 28, 2018
Who: 18 attendees from Toronto(Canada), Baltimore(MD), Philadelphia(PA), North Hampton(MA), Oberlin College (OH) & NYC
Testimony: "The exploration of touch in the urban environment is game changing...it brings awareness to the direct intimacy of my physical being with the physicality of the environment." - Kimberly Tate
Sweden: Radical Contact Gathering (Class dynamics)
Where: Gotenburg, Sweden
When: February 15-18th, 2018
Who: 14 people from Sweden, England, the USA, Finland, and Egypt; varied by race and class.
What: Radical Contact is a gathering where individuals within the Contact Improvisation and Somatic education world share how their work connects with a body politic. The themes that were chosen by the organizers before the event were cultural mixing and race. As we shared our work, class also emerged as a point of inquiry.
I taught two workshops. The first was a one hour class on shape where we molded each other into various sculptures that held meaning for us in relation to feelings and social issues.
The second was explicitly Parcon Resilience work. After a guided exploration of doing Parcon with a blanket as if it was a loved one (in the studio), we moved to the stair well to climb and roll on couches and to cycle through the Parcon lenses in a different site. This was followed by returning to the studio to first explore movements in relation to our "loved one" as abundant and then as scarce while people could remain in a neutral zone as witness. Then we did this without the blankets and changed the needs for the loved one to needs for food and shelter. Then we explored engaging with each other while maintaining these relationships to our needs.
Lesson learned from feedback: Give people privacy to explore their relationship to scarcity and abundance without the "witnessing" eye of others. Those who may come from a scarcity background may feel re-traumatized by the gaze and judgments of others. Allow the process of being witnessed by others to come in support of a request made by marginalized members to investigate or transform their own experience.
Canada: Ontario Regional Contact Jam 2018
Where: Ontario Regional Contact Jam : Toronto, Canada
When: March 29- April 1, 2018
Who: The biggest Contact Improvisation Jam in North America: mostly from Canada and handfuls from New England and the midwest.
What: I taught a couple Parcon Resilience classes during the jam. The first took place outside the Ballet school where the jam was. We ended with a movement exploration of our embodied relationships to economic class differences in our contact improvisation experiences and subsequent dialogue. The second workshop took place on a playground built by Real Eguchi, a local Contact Improviser. This was a Parcon Generation class, so we invited parents and children who were already on the playground to join us. We became animals in our home habitat exploring the Parcon material through our needs for comfort and play. Photo credits: Savita Cupid
Testimony: