PR ARCHIVES
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.
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:
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.
Culture Shock! Highline Performance!
Where: Highline at the Stepping Benches
graphics by Friends of the Highline
When: April 21, 2018 at 1-2pm
Who: Parcon NYC: Fumi Kikuchi, Funda Gul, Cecilia Fontanesi, Kimberly Tate, Ruby Romero, and Andrew Suseno
What: Parcon NYC performed 3 ten minute performances on the Stepping Benches kicking off the Highline's Spring Season to 200+ person crowds. The performers moved to three different pieces of music, expanding and contracting and rising and falling throughout the space in solo and contact combinations.
photos by P. Sheffield
Testimony from New Parcon NYC performers:
"It was my pleasure to be a member of Parcon and performed at the High Line as a part of Culture Shock: The High Line's Season Kick-Off. Many people stopped and watched our performance. They were curious what we were doing. After each performance, I saw many smiles and had a round of applause, and some audience members are interested in knowing more about what Parcon is. We shared a newer dance form "Parcon" with public people, motivated some viewers to try parcon, and build a circumstance where people can talk about parcon and build a network with people in the community. It was a successful event and performance." -Fumi Kikuchi
"I am so grateful to have you and Parcon in my orbit. Yesterday I was left with an such a profound feeling of joy and well-being. You are right, to explore and challenge my physicality in the environment in connection with others is truly transformative! " - Kimberly Tate
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.
Su Casa 2018: La Corsi Senior Center
Seniors at the La Corsi house in East Harlem practice connecting through shared balance. They must stand their ground and lean into one another at the same time!
Above: 7/14/18 10-1pm. Ran free movement workshop and presentation with the seniors of the La Corsi center highlighting Parcon and their experiences with it at the Union Settlement Health fair for 800-1000 seniors of East Harlem, NY.
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.
Seniors learned Parcon. Together we learned how to improve our balance and our embodiment of No and Yes in our lives. Each class brought new discoveries in balance and the stories of our classmates. Consent is key to accessing freedom of expression and intimacy within connection. We formed a wonderfully tight knit group!
Special thanks to my co-teachers: Nancy Allison and Ione Lewis.
Where: La Corsi House Senior Center in East Harlem, NYC, NY, 10029
When: January through June 2018
Testimony:
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?