bodyweather, Skye, 2014, with frank van de ven

Workshop exploring the relationship between Body and Landscape led by

Frank van de Ven (Body Weather Amsterdam)

words from the workshop publicity –

Intensive 7-day workshop on the Isle of Skye, Scotland.

The Isle of Skye (An t-Eilean Sgitheanach or Eilean a’

Cheò) is the largest and most northerly large island in the Inner Hebrides. The island’s

peninsulas radiate from a mountainous centre dominated by the Cuillins, the rocky slopes of

which provide some of the most dramatic mountain scenery in the country. The abundant

wildlife includes the golden eagle, red deer and atlantic salmon. The local flora is

dominated by heather moor, and there are nationally important invertebrate populations

on the surrounding sea bed. Skye has provided the locations for various novels and feature

films and is celebrated in poetry and song.

Body Weather – Body/Landscape :

The basic training and point of departure for this

workshop, Body Weather, is a comprehensive approach to training and performance that

investigates the intersections of bodies and their environments. Bodies are conceived not as

fixed and separate entities but as constantly changing – just like the weather. Weather is

seen as a complex system of forces and influences coursing through and beyond bodies

and the world. Taking Body Weather into the landscape, the aim is to explore and develop

consciousness of the body itself being an ever evolving landscape within a greater

surrounding landscape.

Programme will include *MB -(mind/body, muscles/bones) dance training *practice of and

reflection on physical and mental training *walking and wandering, silent walk, pilgrimage

and nocturnal journeys *various modes of experiencing body, movement and landscape

*investigating divergent senses of space and time *peripatetic records, drawing, writing,

immediate contact with surroundings *mental topography of a location, myth, archaic

mind and genius loci *Local geology, archaeology and history

An integral part of the workshop will be the individual artistic projects that participants are

encouraged to formulate and work on for 1-2 hours a day in the fields of architecture,

dance, performance, photography, sculpture, theatre, visual arts and natural history). The

workshop leaders are available to guide and support these processes.

Participants profile: for artists and advanced students working in performance, dance,

landscape art, sculpture, photography, architecture, theatre, visual arts and natural history.

Selection of participants will be based on c.v. and motivation. No previous (dance) training

is necessary but the workshop will be physically demanding, therefore a good overall

condition is required.

Frank van de Ven is a dancer and choreographer who spend his formative years in Japan

working with Min Tanaka and the Maijuku Performance Company. Together with Katerina

Bakatsaki he founded ‘Body Weather Amsterdam’, in 1993, as a platform for training and

performance. Since 1995 he has conducted the interdisciplinary Bohemiae Rosa Project

with Milos Sejn, connecting body and landscape with art, geology and architecture.

For more info on Body Weather Amsterdam http://bodyweatheramsterdam.blogspot.com