| Jurij Konjar (EN) | Ara En Moviment

jurij konjar

slovenia

WORKSHOP

improvisation for contact improvisers

We get lost in the dance and we like it. Losing yourself can be a break from planning, control, and desire. It can be a break from responsibility, from being oneself. When we stop guiding, we are available… for what? Someone or something is feeling and responding there, where I become an available observer. The person who guides is not exactly me, and yet I am not excluded either. What are those processes in action? How can I, as a participant / observer, participate / follow them? Can I redirect them? Sustain them? Take them as far as they can go physically… their intensity, patience …? By naming them in a verbal exchange, can my internal movements be shared with my peers? How can all this learning keep the form of a question that needs to be answered on a daily basis, like CI itself?

ABOUT ME

Jurij Konjar was born –and nowadays resides– in Ljubljana (Slovenia), where he studied judo, singing and where he received his first technical dance training. He is a dancer, improviser, performer, choreographer, researcher, writer, curator and manager, who works in the field of dance.

He studied musical in London and contemporary dance at PARTS in Brussels. After working as a dancer with Les Ballets C de la B, he then began to create his own work. In 2007 he suffered a head injury that shifted his focus towards the potential of the present moment. In 2009 an in-depth observation of Steve Paxton’s Goldberg Variations video, with conversations that sprouted from it, triggered the development of a personal improvisation practice.

In recent years he has mostly created and performed solo performances, such as Ulysses (2007), Goldberg Variations (2010) and For Juliano Mer-Khamis (2013), while also working with Maja Delak, Janez Janša, Boris Charmatz, Martin Kilvady. He has worked with the Tuning Ensemble, with Lisa Nelson on the Goldberg Observations publication, and with Steve Paxton on the reconstructions of his solos Bound (1982) and Flat (1964), on Satisfyin Lover (1967). He also danced in the creation Quicksand (2016).

He does improvised performances internationally (Goldberg Variations, Monday at eight…), is active in the Contact Improvisation community, regularly teaches workshops, and organizes temporary working environments (Habitat, YIP, the Walkaround) while being active in mixed ability education & art project Skok čez Luno / Dance ouf of Line.