Natanja den Boeft | The center is a movement

About Natanja:

Is a freelance dancer/teacher/artist based in Amsterdam

“Man plays a game within reality. Reality is so all encompassing and diffuse that a new game is necessary over and over again.”- Julio Cortazar.

In her work, Natanja is looking for the poetry that simply exist in ‘things as they are’, ranging from the body with its anatomical riches to images to stories 'on the street'.

She doesn’t confine herself to the boundaries of choreography in theatrical settings, but places movement in different contexts, where it gets new layers of meaning. She often collaborates with other artists in various media, and makes photographs and films.

Since 1987 she teaches improvisation, contact-improvisation and ki-development nationally and internationally. As an organizer she has been involved with contact-improvisation in the organizing teams of the European Contact Improvisation Exchange (ecite) in 1995, 2003 and 2009. In Holland she has co-organized large site-specific art events involving many artists in diverse media.

Greenhouse Intensive Teachers:
Angela Dony (RU) &

Yaniv Mintzer (IL),
Mirva Makinen (FIN),
Bo Madvig (DK),
Natanja Den Boeft (NL),
Itay Yatuv (IL)

The center is a movement

Beginners

A lot has been said and written about the center of the body.
If we look at the 'dry' anatomy of the human body there isn't such a thing as the center. There is no knot or star or anything else like that in our bellies or hearts. Looking at the whole body we can at most identify a center of gravity in the midst of all our weight.
This absence of an actual, physically tangible center gives us great freedom in playing with images of it that support what we wish to achieve in our bodies and our dance.
In this workshop we will work with the image that the center is a movement of continuous and simultaneous expansion and concentration. It is at the same time our deepest core and a energetic field in which we move – alone or together.
It's an image largely used in martial arts, and is one of the elements of the training of 'ki' in Aikido, where it supports the body in being grounded while moving fast and under the influence of centrifugal forces when throwing a partner.
We will practice the image in breathing and meditations. From there on we will apply what we find in our own bodies in contact duets, both in specific exercises like lifting and rolling the point of contact and in improvisational scores. There will be a range of movement qualities we will explore, from very delicate and precise to fast and challenging.

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<p><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>About Natanja: </strong></span></p> <div><span style="font-size: larger;">Is a freelance dancer/teacher/artist based in Amsterdam</span></div> <div><span style="font-size: larger;">“Man plays a game within reality. Reality is so all encompassing and diffuse that a new game is necessary over and over again.”- Julio Cortazar.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size: larger;">In her work, Natanja is looking for the poetry that simply exist in ‘things as they are’, ranging from the body with its anatomical riches to images to stories 'on the street'. </span></div> <div><span style="font-size: larger;">She doesn’t confine herself to the boundaries of choreography in theatrical settings, but places movement in different contexts, where it gets new layers of meaning. She often collaborates with other artists in various media, and makes photographs and films.</span></div> <div><span style="font-size: larger;">Since 1987 she teaches improvisation, contact-improvisation and ki-development nationally and internationally. As an organizer she has been involved with contact-improvisation in the organizing teams of the European Contact Improvisation Exchange (ecite) in 1995, 2003 and 2009. In Holland she has co-organized large site-specific art events involving many artists in diverse media.</span></div>

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<div align="left" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;"> <div align="left" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;" dir="LTR"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Greenhouse Intensive Teachers:</strong></span><b><span style=""><a href="/en/AngelaYanivGH"><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="color: windowtext; text-decoration: none;"><br /> </span>Angela Dony (RU) &</span></a></span></b></div> <div align="left" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;" dir="LTR"><b><span style=""><a href="/en/AngelaYanivGH"><span style="font-size: medium;">Yaniv Mintzer (IL),</span></a><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="/en/MirvaGH"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Mirva Makinen (FIN),</strong></span></a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="/en/BoGH"><span style="font-size: medium;"><strong>Bo Madvig (DK),</strong></span></a></span><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><strong><span style=""><a href="/en/Natanja"><span style="font-size: medium;">Natanja  Den Boeft (NL),</span></a></span></strong><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /> </span><strong><span style=""><a href="/en/ItayatuvGH"><span style="font-size: medium;">Itay Yatuv (IL)</span></a></span></strong></span></b></div> <div align="left" style="text-align: left; direction: ltr; unicode-bidi: embed;" dir="LTR"><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></div> <p><span style="font-size: medium;"> </span></p> <span style="font-size: medium;"><strong><br /> </strong></span></div> <p><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></p>