"LINK" workshop by Mehdi Dahkan

About the workshop: Duration: 2 hours The workshop is open to dancers and performers from different backgrounds; contemporary, urban, physical theatre. (Some movement experience is required) In this workshop, the idea we will work on is that movement does not come from a set vocabulary but from reaction. We look at how the body responds to what happens to it and around it, and how these responses can become a tool for instant composition. Instant composition through reaction was one of the main tools used to compose the piece KMS of Resistance, a choreographic and sound piece built on breath and rhythm, and many of its elements came out of it. On stage, the piece still keeps a large part of improvisation: the performers constantly react to sound, to each other, and to what the other person proposes in movement, energy and spacing. The workshop shares this way of working. The work develops in several layers: - The physical body: reacting to weight, momentum, impact and changes of direction, and following the logic these reactions create instead of controlling them. - Sound: reacting to what we hear (external sound, rhythm, silence, the sounds made by the group) and letting it change the quality, speed and direction of movement. - The other: reacting to a partner's proposals in movement, energy and use of space, and answering them, in pairs and then in groups. - Composition: putting these layers together to compose instantly as a group. Each reaction becomes a choice, and each choice changes what comes next. The aim is to give participants a practical tool for instant composition that they can use in improvisation, creation and performance: staying in a state where they react constantly and compose constantly. About the instructor: Mehdi Dahkan (born 1998, Tangier) is a Moroccan choreographer and performer working between Morocco and France. Self-taught, he came to dance through breakdance, parkour and urban practices before turning to contemporary dance. He has performed for Sylvain Groud (CCN Roubaix, Ballet du Nord), Khalid Benghrib, Taoufiq Izzediou, Radouan Mriziga (A7LA5) and Samar Haddad King (YSDT), among others. In 2019 he founded Jil Z, a platform for choreographic research looking at how this generation navigates today's world, with the body as primary medium. His pieces, including SUBJECT TO and KMS of Resistance, have been presented in Europe, North America, Africa and the Arab region. He also mentors and teaches artists, notably for IN SITU (European Platform for Arts in Public Space), Kampus Casa (Casablanca) and the BASITA Fellowship (AGORA / Basita.live).