Events & Calendars Five College Dance Translations Workshop with Bill Shannon

Hosted by Five College Dance with support from UMASS Amherst Fine Arts Center, this workshop will be a fully remote experience hosted in Shakia Barron's Intermediate Hip-Hop/House class at UMASS Amherst. There are 24 spots available - first come first serve! This workshop is for experienced dancers and physical performers but you do not have to have current or prior course enrollment with Five College Dance. If your spot is reserved you will receive an email in advance with a Zoom link; if you are not one of the first 24 participants to enroll, you will not receive notification.

All workshop participants will receive limited time and exclusive access to watch CRUTCH, a documentary about Bill Shannon's career, and will be expected to watch in advance of this workshop.

Workshop Description:
In this workshop, Bill Shannon will teach rhythm, holding patterns and body positions invented over his life of dance and play on crutches. Workshop participants will be mentally and physically challenged to improvise ways of recreating his original movement patterns (The Shannon Technique) in real time without their own use of crutches (with the exception of physically disabled dancers who use crutches). This workshop offers able-bodied dancers a unique opportunity to experience the challenges of establishing a physical translation process that recreates an existing dance technique that is not based in the assumptions or patterns of an able-body in relation to gravity. Participants will work mentally and creatively in a similar way that disabled dancers have historically worked  and engaged with the physical patterns of able bodied dance forms, by moving in ways that adopt the aesthetic from a different physicality than the one the originating form is based in.

***By signing up for this event, I agree to be photographed for potential use in FCD publicity and social media.***

Bio:
Bill Shannon (1970) is an interdisciplinary artist, inventor and maker who explores body-centric work through video installation, sculpture, drawing, linguistics, sociology, choreography and dance. He has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in Choreography, a Foundation For Contemporary Art Fellowship in Performance Art, and a United States Artist Fellowship in Dance. He has received three NEA Multidisciplinary Arts Awards and worked as a choreographer on the creative team behind Cirque Du Soleil’s “Varekai.” His interdisciplinary works include a multi-year street performance and line art series titled “Regarding The Fall” and “Notes on Performance” respectively, a video installation series titled “Fragmentation Series” and five group works for dance theater focused on translating "street dance" to the stage. Shannon's most recent work involved putting together a team to design, code and fabricate a Wearable Video Mask. Currently Shannon resides in Pittsburgh, PA, working independently on a range of projects while taking care of his family and growing assorted vegetables.