research or die.
spring
running from the 11th to the 14th of april 2024
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© jussi ulkuniemi
b12 spring
— // —location: eden***** studios
Ryan Mason
Thar Be Dragons
motion unframed: an exploration of movement and sound
Join me for a workshop that distills movement into a conversation— from minimal undulations of our facial muscles, the exploration and agency of the voice, to bold strides across imagined terrains like giants striding across earth and sea. We listen as much as we move, caring for the fleeting art we create together, each gesture a note in our collective act. Here, we play with the rhythm of repetition and the raw edge of improvisation, shaping air and sound into shared moments. Like the static, looping quality of sculptural music, we'll embrace repetition as a form that sculpts the air— each gesture being a layer of sound turned into physical form. Expect to blur lines, not to follow them. Hold the hum of a tune, let it course through you, and watch it become a shadow dance. In the spirit of the musicians and artists who blur the lines between genres, modalities, and materialities, we will experiment with how movement can be a text, a situation, a sound, an object— where a vase can be filled with the music of our breath. Together we will engage with a place where sonic and corporeal gestures merge into collective fictions in motion.
please be aware of our early bird special offer for this workshop! you can apply for this offer up until the 24th of february 2024. after the 24th the regular workshop fee applies. applications are accepted up until one day before the workshops starts.
biography
ryan mason is a choreographer, performer, and teacher based in helsinki, Finland, where he received his Master's degree in Choreography, at the helsinki uniarts Theatre academy, in 2023. in 2018, he co-founded, with his partner, annamari keskinen, thar be dragons - a dance theatre platform for research, education, and performance. he graduated from the california institute of the arts with a bachelor of fine arts in dance and choreography in 2007. his work is a detailed approach, often involving layers of sustained improvisational states within movement and psychological parameters. ryan searches for enigmatic situations, taking them apart to look at them— for their absurdity, as well as for their sensory possibilities. ryan danced with the josé limón company, in nyc, later joining the company of johannes wieland at the staatstheater kassel, in germany. there he also served as rehearsal director for two years. ryan has been choreographing and teaching at institutions, the free scene, and workshops throughout europe and north america, such as springboard danse montreal, hubbard street pro, sead, nyu tisch, anton bruckner privatuni, among many others.
company info
Thar Be Dragons
Thar Be Dragons, a Helsinki-based dance company, was created by two artists and collaborators, Annamari Keskinen and Ryan Mason, in 2018. The company functions as a platform for both choreographers to create and present their collaborative and personal works. Thar Be Dragons has crafted an array of productions, spanning from site-specific performances to black box and large stage works. Ryan holds a Master's degree in Choreography from the Theatre Academy of Helsinki (2023). Annamari, a graduate of the Finnish National Opera Ballet School (2004), has 19 years of international experience in the field of contemporary dance, as both a performer and choreographer. Ryan’s and Annamari’s collaborative synergy forms the heart of their work. Their aesthetic is heavily influenced by the uncanny, the mystical, science fiction, and absurdity. This inspiration manifests in a corporeal expression veering from the traditional idealized choreography. Instead, the artists investigate the peculiar, the clumsy, the discordant, and shape them into their unique poetic potential. Their work invites a deeper exploration of our motivations for creating art, with an emphasis on a process-centric approach that values the transitional state and the inherent worth of every phase. Thar Be Dragons has been facilitating workshops in Europe and North America since 2016.
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