UPCOMING

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MAGNETIC NORTH: PHASE III

Mondays 8-10pm
March 18-April 8 (2024)

@ Rhythm Industry Performance Factory
1013 S Tyndall Ave, Tucson, AZ 85719

$5-20 sliding scale


Magnetic North is an ongoing series of experimental, embodied inquiry workshops guided by Eryka Dellenbach in collaboration with local sound artists. You can expect to explore movement solo and in brief partnership, study body mechanics, engage in critical group discussions, drink tea and find a space for practicing genuine connectivity. All of the workshops are grounded in the ongoing reassessment of, and attempt at centering in, our own north stars while being active participants of the social condition.


Phase III

During socialization processes, sensitivity is often projected as weakness and pathology. In this container, we are rather recognizing sensitivity as a power, and working together to support one another in re-cultivating and finessing these capacities. In the context of guided ‘choreographies’, we will study the feedback loop of sensitivity and attention, while revering attention as a devotional, magical practice. Under the auspices of the taiko, these tools will be directed towards a meditation on sound decay (the rate at which it fades to silence) alongside the tracing of the fading memory of sensation.


We’re honored to be working with Karen Falkenström, who will be offering her Taiko drumming practice March 18, 25 & April 1



Karen Falkenstrom is a 1.5 generation Korean-Norwegian-American, raised in Virginia and transplanted to the desert southwest in the late 80s. Her career in the arts includes teaching, performance, and arts administration. She earned a B.S. in Architectural Design from the University of Virginia and an MFA in creative writing and poetry from the University of Arizona. Since 1985, Karen has been involved in grassroots arts organization, co-founding the Urban Artists Amalgamated and Ram Cat Gallery interdisciplinary arts movement in Richmond, VA. After moving to Tucson, AZ, she co-directed the Among Other Things… literary arts series and directed the Tucson Poetry Festival while curating the 30th Anniversary Exhibition and later serving as Events Coordinator at the UA Poetry Center. In 1992 she co-founded Kore Press, Tucson’s first feminist publishing house; and in 1997 co-founded InConcert! Tucson, presenter of dozens of contemporary folk and world music concerts each year. After several years in desktop publishing and web design, she found taiko (Japanese ensemble drumming), and since 2000 has dedicated herself to the practice. Odaiko Sonora, the taiko group she founded in 2002, has distinguished itself both administratively and artistically throughout the international taiko community. She has always been a collaborator, working with other local/state performing groups to create new kinds of performance, from modern and traditional dance, physical theater, and musical mash-ups. When the 2011 Tucson shooting happened, Karen began to understand how the large drums could be used to address grief and healing. Since then, she has offered drumming sessions for spiritual and therapeutic purposes when opportunities arise.

Check out this interview about Karen conducted by Eryka in 2022

*April 8: sound artist TBD

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MAGNETIC NORTH: Phase II

embodied inquiry led by Eryka Dellenbach


Tuesdays 7:15-8:45 pm PST
Jan. 16-Feb. 6 (2024)
@ Movement Culture in Tucson, Arizona

Phase II will build upon the themes of the first iteration (scroll down to read more) and begin to introduce performativity. Performativity involves witnessing and being witnessed. We will focus equally on practicing presence in both of these states while exploring balances of being intentional and being ‘authentic’.

We’ll be blessed by rotating live sound artists:

1/16: Emily Xander
1/23: Chelsey Lee Trejo
1/30: TBA
2/6: Patricio Coronado 

$5-15, NOTAFLOF

***Notes:
1. You do not have to bring a partner, the idea is to always work with people you don’t know well or at all.
2. You do not need to attend all of the workshops.
3. You do not need previous experience, just a willingness and capacity to be physical and make contact with others.
4. If you have accessibility concerns, please email erykadellenbach@gmail.com and we will do our best to accomodate you.

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Wednesdays 6-7pm PST
Dec, 6, 13, 20 (2023)
@ Floor Polish in Tucson, Arizona

MAGNETIC NORTH

embodied inquiry led by Eryka Dellenbach

Live sound responding to room responding to sound by:

12/6: Chelsey Lee Trejo & Emily Xander 

12/13: Chelsey Lee Trejo 

12/20: Chelsey Lee Trejo

$5-15 sliding scale, NOTAFLOF

***Masks required 12/13 & 12/20. I will have some available in case anyone doesn’t bring one. We want to make the wksp more accessible <3


Magnetic North is a slow-paced "dance" class that is part introduction to partnered movement, and part embodied inquiry into connection. We will be working in collaboration with iron and mineral lodestone, both of which are derived from the same element, and exhibit the strongest form of magnetism between them. The root of this given name, 'lote', has meanings of 'way' or 'course', as this stone is aligned with the Earth's magnetic field and will rotate towards Earth's magnetic north, a direction that shifts with the planet’s core. We will move from affinities between this relational, fluctuating magnetism and the idea of our own magnetic north(s) as we explore gentle exercises that create space within our bodies for connection, cultivate sensorial and physical sensitivities, lean into awkwardnesses and find our dance.

This class is for people who feel interested by the content and in exploring movement! No dance or movement background is required. *Note: While this class does include solo work, partnered-exercises will be central, so please come open to working with others and engaging in physical contact. I will be addressing consent practices at the beginning of class and aim to facilitate containers where mutual respect, sensitivity and experimentation can strike a balance.

[16mm filmed by Michael Casker, feat. Nola Sporn Smith & Eryka Dellenbach, @ The Woods in Brooklyn, NY, 2023]

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11/15 & 11/18 2021
online via HEKLER 

Contracts & Constellations
hosted by Eryka Dellenbach & Yunuen Rhi

part of HEKLER’s INFRASTRUCTURES OF CARE program

FREE, donations welcome @ gofundme





Contracts and Constellations: PT. I  is a participatory workshop co-facilitated by Eryka Dellenbach and Yunuen Rhi that offers participants an opportunity to dissect the contract medium, and explore and rewrite its parts. While contracts are built upon moral, ethical, interpersonal concepts, their terms are modified and estranged as they are enforced by law, or the State.

Through an embodied meditation of the connection between the Throat and the pelvis, analysis of common contracts and the collective composition of a social contract, we will consider the ways in which these documents are ultimately designed to control, protect, exploit, deceive and forget the body.

*This workshop will strongly inform the following workshop Session #9/ Contracts & Constellations: PT. II. In addition to the concepts introduced and digested here, the social contract that is composed in this workshop will be recognized in Thursday’s session.


Contracts and Constellations: PT. II is a participatory workshop co-facilitated by Yunuen Rhi and Eryka Dellenbach that offers participants the opportunity to continue exploring contracts and breaches via a Huarache Constellation, Yunuen’s collective healing and performance methodology. Embodiment, written reflections, a collective altar and presentations will be incorporated to deepen our understanding of the concepts and where we stand in relation to them.


*This workshop builds upon elements introduced in Session #8, Contracts & Constellations: PT. I  and acknowledges a collectively composed social contract for working together within the digital space (that was composed in that workshop).

PAST

3/14/20 @ The Invincible Hall  [Chinatown //29 Forsyth St. NY, NY 10002, Top Floor] 

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Moving Through: visualization in corporeal practices with Eryka Dellenbach

$30, 2 hours

http://www.theinvinciblehall.com/workshops/2020/3/14/moving-through-visualization-in-corporeal-practices-with-eryka-dellenbach

The phenomenon of ‘presence’ is one of those unmistakable qualities that can be felt unanimously yet evade speech when we try to put its source to words. Presence is something palpable that can charge simple tasks or mundane gestures, or overshadow the most beautiful movement through its absence. How do we as observers recognize presence? How long does it take for us to summon something within us and then make it disappear, or transform it into something else? How does the body signify this externally?

Pulling from a decade of studies in the time-based arts of film, dance and performance, Eryka will lead participants through a series of solitary and collaborative exercises merging the body and visualization techniques to cultivate presence. The workshop will explore the contours of presence as participants move between witnessing, generating, maintaining and shifting between various kinds of presences. No two presences are or can be the same, and participants will be encouraged to own-their-own through accessible prompts facilitating concentration, experimentation and play.

This workshop is designed to welcome movers of all backgrounds who wish to explore presence in performance and existence-at-large. It is also for people interested in butoh dance, partnering, visualization, performance and expanded dance practice.
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INTRO TO 16MM B/W REVERSAL WITH BOLEX REX & OPTICAL SOUND TRACKS ON AURICON <--link
@ MONO NO AWARE

March 5, 12, 19 + DAY SHOOT on the 21
Screening on April 5 @ ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

In this workshop, participants will learn how to make a Black & White reversal film with an OPTICAL SOUND TRACK on 16mm!   Curriculum will cover the basics of 16mm film making : exposure, lenses, filters, you'll also learn how to load, focus, run, maintain and operate the H16 Bolex Reflex camera with the additional treat of an optical sound track right on the film!  This offering is unique from our Intro to 16mm film making workflow offering, because the Optical Sound workshop will focus on shooting Kodak Tri-X BW reversal film and editing in camera using multiple exposures, cross dissolves and a well planned storyboard with shot list.  Participants will be hands-on the first two sessions, then during a week break you'll develop the planned shoot & sound component.  In the third session we'll introduce the basics of optical sound, and you'll learn how to load, run, maintain and operate the Auricon film camera as well as the EIKI SSL-O sound projector.  Participants will arrive with a digital sound file (or be ready to perform live) in order to turn sound into light, light into silver, and back again from light into sound.  With your 100' roll of film we'll burn in a non-sync soundtrack, and prep the film again for your camera shoot.  The goal is to create and project a black and white camera original optical sound print on 16mm which you conceive, direct, shoot, added original sound to, and edited independently.  We will also discuss how to promote your short piece through a list of friendly film festivals and community venues in the greater New York area.  All materials will be provided for. Finished projects will be presented at our screening party.

LOCATION: MONO HQ 33 Flatbush Ave, Brooklyn NY 5 min walk from 2, 3, 4, 5, A, C, B, D, N, Q, R, & G trains. 

INCLUDES: 3 classroom instruction sessions, 1 day shoot, 100 feet of Kodak Tri-X 16 mm, Reversal film lab processing by MONO, Access to camera equipment (Bolex Rex 5 Camera, POE 16-102mm zoom lens, and rewind key), Auricon Sound on Film camera, sound board, Shure SM58 mic, mixing board and pre-amp, Course packet with technical information.  You'll finish with a projection-ready reversal camera original with an optical sound track, HD video transfer of finished film by Metro Post, HD, online hosting of finished film, local & international film festival entry waivers.

And you will have access to the following books related the workshop from Mono No Aware’s own reference library:

• Experimental Filmmaking and the Motion Picture Camera: An Introductory Guide for Artists and Filmmakers by Joel Schlemowitz
• Break the Machine by Kathyrn Ramey
• The Filmmaker’s Handbook by Steven Ascher and Edward Pincus
• Your Film and the Lab by L. Bernard Happé

COURSE CAP:  Limited to 8 participants

$325 all inclusive

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EMBODIED CAMERA: 16mm Bolex
w/ Eryka Dellenbach & Brighid Greene

http://mononoawarefilm.com/june-19-embodied-camera

$300

Thursdays: June 13, 20, and 27 from 7 - 9:30 PM & Sunday June 23 (ALL DAY SHOOT) from 10 AM - 4 PM
@ MONO NO AWARE hq  X  Whitney Browne Studio

Free Screening Party on Sunday, AUGUST 4TH @ ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES

Let’s put our flesh into filmmaking!  This will be a hands-on lightning course in building confidence towards moving agilely through space wielding a solid metal, crank-motor celluloid film camera! First-time celluloid filmmakers are welcome. We will cover the basics of 16mm filmmaking: the Bolex camera, 16mm film, lenses, framing and continuity, in-camera editing, projection, and problem solving. Experienced filmmakers curious about moving camera technique and documenting the moving body will also benefit.

Over 3 sessions, each individual will participate in the production of a class film with a movement artist as well as conceive and shoot their own ‘embodied camera’ film. We will also watch a series of films and discuss topics such as presence, reflexivity, movement techniques, subjectivity and control. All equipment, film materials, and processes will be provided.  However, you will need to find actors/movers, space and whatever props you should want in conjunction with your shooting schedule. Please also have a location in mind within reasonable range from Mono No Aware for your shoot on Sunday, June 23.


***Lookout for 2020 offering!

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3/18: The Threshold: brutal
3/25: The Threshold: tender
via Butoh Body Sundays  @ OuterSpace Studios (Chicago)

https://butohchicago.com/2018/03/12/make-the-brutal-tender/

$15, 2 hrs

In this 2-part workshop we will consider the ‘threshold’ as both a personal or subjective limit, and as a border between that-which-is and that-which-is-not. In part through repertoire born out of Eryka’s present performance project, entitled Make the Brutal Tender, we will attempt to explore the qualifiers tender and brutal corporeally, and learn directly from the body using what is immediately available to us:

Physical Space: Floor, Wall
Body: Ours and other’s
Energy: Ours and other’s

Accompanied by sound artist Hanna Elliot (HOGG, Goad Deimos), she will lead us through simple and greatly variable exercises that will allow us to cultivate miniature, sensual (as opposed to verbal) dialogues around comfort and discomfort, pain, impulse, effort, nurture and hopefully, fear. In addition to butoh, activities in the workshops are also culled from her experience in capoeira, flamenco and play-fighting techniques, and reinterpreted.

Everyone is welcome! These workshops are about exploring your own threshold(s).

Please wear comfortable clothing. We will work barefoot.

*Alternative tasks can always be provided for those who wish to work alone during partnering exercises.

The Threshold:
The brink of being a thing (border, barely)
The limit of a thing (capacity, furthest)

MA間 :
Space between objects
Silence between sounds = ‘palpable absence’, ‘pregnancy’, ‘potential’
Stillness between movements

Sillage:
Lingering scent
Impression left in a sheet or pillow

︎= film workshops

︎= movement workshops

︎=
mixed media workshops

WORKSHOPS VIA

MONO NO AWARE

-Intro to 16mm Filmmaking

http://mononoawarefilm.com/intro-to-16mm-color-apr18

-Optical Sound

http://mononoawarefilm.com/may-19-optical-sound-16mm

-Embodied Camera: 16mm Bolex (original offering)

http://mononoawarefilm.com/june-19-embodied-camera