Sharing weight, sharing meaning, Contact Improvisation workshop with Virginia Negru

Event hosted by PETEC, Contact Bucharest Festival and Negru Virginia
National Dance Center Bucharest
Duration: 3 days
Public · Anyone, with or without a Facebook account
𝙎𝙝𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙚𝙚𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩, 𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 𝙩𝙖𝙧𝙞𝙣𝙜 | workshop Contact Improvisation with Virginia Negru
September 7-8-9 @ CNDB, Bucharest.
📍 ALL PLACES HAVE BEEN OCCUPIED. 📍
*If you still want to register, we can put you on a waiting list and we will notify you by email if a place becomes available.
Sunday 10:00-13:00 | workshop
Monday 18:00-20:30 | workshop
Tuesday 18:00-20:30 | workshop + jam session (1h30 semi-guided improvisation space)
*Only those who can fully participate are requested to register.
** Participation is free based on registration via the form and within the limit of available places (15).
*** The workshop is open to all experience levels. Beginner’s mind is an advanced mind. 😉
REGISTRATION FORM: https://forms.gle/rBoEShrFL7aagiM77
Contact Improvisation (CI) – a contemporary dance form that emerged in the 1970s – is the idea of ​​creating a common center of gravity with one or more movement and dance partners. Although theoretically this might seem simple – and once you get the hang of it, it really is simple – the practical difficult part is that it requires leaving the vertical plane – which we are so used to as bipedal beings – and involves accommodating the (almost continuous) sensation of falling.
And, just as if we were to teach someone to walk (after they have forgotten) we would discover that walking, although a simple action (once it becomes a reflex), requires many metaphors, explanations and exercises that apparently have nothing to do with walking, so, in a CI workshop, we have to take roundabout paths to discover the principle mentioned above.
Therefore, in this workshop, we will spend more time on the floor than we would expect, precisely to first learn to fall from small distances, or perhaps we will stand for longer (”small dance”) to analyze the tone imprinted in the body and see how we can change/alter it. In any case, although we have 3 meetings at our disposal, we will deal more with ”preparing the conditions (soil) in which flowers could grow later, rather than forcing the flowers to grow now”. This means that we will cultivate a certain type of attention, patience and listening to our own physicality, but also to the proximity of others, in order to then dare courageous movements, together with others, without immeasurable risks.
The efficiency, functionality and ease of movement will be more a consequence of understanding the intention, meaning and how we are changed by each movement, than a way of demonstrating our bodily capabilities.
𝘽𝙞𝙤𝙜𝙧𝙖𝙛𝙞𝙚:
Virginia Negru is a dancer, performer and facilitator of dance and contact improvisation workshops.
Her passion for dance but also her self-taught structure motivated her to travel and learn, both in Romania and abroad, from dancers and teachers who marked her experience and artistic vision: Steve Batts and Ursula Laeubli (Poetic Movement 2006-present), Catrina Choate (Contemporary Dance and Feldenkrais 2008), Amalia Strinopoulou (Limon Technique 2009-2015), Lelia Marcu (ballet 2009-2011), Benno Voorham and Sybrig Dokter, Scott Wells, Alexandra Soshnicova and Serghei Golovnya, Cyrus Khambatta, Nora Hajos, Nancy Stark Smith, Sasha Dodo, Adrian Russi, Susanne Martin, (Instant Composition and Contact Improvisation 2008-2019), Kira Kirsch and Antoine Ragot (Axis Syllabus 2019-2022).

His artistic endeavors have been constantly mixed with his pedagogical initiatives and performative invitations: 2013 – My life is my art – a performative journey from Venice to Finisterra – 4 months walking in a rush to find out what lies behind the “curtain” of everyday reality, but also to look for other ways to contribute and be present as an artist in the world; 2015 – present – weekly Contact Improvisation courses followed by dance jam sessions – as a manifestation of the desire for direct and immediate communication with other artists and with the public interested in dance, but also of the need to replicate learning and practice models found in other countries; 2016-2019 – Contact Bucharest Festival – the annual organization of an intensive event of learning, practice and exchange of experience through dance and Contact Improvisation with teachers and participants from several countries; 2016 – Pe Bune – dancer and CI trainer invited within the PETEC project to contribute to the creation of an improvisation, music and dance show for children; 2017 – Equilibrium in Disequilibrium – a series of Contact Improvisation workshops dedicated to professional actors and dancers from several cities in Romania; 2018 – Negotiating reality – research laboratory on movement through Contact Improvisation; 2018 – performer – After.Life – by Sasha Dodo, 2019 CNDB Dance and Performance Academy – guest professor, 2020 – performer Iluzionistele by Mădălina Dan – dancer/performer; 2022 – performer Patosfera, by Mădălina Dan.
Currently, Virginia performs in several dance shows, carries out artistic projects (Skin, flesh, bones, ideas – 2025) and studies philosophy at the University of Bucharest (3rd year), seeking to develop her ability to create bridges between thought and movement, experience and knowledge, practice and theory. And, at 42 years old, more than ever, she enthusiastically gives herself to any opportunity to share with others the experience and energy accumulated so far by dancing, teaching and performing.

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The project is a co-production of 𝙀𝙀𝙊𝙀𝙋𝙀𝙋𝙀𝙋𝙀 𝙀𝙋𝙋𝙀𝙋𝙀 𝙆𝙖𝙣𝙘𝙚 𝙏𝙝𝙚𝙖𝙩𝙧𝙚 𝘾𝙤𝙢𝙥𝙖𝙣𝙮, co-financed by AFCN.
Partners: Zi de Bine Association, National Dance Center Bucharest, University of Arts “G.Enescu”- Iași, Reduta Cultural Center Brașov, MIMA Music, Topic Hub.
Media partners: Agenția de cArte, Bookhub, Ceașca de cultură, Contacte Culturale, CVLTARTES, Happ.ro, Iscoada, LIFE.ro, Litera 9, Liternet, Matca Literară, Observator Cultural, Palindrom, Radio România Internațional, Subversiv, The Institute.
The project does not necessarily represent the position of the Administration of the National Cultural Fund. AFCN is not responsible for the content of the project or how the project results may be used. These are entirely the responsibility of the funding beneficiary.