May 10th: Community as a relational process with Manuela Albrecht

May 10th, 11.30am-5.30pm, £30-£50

@Siobhan Davies Studio, SE1 6ER

Facilitated by Marie Chabert and Manuela Albrecht

Booking here

Embodiment – Community – Safe Space
Develop self-enquiry and autonomy- Be in touch – Share impressions + experiences + food

For this edition Marie Chabert is inviting the dance practitioner Manuela Albrecht to share her beautiful research on mycelium and inter-connectivity.

Manuela and Marie will facilitate this Contact Impro workshop/laboratory exploring how community forms through relation and difference. Weaving between movement scores and moments of shared reflection, participants are invited to experience connection in and out of contact using yarns, a soft fibrous material used for crochet.

We will open up questions and investigations such as:

-How do I enter and inhabit a group?
-What helps me feel connected without erasing difference?
-Is community something we belong to, or something we continuously make?

Work unfolds through solo and group scores, supporting attentive connection, experimentation, and self-enquiry. The space intends to be safe, consent-based, and accessible to all.
No prior experience with Contact Improvisation is required.

Rough schedule (may change slightly)
11.30am-12pm – Welcome tea & chat (meeting each other + time & space to land)
12pm –1.30pm – Intro to Consent, solo warm-up and collective embodied explorations
1.30-2.30pm – Lunchtime: food sharing
2.30-5.30pm – Group score playing with the yarns.
Small group reflection: community as a relational process
Witnessing, writing, sharing and integrating

Who is this for?
Those who identify as women and non-binary interested in bringing more awareness to physical interactions in dancing and in Contact Improvisation
It welcomes all levels and can be applied to other practices than Contact Improvisation. In the past people were able to apply it to dance therapy, theatre, psychology…

What is Women’s Touch?
Women’s touch is an event curated by Marie Chabert, that offers a space for those who identify as women and non-binary to explore movement practices that are mainly based on touch (Contact Improvisation, somatic practices, improvisation) in a safe environment. It aims to empower women to claim their space and redefine it within a framework that challenges prevailing patriarchal norms. It offers both a place to embody and share our experiences verbally.

The intention is to foster a supportive environment, where women and non-binary participants feel safe to take risks, be vulnerable, and share their humanity, free from the pressure of dominant dynamics.
Cultivating such spaces requires trust, shared language, and mutual care. It allows us not just to survive, but to thrive in connection.

Manuela’s bio:
I’m a Brazilian interdisciplinary movement artist, facilitator, performer, and PhD researcher working at the intersection of dance, theatre, community, and micro-politics. My practice explores movement as a way to reflect on the urgencies of our time. I’m especially drawn to collaborative processes and to disrupt colonial legacies, the normative, and stay radically tender, embodied, and real.
https://manualbrecht5.wixsite.com/manualbrecht/

If you have financial difficulties and want to take part, please get in touch.

photo by Sol Ji Park