WORKSHOP: CONTEMPORARY DANCE AND COMPOSITION

conducted by Toula Limnaios, assisted by the dancers of cie. toula limnaios

The body as a mediating element, the connection between the earth and the sky. A body work based on Release and Alexander technique, as well as a contemporary language of movement and a floor work method that has been developed over years, with a focus on relaxation and coordination between breathing and dynamics of movement. The impulse to move comes from the center, the source from which all energies flow. Through the conscious use of muscular relaxation, the body can raise without exertion, it can release and flow inner energies in order to create an „economics” of the body that strengthens the performers expression, brings the quality/dynamics of their movements into focus and aggravates their inner musicality.

Toula Limnaios was born in Greece in 1963. After completing her studies in classical and modern dance, M. Alexander and Laban technique, music and dance education in Brussels, she worked as a dancer with Claudio Bernardo and Régine Chopinot, and as an Assistant with Pierre Droulers. Limnaios received further education at the Folkwagen University, where she soon became a member of a Folkwang Dance Studio under the artistic direction of Pina Bausch. Limnaios made her name by performing live-­improvisations of the Duo Landscapes, she founded together with the musicians Conny Bauer and Peter Kowald. In 1996 she founded cie. toula limnaios, a contemporary dance company that brought her choreographic art onto the stages worldwide. Apart from managing her ensemble, Limnaios works as a guest choreographer at the Theater Osnabruueck and the Frankfurt University of Performing Arts. Between 2007 and 2008 she was a guest professor at the „Ernst Busch“ Academy of Dramatic Arts in Berlin.

“Supported by the NATIONALES PERFORMANCE NETZ International Guest Performance Fund for Dance, which is funded by the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.“