choreographies of choice

with Ms. Georgia Simms

Friday, April 10th, 10 am – 12 pm

ImprovLab (MCKN 108)
University of Guelph

 “…a device that organizes movements and materialities, space–time intensities, energizing an agency of a political–poetic nature in an ethical bond”


–from Choreography as an Ethical Technology,
by Jorge Alencar and Neto Machado, 2025)

“Reaching beyond the body itself, a dramaturgically conscious practice, like body memory, operates situationally and intercorporeally extending into spaces, situations, and encounters with others”


–from Improvisational Practices and Dramaturgical Consciousness, by Vida Midgelow in Hansen and Callison, 2015) 

In our 2 hours together, we will interact and create by animating body, action, space, time, and energy toward improvised ensemble compositions. What can we compose together without knowing where we are going? What might inform our choices? Can we be simultaneously aware and unaware of what influences our decision-making? How might dramaturgically conscious ensemble dance improvisation be akin to collective action? Or a representation of relational or ‘commoning’ praxis? 

Starting with a warm-up, to attune to ourselves and each other, Georgia will invite engagement with attention, shape, and momentum. Next, through a focused movement inquiry inspired by investigations with specific verbs, we will generate various vocabularies of body language. Then, experimenting with simple arrangements of space and time and our vocabularies, we will witness (from inside and outside the movement), what we make! 

Whaaaat? Just come. It will be fun. We will move to groovy (and perhaps dramatic) music together and practice placing our attention in meaningful ways that may surprise and delight (or frustrate and confuse). Either way (or both ways) we will learn and unlearn together. Joy will likely emerge. 

Who: We invite everyone who is interested in participating to join the creative workshops. We aim to make these events as accessible as possible, and they are open to everyone regardless of age, ability, ethnicity, religion, language, sexual orientation, gender identity, political beliefs, or status. Folks with children are also welcome to bring them along and their participation will not be part of the study.

To confirm participation and/or for more information, including about consent forms, please email sharon.engbrecht@uoguelph.ca.

If you decide to join us spontaneously, please do. Doors will be open 30 minutes before each event. There will be coffee, tea, and light snacks provided.

Bios

Ms. Georgia Simms (she/her) is a PhD student in the Critical Studies in Improvisation program at the University of Guelph.  She is an artist-mother-scholar who dances, performs, choreographs, facilitates, and organizes. Her current work investigates ‘ecstatic survival’, emotions, discernment, play, and relational repair through the blending of modern and post-modern sensibilities in solo, collective, and site-specific improvised movement composition and performance. 

Dr. Sharon Engbrecht (they/them) comes from a background in theatre and visual arts, narrative theory, and critical studies in gender and sexuality. They have a knack for event planning and facilitating group events focused on storytelling and improvisation. Their research investigates questions of embodiment, identity, and relationality.

A head shot of a woman with blond hair and blue eyes looking directly at the camera with a friendly smile.

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