Meet the Artist- Simon Fildes and Kirstie Simson

Dance Workshop with Kirstie Simson and Screening with Simon Fildes Sign-Up to Attend

Center for Performance Research Thursday, September 19 Workshop 12:00p-2:00p Screening 7:00p-9:00p $25 for Workshop, $10 for Screening, $30 for Workshop and Screening

About the Artists

Simon Fildes Simon Fildes has spent most of his working life as a freelancer in the arts, music and media sectors, editing and producing for broadcast television, arts and corporate sectors while developing a personal practice in creative media arts. Originally a musician, for the past two decades Simon has been a practicing artist, working mainly in the field of video art and interactive sound and visual installations. He has created video projections for live performances and worked with Katrina McPherson on all her video dance works over the past 18 years. He was a recipient of a ‘Year of the Artist’ award in 2001, and in 2006 he was shortlisted for the Creative Scotland Award. He lives in the Highlands of Scotland with Katrina and their 3 children. Kirstie Simson Kirstie Simson (UK) has been a continuous explosion in the contemporary dance scene, bringing audiences into contact with the vitality of pure creation in moment after moment of virtuoso improvisation. Called “a force of nature” by the New York Times, she is an award-winning dancer and teacher who has “immeasurably enriched and expanded the boundaries of New Dance” according to Time Out Magazine, London: “Simson’s eternal subject is freedom, as she dares to go beyond the boundaries of form and structure to create movement out of the rhythm of life itself.” Kirstie is renowned today as an excellent teacher and captivating performer and a leading light in the field of Dance Improvisation. She currently holds a position at the University of Illinois, and continues to teach and perform all over the world.

About the Workshops

Dance Improvisation and Performance Workshop with Kirstie Simson Kirstie’s teaching draws from her knowledge of contact improvisation, dance techniques, Aikido, meditation and her extensive experience of improvisation in performance. She is always exploring uninhibitedly the huge potential of the body’s response to the primal urge to move, inspired by the energy released through human interaction, physical challenge and the excitement of discovering new territory, new sensations and a daring to go beyond inherent ideas of limitation. Her classes are built on simple physical principles allowing participants to explore their experience of moving and understanding their own bodies more profoundly. Participants will be absorbing the skills of dancing in partnership with others and improvising with greater sensitivity to each other and the environment. Her approach engenders full and fearless dancing that is experienced as liberating, bringing people together in a joyful celebration of unity. Most importantly her work has been a life practice, and as such she shares her insights into the application of this art form as a way to approaching life. For as long as Kirstie is inspired to keep exploring the depth of relevance that this work reveals to her within her own practice, she will keep teaching workshops. It is a way for her to share the knowledge she has gleaned from thirty years of practicing improvisation and performance, and the extraordinary gift this has been in her life. Screening of Force of Nature and There is a Place with Simon Fildes Followed by discussion with Simon Fildes, Kirstie Simson, and Dai Jian who appears in The Force of Nature Moderated by dance filmmaker and DFA Member Chisa Hidaka This new performance documentary Force of Nature is a 75 minute UK/US coproduction featuring the renowned improvising dance artist Kirstie Simson. Over five years, Katrina McPherson filmed Kirstie Simson performing and teaching across Europe, culminating in a one-off performance with Michael Schumacher, Kenzo Kusuda and Dai Jian at the Universal Hall Arts Centre, Findhorn, Scotland in July 2010. Force of Nature combines specially filmed performance, documentary footage and in-depth interviews with Kirstie, in which she talks about her life-long practice in improvisation, and her passionate belief in the power of dance to bring people together and transform lives. There is a Place is an international award-winning video dance is the product of collaboration between Katrina McPherson, Simon Fildes and Sang Jijia. It was the winner of best short film jury prizes at San Francisco Dance Film Festival and Dance Camera West Los Angeles. There is a Place is supported by China-UK Connections through Culture, a joint initiative between the Department for Culture, Media and sport and the British Council with support from the Scottish Government and Welsh Assembly Government.

About the Series

Meet the Artist Dance Films Association hosts a recurring Meet the Artist series, which provides artists and audiences with a unique and dynamic opportunity to learn from experienced filmmakers working within the niche of dance film. The events serve as an opportunity to meet directly with dance film professionals, as they screen their work. The Meet the Artist format is a hybrid panel/screening presentation. Past artist include Physical TV, David Hinton, and Daniele Wilmouth. Several of DFA’s past Meet the Artist events have also included an opportunity for select DFA members to screen their work for feedback from the featured artist. Similar events were included in DFA’s 2013 Dance on Camera Festival (DOCF) event, co-presented by the Film Society of Lincoln Center. For example, the Commercial and Art Program explored dance film in both commercial and artistic contexts with filmmaker/choreographer Celia Rowlson-Hall and conceptual visual artist Brian Gonzalez.