Sabrina Huth & Akemi Nagao
Saturday Digestion
Block seminar, English/Deutsch, 2 SWS, 2 ECTS
Saturdays, at 30.4., 7.5., 18.6. and 25.6.2022, each 10-17 h, Hardenbergstr. 33, room 310

You are not a machine. You are a divine human being. Please rest, meditate, daydream!

The workshop "Saturday Digestion" facilitates an open space that invites us to slow down and process the exuberant information we take in on a daily basis. In a time when our nervous system is in danger of permanent overload and burn-out we provide a clear structure of doing less and at the same time becoming more sensitive and attentive to our individual and collective needs and the ecologies we co-inhabit. We plunge into that which is not yet known and experiment with a way of co-existing that allows us to spend time together alone.

The workshop aims to stimulate creativity and resilience through a practice of collective resting, sharing and letting go of what is too tight or could be cleared out. Inspired by Barbara Dilley's Contemplative Dance Practice (CDP) each session is framed by a combination of meditation practice, movement practice, verbal/non-verbal individual reflection and collective exchange.

Throughout the four "Saturday Digestion" sessions we experiment with and further develop the provided score. The participants' needs, interests, wishes, and means of artistic expression actively feed into the process. Based on the embodied experience we discuss the potential of active rest as a form of resistance and its socio-political implications.

We explicitly welcome all bodies with/out dance/performance experience. Each participant should bring: comfortable clothes to move in and water to drink, notebook/sketchbook, meditation cushion, block or anything you need to meditate comfortably in a seated position.

Requirements for the ungraded Studium Generale credits: Regular and active attendance Keeping track of the individual process through small assignments such as keeping a resting diary or developing individual resting practices.

Akemi Nagao and Sabrina Huth are Berlin based dance artists and choreographers who met during their studies at HZT Berlin. Thriving within a strong artistic collaboration they have been developing a contemplative movement practice in which they explore active rest as a source of inspiration and form of resistance. Since 2020, they co-facilitate regular "Saturday Digestion" sessions within different settings (Ponderosa Stolzenhagen,Tanzfabrik Berlin, etc.).

AkemiNagao is a graduate of the MA Choreography at HZT Berlin and an awarded scholar of the Deutschlandstipendium and Studienstiftung des Deutschen Volkes. In her latest pieces: "B OR D ER S?", "JUICY ♡ METAMORPHOSIS" and "DIAMOND - The Crossing Point of Money and Spirituality" she negotiates taboo subjects such as discrimination, sexuality, and the connection between money and spirituality. Her artistic interest lies in the conflict between social issues and the body, between words, images, sensations, and emotions.

Sabrina Huth is a graduate of the MA Artistic Research at the Amsterdam University of the Arts and as a guest student of HZT Berlin. In her work she explores in a subtle yet radical way how to navigate complexities and move in between polarities. In collaboration with Ilana Reynolds she has been developing the choreographic approach Imagined Choreographies in order to research the potential of physical absence to expand the body into the state of fiction and the in-between. More information on https://akeminagao.wixsite.com/ and sabrinahuth.com.