Claire O'Neil (New Zealand) workshop

Do Somathing

Movement Training -

Discovering an array of technical applications of the body through ongoing cyclic forms, spatial play, floor work and dance phrasing with somatic awareness, relational thinking and structured improvisation leading the way.

Creative Practice -

I am interested in the way the self generates resources that contribute to long- lasting creativity, energy, social action, and sustainable practices. We will explore this inquiry through our individual, collective and primordial improvising bodies.

We will finish with a folk dance.

Practice & Theory Acknowledgments (in no particular order)

Hanna Somatics, Axis Syllabus, Body Mind Centering, Bonnie Bainbridge-Cohen, Nancy Stark Smith, Steve Paxton, Julyen Hamilton, Martin Keogh, Sondra Fraleigh, Alison East, Meg Stuart, Yoga, Rudolph Laban, Moshe Feldenkrais, Michael Parmenter/Common Ground, Balfolk, Hawkins technique, Douglas Wright, Hans van den Broeck, Pierre Bourdieu, Meg Stuart, Frank van de Ven/ Body Weather, Rachel Ruckstuhl-Mann, University of Auckland, Erin Manning, Peter Jasko, Les Slovaks, Keith Hennessy, Haidee Staimond, and many artistic peers.

Claire is an artistic director, performance maker, dance and movement educator, performing artist , community project builder, mentor and advisor in dance and choreography.  She has created, collaborated and presented over 35 performance works. She resided in Belgium for 10 years and developed an international career in performance and teaching dance for prestigious companies in Europe. She returned to New Zealand in 2011 and achieved a Masters in Dance in 2016. Currently Claire is in her first year of a PhD in Creative Practice at the University of Auckland exploring somatic arts and sustainability, whilst continuing her role as Mum to her two girls, Georgie and Iris O’Neil.

Claire O’Neil, Photo: Francisco Rodriguez