The contemporary dance company Alias proposes to bring the theme of body and movement for one year to a primary school in the city of Geneva.

Description & Objectives
This project allows students and teachers to sensitively address the relationship they have with their bodies. They discover contemporary dance through the school link by participating in various body workshops based on the foundations of this art of movement. The aim is to live fully with one’s own body and that of others, to feel it, to respect it, to talk about it, to experiment with it, to play and create with it, and to be aware of the emotions it expresses. Contemporary dance thus awakens curiosity and develops autonomy.

Pupils participate in a contemporary dance experience as part of their school career, even if their family and socio-economic background does not predispose them to this type of practice. Contemporary dance allows them to approach sensitive spaces, to weave links between the body and its environment, between their body and that of others. It gives different access to the subjects dealt with in class, and develops in parallel the relational and cognitive level.

Interventions during the year
Each intervention is adapted to the age of the children. It takes into account the specific needs and abilities of each age group. Several types of interventions will take place during the year:

Contemporary dance workshops
The central intervention. All classes of all levels will have 3 workshops of about 3 hours each, working in a playful and serious way.

Meetings with professional dancers
Meetings with dancers from the Alias company are organised in order to explain the profession of choreographer and dancer and to talk about their relationship with their body, a working tool. These meetings also allow for the showing of dances improvised by the professional dancers in order to expose the creative and emotional richness that a body in movement can convey.

Films
During the year, films will be shown of fictional works or films of key performances in the contemporary dance repertoire that directly or indirectly address the theme of body and movement. The films will be chosen according to the different ages of the students. Films for teachers will also be offered.

Contemporary dance workshops for teachers
One or two contemporary dance workshops will be offered to teachers, provided that they are available outside of school hours.

Rehearsals of the Alias company open to pupils
If the schedule is favourable, rehearsals of the company will be open to pupils and teachers of the school.

Discovering different dance and movement techniques
Yoga and/or BMC (Body Mind Centering) classes will be offered to discover dance and its multiple facets.

Visual art and the body
Projects in art classes (drawing, manual work, etc.) directly related to the body, such as drawing a part of one’s own body or that of a colleague, constructing a body in clay, modelling clay or other materials and placing a photo on top, etc. This project is to be developed with the teachers. An exhibition of this work could be held at the end of the school year.

Dance together with all the pupils
A dancer/choreographer works with each class on a short dance to music, so that at a joint celebration, at the end of the year for example, the classes can show it to the others and possibly do a dance together with all the pupils: a taste of sharing in a large group that is moved by the same music with the same intentions and dynamics.

Other more specific projects could also be developed with the teachers.

Since 2017, the Français-Math-DANSE project offers an initiation to contemporary dance, through the school link. Students participate in body workshops and discover the foundations of this art of movement.

Description & Objectives
To allow the children of the commune of Meyrin to live a contemporary dance experience as part of their schooling, even if their family and socio-economic background does not predispose them to it. This project tends to be anchored in the long term so that, in the end, all Meyrin schoolchildren can be introduced to dance during their education.
During 3 mornings, the students, led by Catherine Egger, explore movement by connecting with their bodies. They develop their imagination and awaken their senses. Technique and aesthetics are not part of this work.

Why dance for schoolchildren
Contemporary dance allows us to approach sensitive spaces, to weave links between the body and its environment, between one’s own body and that of the other. It gives different access to the subjects covered in class, as well as on the relational and cognitive level. It awakens curiosity and develops autonomy.

Dance & Body Training
By working in a playful and serious way, the following points are addressed:

The body = anatomy
Recognize and become familiar with your body. Locate specific points, isolate them, deepen their relationship to other parts of the body and their feelings.
The weight of the body
Feel the weight of your body in relation to gravity and momentum. Work on and with the ground.
Music makes the body vibrate
Living music and rhythm with your body. Listening to music with your body.
Become one with the other, with the group.
Making two bodies dance together. Listening to each other, being in contact with each other. Sharing, exchanging.
Develop a sense of belonging. To feel one’s body and person in action in a group and in space. Create links to dance with others and find one’s place.
Respect the body
Listen and take care of your body and the bodies of others. A body for all life. Aging”, the wear and tear of the body.
The body that speaks
The expression of feelings and sensations by our body. Recognizing what my body expresses, as well as that of others.
The dancing body
Recognize, in your body, the notion of pleasure, effort and relaxation.
The body at work
Feel creativity through your body. To develop improvisation by deploying the full potential of the body in movement.

Partners
The city of Meyrin and the House of Companies

Inscriptions
Catherine Egger
[email protected]

For the past three years, Alias has been carrying out a series of residencies and outreach activities, first at the Cayla middle school, from 2014 to 2015, then at Gradelle, from 2015 to 2016. This unique experience is now being carried further with an important project in 2016-2017 at the de Saussure Secondary School.

Description & objectives
The prime objective of this residency is to arouse the curiosity of pupils and teachers about the(ir) body.  Dance and the body in motion are two main axes of this residence. The question « what role does my body play in my life? » will be the guiding thread throughout the year.

The residency will comprise twelve projects of different nature, structure and scale: workshops in movement and various dance techniques, conferences, rehearsals, films, improvisation, drawing and photography workshops, etc. The projects will be elaborated in coordination with the teachers concerned.

Beneficiaries
The company will carry out rehearsals and run-throughs for its various tours in the school’s auditorium.  Rehearsals will be open to students and educators alike, making the profession and world of contemporary dance visible and accessible to all one thousand pupils, one hundred and twenty five teachers and thirty administrative employees.

This project lasted until 2011-2012

Description & objectives
Contemporary dance project in schools related to L’Ange du foyer (Home angel), choreography for young and old created in 2008 by Alias.

The objective was to conduct children through the choreographic universe of
Home angel, a family choreography created in 2008 at the Meyrin Forum Theatre. The children were encouraged to create their own « school angel » by reacting to the fantasy of Guilherme Botelho, the company’s choreographer, whilst utilizing their own universe and body language developed in the course of workshops.  During the fifth and last week of workshops, the four groups and the company got together in the company’s studio to share their work and debate about the piece with the choreographer and the dancers present in Geneva.

Partners
Department of Education (DIP) « Les arts et l’enfant » (Children and the Arts), Meyrin Forum Theatre

Description & objectives
In these workshops, Fabio Bergamaschi guides the children through creative and playful experiences where imagination and feeling are the pillars of movement.  Technique and esthetics are not part of this work. By means of a precise and constructive improvisation procedure, children are put at the center of the creative process.

Keynotes
• Availability and responsiveness of the body: the body in a state of absorption: listening, being present, concentration…
• Body awareness: weight, letting go, momentum, contraction/relaxation, muscle tone, relation to the ground, imprints…
• Actions and feeling, different states of the body: slicing, cutting, rolling petting, drawing, enveloping, lying down, floating…
• Space and occupation of space: crossing the stage, directions, orientations, creating spaces, space as malleable material and/or sound, vision…
• Musicality of the body: different dynamics and qualities of movement, different tempi,  initiation and conclusion of movement, syntax of a gesture, pre-movement, resonance
• Writing a movement: creation of movements by children, composition and memorization of a choreographic phrase based on those movements, appropriation of a choreographic phrase and improvisation with the newly acquired language…
• Reading the body

Stage performance at end of school year
The aim of a public performance is not to point out, demonstrate or prove anything but to share with the people close to us the adventure that we lived through by immersing them in it, and to witness the fantasies that were prompted… to share an experience in order to engender meaning, to live the artistic process fully and become aware of all the trades involved in the production of a show. A stage performance is an experience of respect, individual and collective responsibility, multiple emotions, sensorial perception and trust in oneself and others.

Project carried out from 2008 to 2009, and from 2009 to 2010. During the second season, it comprised four parts:

Part 1   –   Dance at school
C.f. detailed description.

Part 2   –   Workshops for seniors Description & objectives
Weekly creativity and movement workshops for people over sixty five. Using improvisation games, facilitator Caroline de Cornière proposes an exploration of movement (movement of joints, quality of movement, listening, space…). Individual and collective work around dance to develop our understanding of it as a language of the body and to enrich our musicality and movement. To enhance responsibility and initiative for one’s own health, self esteem and respect for others through the pleasure of dancing and creating.

Beneficiaries
Circa fifteen retirees living in the commune of Meyrin

Dates & schedules
October to June, weekly ninety minute workshops

Partners
Department of Culture and Assistance to Seniors of the commune of Meyrin, Meyrin Forum Theatre

Part 3   –   Exhibit: « La force du grand âge » (The strength of old age)
Description & objectives
Exhibit & Work in progress in relation to the Meyrin Forum Theatre theme “Avec le temps” (« With time »).  The objective was to highlight the expression of an aging body through the medium of contemporary dance, short films and photography.

Beneficiaries
General public

Partners
Department of Culture and Assistance to Seniors of the commune of Meyrin, Meyrin Forum Theatre

Part 4   –   Show Description &
Objectives
Two part project around the theme of the body at every age, putting children face to face with seniors.  Intergenerational work mixing abstract scenes with narrative ones to the music of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.

The objective was to give participants a chance to present their work on stage, to become familiarized with the different trades of stage production, and to discover the stakes of a performance, as well as to give two generations the opportunity to get to know each other around a shared artistic experience.

Beneficiaries
Participants in « Dance at school » and « Dance for Seniors » workshops as well as the general public

Partners
Department of Culture and Assistance to Seniors of the commune of Meyrin, Meyrin Forum Theatre