​"Where you are when you don't know where you are is one of the most precious spots offered by improvisation. It is a place from which more directions are possible than anywhere else.”

• Nancy Stark Smith, Contact Quarterly Editor's Note, 1987

Hello Nancy,

After a three year hiatus, Mission Improvable returns with its 2023 workshop: Degrees of Freedom, facilitated by internationally recognized dancer, performance artist, and teacher Chris Aiken. Currently teaching at Smith College, Chris explores collaborative interdisciplinary improvisation that emphasizes awareness of the many relationships that exist in a performance space between performers, witnesses, and all that surrounds them. Mission Improvable is an annual Contact Improvisation dance workshop that will run this year from March 15th to March 19th. 

Contact Improvisation is a specialized form of post-modern dance relying heavily on our relationship to gravity and movement conversations often in touch with one or more fellow dancers. The highly collaborative form, named by Steve Paxton and inspired by his background in Aikido, has become a popular underground social dance practice. Mission Improvable: Degrees of Freedom will integrate aspects of movement training, composition, and performance through improvisation. This workshop will encourage an appreciation for the dynamic relationships between movement, perception, and imagination, culminating in an evening length performance. 

This culminating performance, entitled Unknowing: An Evening of Dance Improvisation will take place on Friday, March 17th at 8:00 pm at St. John's Grace in Buffalo, NY. Unknowing: An Evening of Dance Improvisation, will feature live music and multiple structured improvisational scores that provide an opportunity for both performers and viewers to engage with the dynamics of their role as a maker, a collaborator, or a witness.