During April 27th-May 4th, Nyxxx and coorganizer Kokoro2 host their first artistic residency together. We have the pleasure to receive the Berlin-based choreographer Dasniya Sommer for a week of reflection and exchange. She, like us, has an interest for interaction and intimacy in her performance work. Together, we want to create a platform for exploring such artistic practices.

In connection to the residence, Dasniya will host a couple of public workshop around one of her important working tools, namely rope. She is also performing at 18.00 on Sunday May the 3rd.

Are you interested in participating in one of the workshops, want to know more about the performance or have other questions? Write to kokoro2.info@gmail.com

About Dasniya Sommer

Dasniya Sommer is a choreographer and dancer based in Berlin. She has trained ballet and yoga since early childhood, and received her formal dance training in Berlin and New York. Between 2007 and 2009 Dasniya Sommer co–founded and developed the venue Schwelle7, an experimental project space in Berlin. Her choreographic focus has for many years been Japanese rope bondage (aka shibari) and classical ballet. Drawing also on her academic studies in ethics and aesthetics, her performances often question stereotypical body concepts and related styles of fetishising. In recent years, she has developed a technique she calls ”messy tying” that combines traditional elements with improvisation principles in a kind of ”punk” bondage.

To learn more about her work, visit her home page: http://dasniyasommer.de/

Workshop on Yoga and Shibari with Dasniya Sommer

Saturday May 2nd, 14:00–17:00

Since 2007, Dasniya Sommer conceptualizes workshops which combine shibari and yoga. This will be the first time she offers such a workshop in Sweden. Yoga allows us to develop a sense of our own body anatomy. The simultaneous perception of one’s own breathing and body-map is important, as is to be able to meet other bodies while playing with rope. In some of the asanas (yoga postures) we will integrate ropes. The touch of the rope helps clarify one’s investigation of the posture, and mixes the sensual and manual skills of bodies and ropes. In the second part of the workshop, we mix different rope techniques and stir things up. In pair or group situations in which we develop a bodily conversation, we see expressions of queer, grotesque or purely abstract play. We will work here also with methods drawn from dance and contact improvisation, and elements from role-playing games.

Beginners in yoga and rope are equally welcome. There are still free spots.

Workshop on Self-Suspension in ropes with Dasniya Sommer

Sunday May 3rd, 14:00–17:00

The work MA√ 15 { idiosyncrasy } || sin x = ly – fx2 (see documentation here ) is probably Dasniya Sommer’s most famous self-suspension piece. It gained wider recognition in contemporary dance in 2009 and toured internationally. While acrobatic endurance and virtuosity is one possibility with self-suspension work, there are also many other aspects that this expression allows. It is a dialogue with one’s own body and limits as well as with gravity and sensory experience. It is an opportunity for both meditation and playful exploration. In this workshop, Dasniya Sommer gives tools for entering this practice from the angles that are interesting for the individual, in a group of no more than 10 people.
Some prior experience with shibari technique is beneficial. The workshop is preliminary fully booked.