The Elements class takes place every 2nd and 4th Saturday of the month from 2:30-4:30pm at the Town Lake YMCA in the large group exercise room on the first floor.

(Note: Only one class in February!)

Class will be taught by Lauren Tietz.

//Body as Archive//

Please join us for the next Body Shift Elements class where we will dive into fundamentals of Lisa Nelson’s Tuning Scores while we also explore our body as personal archive. As an artist I have been exploring questions about identity, lineage, and the ancestors. For this class we will work with solo and group tuning as well as take some time to remember (through movement) what has influenced us, shaped us, in palpable and invisible ways. Depending on the group’s interests and the timing of class, this might involve some writing/speaking in addition to witnessing and reflecting movement created.

Lauren Tietz has been working in various settings from forests in Santa Fe, New Mexico to the Rio Grande of Big Bend Texas to the caves of Cappadoccia, Turkey to map and locate the human body in the larger natural world. As a dance artist and filmmaker she has collaborated with many different artists and groups across disciplines along her path.

Influenced by the phenomena of the senses, reflexes, and myriad survival methods humans employ in response to danger, safety, pleasure, and poetics she sees the body as personal and cultural archive. From this intimate perspective Lauren is curious about how our relationship to our own body might be a window to perceive our larger relationship to the body of the earth. What is heard, hidden, forgotten, saved, remembered?

Lauren’s collaborations with other artists span from 2001 to today. She is a teacher, dancer, experimental filmmaker, and interdisciplinary artist. She was the founder of the Improvisation Movement Project (IMP) that worked as a collective devising and performing new dance works beginning in 2004.

In 2011 she completed her MFA at Transart Institute. Her dance films have been screened at: On The Wall: Berlin Dance on Film Series/ Non Fiction (2010), The Not Festival: Curated by Luis Lara Malvacias, NY (2011) and The 5th International Video Art Festival, Cuba (2013 – SSFS), Big Medium (2015) EAST Austin Studio Tour (2016), Blackbox gallery (2017), Experimental response Cinema Local Filmmakers Showcase (2017), Austin Dance Festival (2018).

In addition to teaching classes, workshops, and retreats Lauren also has a private practice in biodynamic craniosacral therapy (EarthSkyBodyworks). She works with a diverse group of clients and offers support in rebalancing and healing from various life events and stressful experiences. She appreciates the connections between these two sides of her life: the creative energy utilized to devise new artworks and the creative energy utilized to help people to heal personal and cultural wounds.

Elements is an on-going class in which we study dance and movement improvisation as well as somatics. DanceAbility is our foundational method with which we work to ensure inclusion. It is an equal collaboration and learning environment for every ‘body’ regardless of unique physical or mental characteristics. No gym membership is required to attend. Open to adults age 18 and up; all abilities and experience levels. No registration necessary. Fee for class is on a sliding scale from $5-$20, cash or check accepted. See you at the Y!

For more information email Olivia O’Hare or call 512-454-9912.