The Illusion of Stability
Contact Improvisation Workshop with Serhii Semichev
Leipzig, Germany
24-25 May 2025
“In nature, nothing is truly constant—everything changes, and nothing is stable. Our bodies are no exception. Every second, countless forces act upon us, and numerous internal processes take place. To organize movement and maintain position, our bodies continuously adapt to ever-changing conditions.
Rather than being a fixed state, stability is a dynamic process—a delicate dance of adaptation and balance. We are in a perpetual state of reorganizing ourselves in response to internal and external forces.
Our perception, attention, and decisions are constantly shifting. The body-mind system continuously adjusts, searching for balance in movement, in interaction, and in the unpredictability of the present moment.”
This workshop explores balance as an ever-evolving phenomenon: losing, finding, and playing with it.
We will explore:
- How to find balance in any position with minimal muscular effort.
- How changes in different body parts affect the center of gravity and lead to the loss and regaining of balance.
- How the body naturally organizes itself when the center of gravity shifts in space.
- How a partner’s influence alters the center of gravity and challenges our sense of stability.
- How two bodies interact in contact when losing and rediscovering balance.
- How joint loss of balance, rather than being an obstacle, can become a resource for movement and improvisation.
This workshop is an invitation to approach balance not as a fixed point but as a playful, shared process—a dance where stability is never still but constantly emerging.”
Schedule
Saturday, 24 May
Workshop: 12:30 – 20:00 (including a meal break)
Sunday, 25 May
Workshop: 10:00 – 18:00 (including a meal break)
Open Jam: 19:00–21:30
Price
- Normal price: sliding scale 120-200 EUR until May 4th (including Jam)
- Late registration: sliding scale 170-250 EUR (including Jam)
Sliding scale means you pay what you can within a set range.
Venue
Tanz Zentrale Leipzig, Studio 2,
Erich-Zeigner-Allee 64e
(For non-residents of Leipzig, there is an opportunity to stay overnight at the studio for free from Saturday to Sunday and from Sunday to Monday. Please bring your own sleeping bag and indicate your need for this when registering.)
About Serhii Semichev
Serhii is a very well-known teacher, performer, and activist in the Contact Improvisation community in Ukraine since 2013. He has been an organizer, co-organizer, and teacher at numerous CI festivals, including Dancefullness, KarpatSki, DancePavilion, International CI Conference ECITE 2019, and ContactCIWinter. From 2017 to 2022, he led the CI Kyiv Project Laboratory.
He has taught at international festivals and intensives across Europe and beyond, including in Italy, Portugal, Spain, Germany, Austria, Sweden, Belgium, Switzerland, Moldova, and China.
Since 2022, he has been based in Rome, Italy, where he organized and taught regular classes and jams. In 2025, he relocated to Freiburg, Germany, where he continues to teach.
His movement background includes gymnastics and acrobatics, and he is also a massage therapist and physiotherapist. Additionally, he has worked before as a photographer and videographer at numerous CI festivals, capturing the essence of dance and movement.
Questions:
Roman on telegram
semchenko.r.g@gmail.com
Roman