Naïma Mazic & Haggai Cohen-Milo "of(f) rhythm"

Workshop performance with the participation of students of the University of Music and Theatre "Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy" Leipzig. Followed by: Giocondo/Ramoser/Sberveglieri "Sugar".

Dancer Naïma Mazic and bassist Haggai Cohen have already taught in various cities, constantly refining their teaching methods and placing communication between jazz musicians and dancers through rhythm at the center of their workshops. Space, orientation and images are mostly known from the field of dance, but are also introduced to musicians in the context of the workshop. Thus, the project invites participants to discover the versatility of rhythm in both dance and music, to meet and learn from each other. Beats, offbeats, triplets, of(f)rhythm and polyrhythms are equally in focus and negotiation. The workshop is for dancers and musicians and focuses on the transdisciplinary work between dance and music, between the tools of contemporary dance and those of jazz music.

In 2014, Naïma began her movement research on the concepts of polyrhythms and polymeters. She explores how rhythm manifests in dance and how rhythmic independence of dancers, different dance forms and jazz music can communicate through a common language. Working closely with jazz musician Haggai Cohen-Milo, her research journey has moved from analysis to movement - moving with or against beats and offbeats, changing subdivisions, speeding up or slowing down - to achieve the embodiment of polyrhythms. In the baggage always the question: how can dance and music merge and correlate through a common language in multiplicity?