Artem dancing

Levitation Practice

Contact Improvisation Workshop
23 - 25 May in Amsterdam

Amsterdam always feels like a celebration. Here, a community has grown that I deeply value and truly love. Our regular gatherings give me a sense of continuity—connections that deepen and stretch gently over time.

At the same time, I remain open to new encounters. I warmly invite you to train your body and mind, and to become more attuned to life.

A living body, and real contact with others, open a path to joy, to honest response, and to a direct experience of the world—before words, before explanation.


Artem dancing on the floor, someone laughing and moving over him

In contact improvisation, we are accustomed to playing with the fall of the central axis, which is called the small dance. The fall of the vertical axis is one of the main tools that initiates movement in space.

Day 1 — Softening

We begin by softening both body and mind. Arriving from the noise and speed of the city, we take time to settle into calmness and reconnect with the fluid nature of the body.

Fluid movement gently regulates the nervous system. Instead of holding tension, we allow it to move, to shift, to pass—through slow, attentive motion.

At the end of the day, I will invite you into a question: is levitation possible?

My work unfolds at the edge between subtle bodily perception and playful, performative madness. Can we be both delicate and wild at once?

Artyom instructing and dancing Photo by Judit Emese Konopas
Artyom dancing

Day 2 — Forces

The second day is dedicated to physical forces: inertia, clear directional force, and twisting force—the kind of force we feel when the body turns, spirals, or rotates.

In a sense, we will be living physics through the body.

Rather than understanding these forces only as ideas, we will experience them directly. You may begin to sense how your body meets them, moves with them, or resists them—and how new choices can appear from within that awareness.

This opens space for greater softness, and greater freedom in movement.

The world can feel overwhelming, even chaotic… Instead of resisting the wave, can we learn to ride it?

Day 3 — Integration

On the final day, we gather and integrate what we have explored. We will also move toward contemplation and performance.

To be seen. To be heard. To allow yourself to unfold, like a flower.

How much shame does a flower feel when it realizes it is being watched?

 

I invite you into this journey: to deepen your connection with yourself and with others, to discover a fuller sense of pleasure through movement, to develop skills in Contact Improvisation, and simply to rest, move, and dance in good company.

Artyom instructing and dancing
Artem

Artem Markov

Artem has been engaged in Contemporary dance field since 2002. He worked as a dancer in Ufa (Russia) in performance group “White Label” 2004-2006. From 2006, he started dancing contact improvisation. He has been teaching CI since 2008. Artem is contact teacher he taught in many festivals such as: Dancefulness: Ukraine Festival of Contact Improvisation (2013), Ibiza Contact Festival (2015), Italy Contact Festival (2017, 2024), Israel Contact Festival (2019).

In parallel, Artem has been engaged in body-work and movement therapy since 2006. He had started to participate somatic workshops and finally he decided to learn somatic professionally.

Artem is educated in two somatic universities Integrative Bodywork and Movement Therapy (IBMT dip.) and SomaticBody Training. He teaches at the SomaticBody Training program, and also he conducts his own somatic courses.

Dance floor

Time and location

The workshop will be held at Studio 239, Prinsengracht 239, Amsterdam.

Please bring comfortable clothes, warm socks, water bottles and notepads in case you would like to write things down. Cookies and tea will be provided.

We will take over the Pinksterdag weekend including Monday (a day off in the Netherlands)

The programme is as follows:
  • Saturday 23rd: 10.00 to 17.00
  • Sunday 24th: 10.00 to 17.00
  • Monday 25th: 10.00 to 17.00
  • All days include a lunch break of an hour
Close-up of Artyom moving Photo by Judit Emese Konopas

Register

Full workshop (18 hours)
  • Before April 19th: € 180.
    (If you bring a friend: € 160)
  • After April 19th: € 220.
    (If you bring a friend: € 200)

If you don't have the financial resources available at the moment but do wish to join, please get in touch and we can see if we can work something out.

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Contact

Cancellation policy:
We do not return your deposit within two weeks before the workshop, and we can return 50% of your deposit if you cancel within four weeks before the workshop. You could however pass your place on to another person. Contact us if you wish to do so.

If you have any questions, feel free to contact us at