MEN'S WORK
SPRING MENS GATHERING, Sunday March 5-2023, Naramata BC
In this one day men's retreat at the Chapel space at the Naramata Center we will explore as a group, themes around healthy masculinity, connection, trust building and embodied emotional work.
There will be time for group, dyad and individual reflection and experience.
Come connect with a group of like-minded men in a contained, sacred and relational space.
Cost: $80
Location: Chapel Space~ Naramata Center, 460 Ellis Street, Naramata, BC
Contact Peter to register and for more info.
FINDING HOME AT THE EDGE, MEN'S GROUPWORK, Penticton BC
Who is Men's Group work for?
Men who are ready to live closer to their authentic, creative and emotional edges who also wish to deepen the authenticity of their relationships to themselves and to those around them. This group is open to men who want to explore their vulnerability without compromising their integrity, power and autonomy. This group is open to those who identify as male and are above the age of 21.
What sort of things will we be doing/exploring?
Participants will work in a facilitated group setting of 4-6 people. We will explore a wide range of topics in an emotion focused framework. Topics we may explore together include vulnerability, grief, sexuality, anxiety, passion, anger, the inner critic, creativity and more. Participants can expect to work, discuss and grow in a healthy and supportive environment. The work will include discussion, exercises and therapeutic intervention.
Why group work?
Working in a group context is a special opportunity to share and be seen by fellow men in a connective, grounded way. In group work, you have the opportunity to soften the walls that separate us in our day to day lives, opening the space for sharing and learning simultaneously. In a group we begin to see ourselves reflected, the deeper we go the deeper we can all go together. We will connect to what is most real together, whether in our emotions, our pain or our potential.
A 3-month commitment to the group is preferred. Cost: $40 per session.
Please contact Peter Kok for more questions or to sign up. A brief interview is required prior to sign up.
647 335 0737
Migration Parade, March-May 2022, Penticton BC
Penticton, BC/Montreal, QC
Penticton Art Gallery, March 2022
Island Mountain Arts Gallery, 2019
Born in the fall of 2018, “Migration Parade” is an evolving, collaborative body of work and multimedia gallery installation by electroacoustic sound artist, Danielle Savage, and sculptural textile artist, Alexandra Goodall.
This work is an act of earnest research into the phenomena of hive-mind, relational space, and collective intelligence, from the micro to the macro, starting with ourselves. Through multiple research streams and creation methods, we are using the artistic disciplines of sculptural textile and electroacoustic composition to explore the movements of personal and collective bodies. We have drawn on the field of phenomenology, philosophically and through application, and rely on direct engagement with materials (cloth/fibre and raw sonic experimentation) to guide much of our studio practice. Simultaneously, we continue to follow and nurture the conceptual dimensions of our work, tracking how this evolves and how it provides further context, shaping and insight to our inquir
PAINTING A PICTURE OF THE FINAL INSTALLATION:
When visitors enter the exhibition space, they are met with nine large-scale white sculptures, hanging from the ceiling, arranged in a circle. The room is dark except for the sculptural pieces, which are subtly lit from above and below. Each piece is made of many hand-made, felted components. The color-palette of the exhibition is taken from the natural white wool used for the felt which imparts a soft, warm lustre indicative of bone, cocoons and animal hair. These sculptural pieces are intentionally ambiguous, leaning towards associations of eggs, cells, spindles, cicadas, seed pods and hives. The hope is that they are evocative, yet don’t instruct the participant how to feel. Rather, they invite engagement and inquiry.
Motion sensors embedded in the felt are triggered by the participants’ movement, setting off a multi-part sound work, which plays through speakers housed in the sculptures. This allows participants to feel how their presence impacts the space. The composed sounds swirl in hive-minded, primal patterns: swells, flocks, assembly and dispersal, on a spectrum from textural to gestural. The tone of the space implies a mass devotional conversation, at once alien and familiar, contemporary and primordial. It expresses the current milieu of human interventions with all their complicated outcomes and processes.
COLLABORATIONS:
Migration Parade started as a two-person collaboration between myself and Danielle Savage. Over the last 3 1/2 years, our themes and research have called us to expand by engaging in 4 additional collaborations which spiral off the central hub of our installation. We asked these artists to respond to our work through their mediums, and in so doing, create a work that is a whole unto itself.
“Migration Parade: Helical Song” by choreographer, Charlie Prince, will be performed from March 27th - April 3rd, 2022, at the Penticton Art Gallery in the “Migration Parade: Holon” Exhibition by dancers Peter Kok, Maiya Robbie, Nikos Theodosakis, Gita Harris, Jessica Glavina and Julie Fowler
Cinematographer and Director, Kristen Brown, will be creating an artist portrait film that follows the process, development and performance of “Migration Parade: Helical Song”.
Photographer and visual artist, Winona Rae, is creating a body of work around our studio process and the sculptures. Available as an online exhibition from March 26th, 2022.
Performance Artist and vocalist, Mia Harris, will be performing from April 23rd to 30th, 2022, at the Penticton Art Gallery in the “Migration Parade: Holon” Exhibition.
we | obstacle | space, MARCH 14 2020, Penticton BC
A one-day movement oriented workshop co-facilitated by myself and Alexandra Goodall. Alexandra is a multidisciplinary artist and facilitator. In her studio practice, her focus is on sculptural textile and installation. In her workshops and individual sessions she aims to bridge the disciplines of art, psychology and bodily presence. She holds a masters degree in Intermodal Expressive Arts Therapy.
In this workshop, we will explore the relationship between individual and group creativity. Through a combination of exercises, reflections and movement practices we will examine how to foster and build attunement in a group process while remaining engaged through our own acts of creative contribution. We will draw from a number of movement and contemplative arts practices including improvisational movement, somatics, the visual arts, contact improvisation, and Butoh movement.
Questions we will be exploring:
What is the relationship between creativity and group attunement?
What happens to ourselves creatively when obstacles arise either individually or in the group?
How does creativity expand and contract in different contexts?
How do we remain individual while building attunement in a group creative process?
This workshop is for beginners and experienced movers alike.
March 14th, 2020
10 am - 4 pm with a 1 hour lunch break
$80
Location: the Studio at God’s Mountain Estate
Registration: www.alexandragoodall.com/workshops
FOUNDATIONS/BEGINNERS CLASS FOR CONTACT IMPROVISATION, APRIL 5 2020, Toronto ON
Join movement facilitator, Peter Kok for an Introduction to Contact Improvisation class at the Sunday Contact Improv Jam.
In this class we will explore Contact Improvisation fundamentals including:
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Basic Improvisational Skills
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Beginning and ending a dance
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Some light weight sharing
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Consent in Contact Improvisation
Classes are for adults and all-levels of experience. No partner is necessary. As Contact Improvisation involves a rolling point of contact and sliding, clothing that has zippers, buttons as well as jewelry is not suggested. Sleeveless shirts, shorts, skirts and slippery clothing are also not recommended. Only non-glass water bottles are allowed in the studio as we dance barefoot. Please avoid wearing perfumes or scented body care products in consideration for people with chemical sensitivities.
Location: 3rd floor, 805 Dovercourt Rd., Toronto
Cost: $11 drop-in, includes the Sunday Contact Jam following from 12-1:30pm
Doors open at 10:30 AM. Please arrive at least a few minutes early to warm up and be ready to start at 11:00 AM.
EXPERIMENTS IN MOVEMENT AND PLAY, Dates TBA, Toronto ON
"Where I am is what I need."
- Deborah Hay, my body, the buddhist
A movement-based inquiry into being and becoming.
These sessions invite the curious and inquisitive mover, encouraging relational and spatial awareness, building proprioceptive skills and expanding creative possibility.
Sessions will include moving meditations, group exercises and most importantly...lots of room for play and silliness.
Open to all levels, beginners and curious movers especially.
Third floor of the Dovercourt House, 805 Dovercourt.
Please bring loose fitted clothing for ease of movement.
Please no scents or perfumes.
Contact peter.a.kok@gmail.com to pre-register
$20/session, Drop ins welcome.
PAST WORKSHOPS
CONTEMPLATING SPACE, December 15 2019, Toronto ON
Facilitated by Peter Kok, this class will bridge contemplative attention and contact improv basics. The workshop will explore using the potential of the empty spaces between ourselves and our partner/s. Using solo, partnering and group exercises we will be exploring spiraling, connection/separation and pausing. What potential for creativity can we uncover in the emptiness?
Classes are for adults and all-levels of experience. No partner is necessary. As Contact Improvisation involves a rolling point of contact and sliding, clothing that has zippers, buttons as well as jewelry is not appropriate. Sleeveless shirts, shorts, skirts and slippery clothing is not recommended. Only non-glass water bottles are allowed in the studio as we dance barefoot. Please avoid wearing perfumes or scented body care products in consideration for people with chemical sensitivities.
Location: 3rd floor, 805 Dovercourt Rd., Toronto
Cost: $11 includes the Sunday Contact Jam following from 12-1:30pm.
Date: Sunday, December 15, 2019
Time: 11:00 AM - NOON. Doors open at 10:30 AM. Please arrive at least a few minutes early to warm up and be ready to start at 11:00 AM.
