Practicing Spaciousness: Making room for Contemplation and Collective Resilience in Performance Training

Leader: Gabriela Petrov

Location: Room 7-270, 7th Floor – John Molson Building, 1450 Rue Guy – Concordia University

In-Person/Hybrid Session

For over seven years I have been investigating how contemplative practices can support artists in performance training. In order to contemplate, we have no choice but to slow down and make space for our experience. This “slowing down” has become integral to my pedagogy as I teach artists in and outside of universities. I have taught this approach at Concordia’s Centre for Teaching and Learning to faculty from around the world and have collaborated with contemplative practice pioneers Wendell Beavers and Erika Berland. It is my experience that a contemplative or “spacious” approach allows room for an artist’s process to breathe and also fosters collectivity and resilience among students because of the solidarity required to truly sit with our own body/mind in this present moment. With the workshop, I will give participants a lived experience of this spacious pedagogy as I currently practice it. Participants will encounter rituals, a conscious approach to “time” in facilitation, contemplative movement practices and guided discussions that encourage collectivity and individual somatic awareness. I would consider this workshop a continuation of my inquiry about this approach and would make conscious space for comments to be shared. The workshop will include movement exploration, but this should not discourage anyone who isn’t experienced to participate. Folks can simply observe, or participate at whatever scale they are comfortable. I aim to be flexible and curious to incorporate anyone who shows up with an interest to participate.

Gabriela Petrov

Gabriela Petrov is an artist based in Tiohtià:ke/Montréal. She has taught performance practices at Concordia, McGill and Naropa University. She draws from the Viewpoints approach, Body-Mind Centering®, and Contemplative Dance Practice, which she studied under Barbara Dilley. In her own artistic work, she uses movement improvisation to explore performance and reality.