Clay bodies: movement research in dialogue with material practice (Adults)
Workshop for professional dancers and dance students
Artist Residency
Ula Sickle
Choreographer Ula Sickle will be in residency at the Vorres Museum, where she will be conducting research for her upcoming creation in 2026. Over the past years, Sickle’s choreographic practice has balanced between the worlds of performance and visual arts, and between the theatre and the museum. In preparation for this work, she will explore the medium of clay in its raw state.
Working with locally sourced clay from the region around the Vorres Museum, and collaborating with local clay studios and workshops, she will investigate the material in direct connection with the body and movement, exploring its various states, from wetness to dryness.
In her research, she will examine how working with clay can inform principles for generating movement, as well as how this material can be used to explore ideas of partnering and touch.
She is joined in her research by frequent collaborator, designer Joëlle Laederach of Wang Consulting, whose work as a stylist and designer remains closely connected to the body, and to working with found and recycled materials.
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Over the course of the residency, Ula Sickle, together with Joëlle Laederach, will lead a workshop for professional dancers and students from professional dance schools. The starting point will be task-based improvisation, working with the medium of wet clay, as well as developing wearable pieces to be worn on the body. These pieces are conceived as fragile armour or bodily extensions.
The two-day workshop will include a daily yoga class, improvisation sessions, and sculptural work with raw materials.
The workshop may culminate in a small presentation with the participants, which might be open to the public.
Information
Clay Bodies: Movement Research in Dialogue with Material Practice
Workshop for Adults
The workshop will be led by choreographer Ula Sickle, in collaboration with stylist and designer Joëlle Laederach.
Dates and times: Thursday, July 10, 18:00–21:00 & Thursday, July 17, 18:00–21:00. A public presentation may take place immediately after the workshop on the same day.
Participation: Free of charge
Target audience: Professional dancers and students enrolled in professional dance schools.
Program design/curation: Myrto Lavda
Register
To reserve a spot, please call us at +30 2106642520 or fill out the form using the link below.
Bio
Ula Sickle
Ula Sickle is a Canadian-Polish choreographer and performer based in Brussels, Belgium. From a background in contemporary dance, she works across disciplines, drawing from the visual arts or contemporary music. While her work takes many forms, she focuses on a choreographic approach to movement and a work on perception and reception, specific to the live arts.
Her interest in looking for an alternative to the cannon of contemporary dance, has led her to seek out performers who embody other movement histories. Frequently centered around strong performers, she searches for forms of choreographic writing, where the cultural coding and political power of ‘popular’ dancing can be revealed or where the musicality and materiality of the body itself can take center stage.
Ula studied Art History & Semiotics at the University of Toronto and Performance Studies at Paris VIII, before attending P.A.R.T.S. Performing Arts Research and Training Studios in Brussels. She is currently a PhD researcher at KU Leuven and Luca School of Arts in Brussels.
Recent projects include Relay (2018), The Sadness (2020), Echoic Choir (2021), with vocalist Stine Janvin and Holding Present (2023), with the Ictus contemporary music ensemble. Ula has been presented in many international theaters and festivals such as Kaaitheater, KVS and Kunstenfestivaldesarts (BE), Wiener Festwochen, Donaufestival (AT), CTM Festival (DE), les Rencontres chorégraphiques internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis, as well as visual arts venues such as Serralves Museum (Porto), Wiels (Brussels), Munchmuseet (Oslo), MACBA (Barcelona).
Ula is supported by the Canada Council for the Arts and the Flemish Community.