Mirva Makinen CI Training
Deeper diving into the practice of CI
28-30 August 2026 – Munich
Respond To The Unknown
This 3 days long workshop is somatic and artistic research about contact improvisation that involves diving deeply into embodied experiences and from there investigate new information. In a longer, in-depth format, we will be free to explore our ability as dancers to navigate more deeply what I’m calling “public space,” “intimate space,” and “spherical space.” In each environment, we will examine how bodily perception can affect thought, negotiation, choice, trust, discomfort, and how we respond to the unknown. Atunement to inner states and outer stimuli will increase discernment whether we are sensing a fall and the choices it presents or adjusting our responses rapidly to a changing space among other bodies. As somatic listening deepens, empathetic connections become more possible. We will be aiming for deepening the practice and committing for continuous learning and aim for flying higher and grounding deeper.
Mirva Makinen
Contact dance teacher, choreographer
Mirva Mäkinen graduated as a Doctor of Dance from University of Arts in Helsinki in 2018. Her doctoral research is about Somaesthetics of Contact Improvisation. She graduated (MA) from the Dance Department from the University of Arts, Finland in 2000, before that she did Master of Physical Education from University of Jyväskylä.
She is a dance teacher, choreographer and lecturer for dance at the Kallio Upper Secondary School of Performing Arts (permanent position 2000 ->). She has been teaching in several dance companies, universities and international dance and contact improvisation festivals. Mirva has been working as a dancer with many different dance companies and choreographers, here few of them: Dancecompany Karttunen Kollektiv (choreographer Jyrki Karttunen), New Circus Company Circo Aereo, choreographer Joona Halonen, Echo Echo dance company (Ireland), collaboration with Katja Mustonen 2019-2024, collaboration with Frey Faust 2009-2012 and collaboration with Joerg Hassmann 2006-2012. Last ten years she has been working with finnish choreographer Valtteri Raekallio.
In dance I am interested in the feeling of flow and soft movement. I love to investigate movement, its rhythm and different ways of inhabiting the body. A feeling of dancing is created by being able to switch the body from total relaxation to extreme intensity and tension. I call this the body’s ability to breathe and create movement.
Link to my phd: https://actascenica.teak.fi/makinen-mirva
Link to my website: www.mirvamakinen.com
