Tuesdays 19:00-20:30
Contemporary/Somatic practice led by Zoe Camilleri, Florinda Camilleri, Julienne Schembri, and Rachel Calleja.
Bookings:
Booking for contemporary classes should be made by email, via the relevant teacher, either Zoe Camilleri (zoe.camilleri1@gmail.com), Florinda Camilleri (florindacamilleri@gmail.com), Rachel Calleja (rachel.calleja@gmail.com) or Julienne Schembri. (juschembri@gmail.com) Bookings are to be made online in advance and participants interested in attending are to book their spot by noon of the same day so as to avoid disappointment. Sessions with under 4 participants will be cancelled.
You can read more below about our teachers, where to find us, and what to expect when attending a class…
Location: ŻfinMalta Studios
Zoe Camilleri
The Iżfen contemporary classes led by Zoe are aimed for people who feel a calling to move and dance. Zoe started her professional dance journey with ŻfinMalta in 2014 as a full-time dancer. As a freelancer her roles range from dancer, performer, maker, educator, rehearsal and movement director and seamstress. She has been leading the Iżfen contemporary sessions since their start in 2021 and is excited to be back leading this growing and developing platform.
Iżfen is a space where people of any dance experience are welcome. During Zoe’s open sessions we move away from focusing on aesthetics and learning stylised movement and move more towards finding and investing in how each of our bodies like to move. We will physically explore fluidity, coordination, groove and dynamics mostly through guided improvisation and simple contemporary dance techniques. If you would like to join, or are interested but have any questions, get in touch with Zoe on her email zoe.camilleri1@gmail.com
Florinda Camilleri
‘We Love to Move, We Love to Groove’ is a brave and curious space for collective moving and grooving in the ŻfinMalta Studios. It is for all who wish to develop their dancing skills and vocabularies, to deepen relationships with their bodies and the bodies around them, and for all who simply wish to explore the joy of dancing.
Each session will involve a spectrum of movement dynamics, qualities, and rhythms, explored in relation to a specially-curated soundscape. At times, the journey will be geared towards self-exploration, while at others, the exploration will happen in duos or small groups. Bring along some light, comfortable clothes, a towel and some water.
Florinda is a dance artist from and based in Malta. She initiates, leads, and supports performing arts projects in Malta and internationally, taking on various roles as a contemporary dance and screendance performer, maker, collaborator, researcher, educator, rehearsal director, and producer. Her artistic practice is distinctively multidisciplinary, with a specific focus on performing public space through feminist posthumanist perspectives. Florinda is currently a rehearsal director with ŻfinMalta for various projects over the 2023-2024 season. Bookings are to be made by contacting Florinda Camilleri at florindacamilleri@gmail.com
Julienne Schembri
‘Somatic Dance’ is Julienne’s offering for the Iżfen series. Each session will engage in a creative process of learning dance calling from each persons’ felt experience. This class invites you to become an explorer, to investigate how movement, breath, mindful sensing and touch, can help you explore dancing from within. We will introduce fundamentals for floorwork taking inspiration from concepts of the developmental movement patterns to support the development of dance technique, alongside improvisation and partner work to unleash the expressive dancer in you!
Julienne Schembri is an independent artist working in the community and a movement educator. She holds a Masters from The London Contemporary Dance School, and is a certified movement analyst through Laban Bartenieff Movement Analyst with EMOVE Institute in The Netherlands, where she currently teaches as an assistant on their modular training programs. Independently, she works as a somatic movement educator to create communities of people moving together. She is co-founder of Dance Beyond Borders whose intention is to unite diverse people through the Arts.
Get in touch with Julienne at juschembri@gmail.com
Rachel Calleja
Iżfen ma ŻfinMalta together with Growing Human offers ‘Mindful Movement’, a gentle practice that invites you to connect with your body, to start listening to your sensations, creating space for your imagination and allowing space for freedom.
The movement invitations presented will be simple, allowing you to interpret them in any way that resonates with you. You cannot go wrong because this is your personal movement expression from start to finish!
You are the master of your own body and you are encouraged to listen to it, to pause when you need to, dance like crazy or be in complete stillness. The only rule is to respect your body and those around you. Nothing else is required, you are welcome as you are.
Why practice mindful movement? Mindful movement is a calming practice that nourishes awareness and attention. It is a safe and non-judgemental space to connect with self and others. It also benefits you on every level – physical, mental and emotional!
This practice is led by mover, creative and therapist Rachel Calleja. Rachel is invested in researching, practicing and sharing mindful movement and the different states of awareness that can be accessed through nourishing focus and awareness. It has changed her life and hopes it can have a positive impact on yours too.
Book your session with Rachel Calleja at: rachel.calleja@gmail.com
