Rigo Saura, 2023 HCL Partner Artist in Residence with Chicago Dancemakers Forum, is developing a Research Lab as a kind of counter-residency, with five Labs occurring across three weeks. 

Dancers from different backgrounds and training are invited to take class together, led by Rigo. These Research Labs aim to open participants to look at the ways in which the temporary collective body might momentarily interrupt the established order that typically regulates a studio class. Through this intervention, dancers may reconfigure the nexus of relations that order the space and is used in composing a dance. 

This Research Lab is purely experimental. It is open to the possibilities that people bring and engage with, and is for anyone seeking new subjective positions which fall outside of codes and hierarchies that otherwise govern the making of dance.

There are two Research Lab variations:

Research Lab Classes

These classes are designed for advanced and professional dancers and focus on professional training. We will explore the versatile mechanism of involving floor technique with upper body movement, while developing a dynamic kinetic energy and challenging our field of movement and technique.  

Research Lab Classes are focused on the connectivity, partnering, and different quality of movement in the contemporary dance spectrum.    

Wednesday, July 26, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday, August 2, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm
Wednesday, August 9, 10:00 am to 12:00 pm

Research Lab: Searching Material & Improvisation

Two sections of the research lab, titled “Searching Material & Improvisation”, are designed for any artistic mover who has the curiosity to express, explore and dialogue through movement. These sections are focused on exploration, improvisation and  connection with yourself and others in the room. Led by Rigo Saura, Research Lab: Searching Material & Improvisation provides five hours in the studio where you can put your creativity and inspiration to play, connect with other artistic visions, and find enrichment through both observing and sharing your knowledge. These sections have a four-step structure: Warm-up, Improvisation, Creation and Presentation. 

The culminating presentation step will pull together all the information and knowledge that we will be working on in the other steps to create a small work that we can share with guests (friends, family and students) at the end of the day. 

Sunday, July 30, 3:00 to 8:00 pm
Sunday, August 6, 3:00 to 8:00 pm

Rigo Saura is a Partner Artist in Residence through the 2023 calendar year. 

About the Artist

Rigo Saura is a 2023 Chicago Dancemakers Forum Lab Artist Finalist. He is a former soloist dancer of Danza Contemporánea of Cuba and soloist dancer of the classic cast in the National Ballet of Ecuador. He was Resident Choreographer in Ecuador’s Urban Ballet and Composition Master in the Metropolitan School of Art. Since moving to Chicago, he has been part of Ruth Page Center of the Arts and guest artist/instructor for the Professional Program at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Chicago DanceWorks , Thodos Dances, Visceral Dance Chicago, Theater and Performance Studies for the University of Chicago at the Reva and David Logan Center of the Arts, The Latin School Dance Program, Common Dance Conservatory, Chicago DanceCrash and Ruth Page Civic Ballet. Currently, he is a dancer, teacher, and resident choreographer at Hedwig Dances. He is winner of a L.A. Contemporary Choreography Lab and Chicago DanceMakers Forum Production Residency, and a 2022 guest choreographer at Cerqua Rivera Dance Theatre. He is currently a Links Hall Co-Mission Artist.

Presented by High Concept Labs and the Monira Foundation in Joint Residency at Mana Contemporary with support from Chicago Dancemakers Forum.