EROCA NICOLS (TO) — There is no Lol only Col, CRYING OUT LOUD

CONTENT //

There is no Lol only Col, CRYING OUT LOUD a melancholy workout practice or/and grief embodiment as choreographic/survival strategy. Sweat is just tears coming out of other holes. Let’s move our bodies to sad music and see how we can feel together about this continued alone time.

I have been trying to see what we are missing. We are missing so much. How do we feel it? How do we break out of the small monotony of just getting by? How do we make space for emotional release in and just beyond pandemic isolation mode? Crying Out Loud is a container for low stakes participation/high stakes feeling so we do not lose our shit.

For the folks for whom crying comes easy and folks for whom crying comes harder, we will do simple, boring movements somewhat slowly to very sad music as a way to feel together so we don’t lose ourselves and find ways back to each other.

We will:
– get into feeling bodies, through material bodies.
– workout our bodies and stretch out our diminished capacities.
– do some grieving that we have been putting off.
– be loud and foolish and hopefully celebrate.

Everyone is sad. We need a space to grieve deeply and also lightly – together.

ACCESSIBILITY //

In this workshop, embodied consent is centered. You will not be pressured to do what you do not want to do and you will be encouraged to participate at your level of interest and desire.

There will be some:
-moments of loud music
-sitting, laying about, talking and drawing
-potential karaoke
-potential touch but only with explicit consent
-engagement in fitness vibed body movements and or dance moves that are adaptable to any level of engagement including imagining yourself doing these things.

For example: If the proposition is to do push ups and you either do not want to do push ups or cannot do a push up, I will offer a gradient of modifications which could include full on doing push ups, modified push ups, on knees, a plank, push ups on the wall, doing air push ups from standing, seated or lying down, bending and straightening another body part os parts or imagining yourself doing push ups. Maybe push ups are a major part of your practice and you want a more challenging variation- you could do plyometric push ups.

-those who would like to sweat, cry, make sounds (maybe some loud ones) are encouraged to do so but it is not required

At the center of this practice and any practice I offer, there is a very real and ongoing conversation within ourselves and with each other- do I really want to do this thing right now? And then we make choices from there.

BIO //

Eroca Nicols is currently known as a dancer/choreographer/teacher/spiritual support guy, but their multiplitous practice stems from their family of semi-mystical nomadic trailer people, years working as a janitor, and a BFA in video/performance art and sculpture from California College of the Arts (formerly, ‘and Crafts’). The teaching, performing and training they do are deeply influenced by ongoing study of choreography, ritual, community care/disruption and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.

In non pandi times, they teach and perform all over the world at various festivals and institutions including ImpulsTANZ in Vienna, at The School for New Dance Development in Amsterdam, at the Stockholm University of the Arts, and at Studio 303 in Montreal. Eroca co-founded the Toronto Dance Community Love-In and was Chalmers Research Fellow (2014,15), investigating death, ritual and performance with healers and conveners around the globe.

Since global pandi times they have been residing in Tkarón:to/Toronto, talking about death and grief on the internet (femmeditation, @therealerocanicols,) engaged deeply in interpersonal negotiations around daily life, racism, anti racism, and learning to lift heavy things in a friend’s garage with a small pod of lovers and friends.