SET GO is a Contact Improvisation Research and Performance ensemble founded in 2016 by dancers Shura Baryshnikov, Aaron Brando, Paul Singh, Bradley Teal Ellis, and Sarah Konner. Though all are interdisciplinary artists, each identifies Contact Improvisation as a primary practice and are lead researchers and educators in the field, both nationally and internationally. Collectively, setGO has been practicing the form of Contact Improvisation for over 60 years.
The setGO ensemble shares a love for whimsical, whole-hearted, virtuosic improvisation; they have been dance-making together since 2009. The group has performed at the Moving Arts Lab (Earthdance, MA), the RISD Museum Open Rehearsals, for the Institute for the Study of Environment and the Society at Brown University, Providence Fringe Festival, and the Everybody Moves Festival at the School for Contemporary Dance and Thought in Northampton, MA. They have developed pedagogy together as part of the CI Ground Research laboratory project since 2010.
In addition to directing their own companies, setGO artists have danced with other choreographers and companies including Amy Chavasse, Heidi Henderson, Chris Aiken, Faye Driscoll, Douglas Dunn, Gabriel Forestieri, and Headlong Dance Theater, and are currently on faculty, as well as artist-residents at universities across the United States. Members of the ensemble teach at acclaimed dance festivals nationally and internationally and offer regular classes in their local areas. They have unique training in somatic modalities including Laban Movement Analysis, Viewpoints Technique, Structural Integration, Safety Release Technique, Yoga, Pilates, and Body-Mind Centering®.
UPCOMING:
July 6-11, 2023: In collaboration with Lower Left at Lawrence University, Appleton, WI: Moving Queries - Practice, Pedagogy, and Performance in Ensemble Thinking and Contact Improvisation
PAST:
January 12 - 14, 2020: setGO creative and teaching residency at Interlochen Center for the Arts
January 16 - 20, 2020: setGO creative and teaching residency at Lawrence College, Appleton, WI.
June 15 - 20, 2019: setGO residency at the Dragon's Egg Studio in Ledyard, Connecticut.
March 1 - 3, 2018: setGO performs at the Granoff Center for the Creative Arts, Brown University as part of Untitled Scores: Experiments in Improvisation.
January 7 - 13, 2018: setGO will spend one week in residence at Interlochen Center for the Arts in northwest lower Michigan. The ensemble will teach daily classes in the dance department, research, and perform
October 16 - 21, 2017: Fitt Artists-in-Residence at Brown University in fall of 2017, setGO received generous funding from the Brown Arts Initiative at Brown University to support a research residency, culminating in a performance at Brown's Ashamu Dance Studio on October 21
June 10 - 18, 2017: setGO residency at the Dragon's Egg Studio in Ledyard, Connecticut
August 29 - September 1, 2016: setGO residency at the Dragon's Egg Studio in Ledyard, Connecticut
BIOGRAPHIES:
Sarah Konner is a dance artist, improviser and somatic movement educator. Sarah's work has been presented at Judson Church, Dance New Amsterdam, Triskelion Arts, Berkshire Fringe Festival, A.W.A.R.D. Show! Philadelphia, the Kennedy Center, and the Detroit Institute of Arts. She has had the pleasure of collaborating with wonderful people including ChavasseDance&Performance, Shura Baryshnikov, Megan Kendzior, Alex| Xan: The Median Movement, Headlong Dance Theater, Set Go Performance, and a continuing, hopefully lifelong, collaboration with Austin Selden. Sarah has been practicing and teaching Contact Improvisation throughout the country for ten years. She holds a BFA in Dance and a BS in Environmental Science from the University of Michigan, and has training in Yoga, Pilates, and Body-Mind Centering®. SarahandAustinDance.com
Shura Baryshnikov is an interdisciplinary movement artist who works broadly as a dancer, actor, improvisor, movement designer, and somatic movement educator. In addition to her work with setGO, she is a co-founding Artistic Director of Rhode Island-based Doppelgänger Dance Collective, a project dedicated to the curation and commission of new contemporary works. Shura's solo performance work and company work with setGO and Doppelgänger has been presented across the U.S. and internationally in Finland and the U.K. Shura practices and teaches contemporary dance technique, Viewpoints Technique, and Contact Improvisation, thriving on the interconnectivity of these practices in her life as a mover and educator. Shura is based in Providence, Rhode Island, where she is the Head of Physical Theatre for the Brown University/Trinity Rep MFA Program for Actors and Directors. She is a member of AEA and AGMA.
Bradley Teal Ellis is a Brooklyn based improviser and has practiced Contact Improvisation for 15 years. He has performed improvisation at Dance Theater Workshop, MoMA PS1, Joyce Soho, 92nd Street Y, Movement Research at the Judson Church, Performa and other institutions. Bradley has been a guest teacher at UNC-Greensboro, University of the Arts, Temple University, Dance New Amsterdam (DNA), 100 Grand Studio, Gibney Dance, The New School for Dance and NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing.
Aaron Brando holds a Masters Degree in Education and loves the art of crafting pedagogy in a non-codified system such as CI. Brando teaches CI in the U.S. and internationally. He serves on the Board of Directors for Earthdance Retreat Center. Brando created the event, CI Ground Research, which encourages the ongoing research of Contact Improvisation by dancers from around the world. Brando trained with Tom Myers at the KMI Institute and is a certified Fascial Bodywork/Structural Integration practitioner. He served a two-year residence at the Kripalu Center for Yoga, is a certified Yoga teacher and has a 20-year history with Vipassana Meditation. https://aaronbrando.com/
Paul Singh earned his BFA in Dance from the University of Illinois, USA. In NYC he has danced for Gerald Casel, the puppet/theater company Phantom Limb, Will Rawls, Risa Jaroslow, Douglas Dunn, Christopher Williams, Faye Driscoll, and was in the inaugural cast of Punchdrunk theater company’s "Sleep No More”. In Russia and Spain he was in the creation cast for the opera "The Indian Queen" under the direction of Peter Sellars. In Berlin he danced for Peter Pleyer in a large scale Improvisation work. He has had his work presented at the Judson Church, New York Live Arts, Joe’s Pub, Dixon Place, La Mama E.T.C, and the Kennedy Center. When traveling, Paul teaches Contact improvisation classes around the world. When home, he choreographs work for his company, Singh & Dance. He is currently on faculty at Movement Research, Sarah Lawrence College, and The Juilliard School.