UCalgary Dance Research Conference 2026

THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 26
Location: Aux. Gym (KNA117) at the University of Calgary Campus
Workshop with Elke Schroeder — 10:00AM to 11:30AMWorkshop with Hung Dance Company — 12:00PM to 01:30PM
FREE for UofC Dance Majors and Minors$20.00 for community members (payable by cash onsite)
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Elke Schroeder

Fighting Monkey Practice - Open workshop for dancers and curious moverswith Elke Schroeder
Fighting Monkey is a longevity practice that values variability, adaptability and finding resilience by understanding our inherent relative fragility. Through curated “play under pressure”  and danced movement situations, we investigate strategies of observation, communication and learning, expand our movement capacity, variability, mobility, strength, dynamic range and bodily awareness. Importantly: this is not a “fight” practice, rather, we fight our monkey minds.
This workshop will focus on FM coordinations and Tools/Partnered training. Coordinations work with movement sequences delivered via a full-complexity approach in order to gain insight into our learning strategies and help uncover our movement blindspots. The coordinations also train dynamic range and elastic capacity for power and mobility. With the FM tools/partnered training, we work with instinctual/reactive movement and hone shared body empathy and communication skills necessary for partnered dancing.
For more information about the Fighting Monkey Practice and its founders, please visit: www.fightingmonkey.net
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Elke Schroeder is a Canadian/German Helsinki-based dance artist. A passionate performer, teacher and maker, her work takes her to art and movement institutions around the world. A graduate of the School of Toronto Dance Theatre in 2005, her diverse training background includes myriad dance styles, acrobatics, theatre studies, martial arts, athletics, functional movement and yoga. Elke is a long-time student of the Fighting Monkey practice and is a designated Inspire by FM instructor. She is the co-creator of Underdog Practice with her partner Mikko Rinnevuori, makes solo work for her own company One Animal, and is a dancer for Raekallio Corp in Helsinki.
For more information on Elke and her teachings:
www.elkebschroeder.com
Instagram: @elkebschroeder
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Hung Dance Technique & Repertoire Workshop with Cheng I-han
Stillness. Surge. Flow.
Experience the refined physicality of HUNG DANCE in this technique and repertoire workshop led by Cheng I-han, rehearsal director and core performer with HUNG DANCE, Taiwan.
The workshop explores HUNG DANCE’s distinctive movement vocabulary, focusing on the dynamic interplay between motion and stillness. Drawing on body isolation and Tai Chi principles, the technique initiates movement from a single joint or muscle while the rest of the body remains still. Through spiraling, spinning, and the gradual activation of the body, participants explore how momentum travels through the body to create a unique dialogue between stillness and dynamic flow.
In this workshop, participants will:

Explore the interplay between movement and stillness, initiating action from a single joint or muscle while maintaining stillness elsewhere in the body.

Engage with Tai Chi-inspired movement, using spiraling and rotational pathways to generate and guide momentum.

Experience HUNG DANCE’s signature physical vocabulary, discovering how precision, control, and fluidity come together in movement and repertoire.

With 13 international awards and more than 100 performances worldwide, HUNG DANCE brings a distinctive movement approach that combines technical precision with expressive fluidity.
Level: Intermediate to advanced
Recommended for: Intermediate to advanced level dance students and the professional dance community