Modern (Rogers)
This class is designed to bring awareness and dimensionality to your dancing. The warm-up accumulates over the course of the class to bring sensitivity to your whole body -- from your core to the tips of your fingers, from your toes to the reaches of your imagination. Class material emphasizes a weighted use of the body, highlights texture, encourages clear direction changes, and employs an articulate use of the torso and legs. Technique is a means of harnessing individual personality, developing knowledge, and broadening your dance possibilities. This class delves into technique as a means of exploring the moving body with clarity and arriving at physical specificity. Culminating with phrase material and other surprises, we will concentrate on how to make movement authentic and alive.
Modern - Liquid Strength (Brown)
This class combines the focus and intention of a meditative practice with a series of exercises designed to train the body in articulate expression and athletic execution. Exercises focus on alignment, torso and spinal flexibility, clarity of focus, upper and lower body strength, and abdominal control. By transforming philosophical notions of being into movement explorations students discover intersections between technique and performance. The warm-up sequence begins on the floor and progresses to standing. The daily repetition of the warm-up lays the foundation to participate fully and deeply. The warm up is followed by rhythmically and spatially diverse combinations across the floor and culminate in powerful, supple phrase work that has its roots in the rituals and strength of the African Diaspora.
Ballet (Tornay)
This class is designed to place intensive emphasis on development of solid technique. A combination of classical and modern techniques is taught with a strong emphasis on epaulement (upper body) working in harmony with the rest of the body. Students are encouraged to discover and strengthen individuality within the classical form and to experience their dancing as an expressive and rewarding aspect of their lives.
Ballet (Mirk-Robles)
The object of this class is to provide an understanding of body placement, the use of the skeleton, the influence of gravity through the body in a turned out position and the use of energy from the floor throughout the body in basic ballet. The barre is used to build strength and coordination. The center work introduces an organic relationship to direction and movement, along with an understanding of different movement qualities, such as fluidity in adage, suspension and sharpness in turns, and balon in small and big jumps.
Jazz (Selle-Virtucio)
The class weaves concepts of jazz, modern and social dance techniques with jazz music and elements of jazz history. Students gain exposure to the eclectic range of jazz styles (Blues, Swing, Latin, Funk, etc) from its roots to the fusion styles of today. Classes focus on body awareness and efficiency of movement through combinations that range from highly physical to subtle and detailed, including rhythmic footwork, body isolations and rapid directional changes. Students explore individual expression of emotion, musicality and improvisation to expand the impact of their physical dance technique. We will engage in the articulation process as participants, observers, and critics of dance to gain a better understanding of the art form.
Afro-Fusion (Kouakou)
This class introduces dance vocabulary drawn from both traditional and contemporary African dance movements and gestures that have been melded to create a contemporary mode of expression. The origin and history of African dance will be woven through the course to provide context for the movement language.
Hip Hop (Evans)
From the Funk styles of Poppin’ and Lockin', and the explosive movement of Breakin’ and Hip Hop, to the smooth groove of House, Clyde Evans' class will challenge those dancing at any level. His goal is to expand the dancer's movement vocabulary while increasing their knowledge of the foundation and history of Hip Hop. A long time Hip Hop dancer, Evans believes this approach provides dancers with a vital understanding of, and way to apply these styles as they relates to yesterday, today and beyond. Emphasis will be on teaching the groove for each form of Hip Hop dance as well as creating an environment in which to explore and grow in the world of Hip Hop dance. Please bring kneepads with you to class and sneakers with lateral support. No jazz sneakers, please.
Improvisation (Henderson)
In improvisation we practice opening to the unknown. Not knowing allows us to find newness, to delight in coincidence, to discover community. We will work with contact improvisation, a form that teaches us to be attentive to touch and weight. We will work with improvisational scores for dances, learned and discovered structures to dance freely inside of. We will dance joyfully in the moment. (Henderson)
Modern Repertory (Barnes)
Students will investigate the use of deadpan humor, explosive movement vocabulary and theatrical scenarios in the course of learning the repertory of Monica Bill Barnes. The movement vocabulary swings from full-bodied powerful dancing to nuanced gesture in dances which draw on a radical mixture of influences: pop-culture, show business, absurdity and high drama. Through this workshop, the students will focus on their performance choices within this company’s work, which celebrates individuality, humor and the innate theatricality of everyday life.
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