Photo by David Bergé

What does it mean to do something with our bodies communally? What can you get from taking a dance class together that you can’t get from any other experience? & what is contemporary dance “technique” in a world where anything goes?

For the past couple of years, i’ve been intensely involved with somatic approaches to movement, & this class is an attempt to bring together that self-exploratory & potentially healing process with the more external structure of a contemporary technique class. I believe it is possible to remain aware & embodied even while enacting set exercises & sequences, & that this combination can give the performer a wide variety of options. Dance & choreography can become not just action, but equally non-action: receiving, observing, & listening. Pleasure can become a path to truly embodying given “steps”.
The class begins from sensing the body itself somatically, & then brings awareness to the spacetime we are moving through, using a combination of improvisation proposals, technical “exercises”, & set movement sequences.
I’m also very interested in the idea of “taking class” itself, what it means to do so & what intentions people bring to the space. We will use the energy of the group present on that particular day, at that particular time, to create a unique experience & a joyful practice. What you practice regularly is always what you become good at, & if you practice the joy of dance, the joy will grow.