As a former company member and student of choreographers David Dorfman and Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane, my class draws on and references a rich movement lineage spanning many forms including classical modern, postmodern, jazz, hip hop, ballet, improvisational practices, and everyday, pedestrian movement. Class begins with Bartenieff inspired floor work, yoga, and Pilates to ease us into motion and help us arrive more fully present in our bodies. Introductions to one another are made through a name circle or interactive warm-up exercises to cultivate trust and build community together. Across the floor phrase-work oscillates between imagery and task-based improvisational scores and rigorous locomotion, athletic inversions, and ambitious lofting. A culminating phrase challenges the polarities of movement and investigates both off-balance and centered, bound and released, sustained and staccato, momentum driven and spatially controlled, on the floor and in the air, and sensation-based and shape-based movement. An uplifting and non-judgmental class culture is attended to by both honoring individualism and honing the ability to replicate outside material and dance in relation to one another. Enjoyment and joviality are key to our learning!
