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American Dance Festival

Workshops & Community Classes

SUMMER

Workshops, Masterclasses,
& Community Classes

May 20–September 8, 2024

enVISION: Moving Beyond Sight

with ShaLeigh Comerford
Monday, July 15
9–10:30 am
in the Hull Avenue Dance Studio
1515 Hull Ave, Durham, NC 27705
$10 Drop-in
About the Class
In this community class for movers of all abilities, we learn to approach movement as a dynamic, healing, and ever-changing power, using evocative ideas and imagery in a safe, non-judgmental environment. The class invites participants to experience movement without the use of their sight and explores emerging artistic practices in self-audio description, movement mentorship, and ASL as art forms. The class is built upon the creative process developed for SDW’s upcoming world premiere of enVISION: The Next Chapter, an immersive dance-theatre work that does not require a viewer’s vision or hearing.
 
Class begins with ShaGa: Moving Beyond Sight which offers a way to provide connection and community through movement in an open and welcoming atmosphere and shares excerpts of enVISION’s movement repertory. Class builds into Movement Mentorship designed to nurture dance artists’ capacity to bring access and inclusion to dance studios and teaches how to break the barriers to dance by engaging in a more accessible environment and methodology.
 
This community class is open to ALL and is designed for individuals who wish to open themselves to movement in new ways. Dancers, yogis, and movers of all kinds and abilities are invited to participate. No prior experience necessary.
Register

Intermediate Pilates Mat Flow

with Lexi Ovenden
Tuesday, July 16
9–10:30 am
in the Hull Avenue Dance Studio
1515 Hull Ave, Durham, NC 27705
$10 Drop-in
About Lexi Ovenden
Lexi Ovenden is a multidisciplinarian from Boulder, CO. Growing up, she trained at Durham Ballet Theater and the American Dance Festival (ADF) where she studied under Boleyn Willis, ShaLeigh Comerford, Alexander Brady, Rika Okamoto, and Ming-Lung Yang. She graduated in 2020 from Appalachian State University with a B.A. in Interdisciplinary Studies — Management for Dance, minors in non-profit management, dance, and somatic sustainability. She’s worked with ADF as their Production Stage Manager alongside companies like Pilobolus, Paul Taylor Dance Company, Shen Wei Dance Arts, and more, and was a stage manager for Carolina Ballet for their 2022-2023 season. Lexi was a company member of ShaLeigh Dance Works from 2021-2022. Lexi studied Pilates at InsideOut Body Therapies in their Pilates teacher training program and taught private and group Pilates at Duke University. Currently, she is training in ballroom dance with her partner, Serhiy Titarenko, at Fred Astaire Dance Studio, Durham. Lexi now works year-round as Executive Assistant and Special Projects Coordinator for ADF.
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Modern Flow

with Nile H. Russell
Thursday, July 18
9–10:30 am
in the Hull Avenue Dance Studio
1515 Hull Ave, Durham, NC 27705
$10 Drop-in
About the Class

In this workshop, the movement will guide us in building a strong sense of individual creativity that encourages communal awareness and expands further than the studio. I like to focus on improvisation, risk-taking, partnering, group problem-solving, and performance quality. This workshop will be an opportunity to learn from others, try new things out, make quick decisions, and understand your strengths and weaknesses. Through communication, collaboration, and creation we can learn how to listen and move together.

Register

Effort Lab 

with Londs Reuter
Friday, July 19
9–10:30 am
in the Hull Avenue Dance Studio
1515 Hull Ave, Durham, NC 27705
$10 Drop-in
About the Class

Dancers have been tuning their relationship to effort since the beginning. We know when we can do an estimation of the movement, just to tell if the steps will line up with the meter of a song. We also know when we need to practice with full momentum, otherwise our partner won’t be able to feel our weight shift. Effort Lab is a practice of naming and knowing what it takes to do what you’re doing. No one else might know the effort required, but we always do.

Effort Lab will begin with an embodied check-in and a gentle warm-up. We will then move together using improvisatory scores devised for Reuter’s recent ADF premiere, GOOD EFFORT. The workshop will have moments of high and low effort in order to ask: What feelings arise when our effort doesn’t match our circumstances? How can we calibrate our effort so that we’re giving an amount that feels right?

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RSA Movement, Choreography & Theory

with Shay Kuebler
Sunday, July 21
2:30 pm–4:00 pm
$18 drop-in
About the Masterclass
Shay Kuebler is the Artistic Director of Vancouver-based Radical System Art (RSA). His movement training was founded in martial arts and theatre, and the class will harness a range of movement methodologies, including martial arts, improvisation, and contemporary and urban dance forms to explore new pathways and connections. The class will offer the exploration of your own movement practice as well as specific RSA techniques, which will coincide with RSA company repertoire.
About Shay Kuebler

As a child of the 80’s, Shay grew up with a passion for The Ninja Turtles and action movies. Naturally, this would bring him to martial arts, theatre, and dance at the age of 5. As he became a professional performer and budding choreographer, his value for versatility and exposure to new things continued to grow. This connected to his belief that art and creativity are empowered through collaboration and continual rediscovery. He considers himself a very good generalist and is grateful for his experiences in numerous forms of dance, music, theatre and martial arts. He’s continued to invest in his interdisciplinary background through intensive study periods in Brazil, Japan, China and The USA in everything from Shaolin Kung Fu to Taiko Drumming. In 2014, Shay founded his performing arts company Radical System Art (RSA). RSA creates live dance-theatre works that look to captivate audiences through impactful themes, visceral physicality and rich visuals. As a director, choreographer, producer, composer and performer, Shay and RSA have created 7 full-evening shows that have toured all over the world.

Achievements include an Audience Choice Award and commission from the Dance Gallery Festival NYC, a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant (2019), an N.C. Artist Support Grant (2021, 2024), an N.C. Grassroots Arts Program Grant, NC Choreographic Fellowship at Trillium Arts (2023), and a commission from the American Dance Festival “Made In NC” program (2024 premiere). As resident artists of Wortham, S/O was the first to be commissioned for new work and presented in Wortham’s Mainstage Series. They are dedicated to building a sustainable dance ecosystem in Western North Carolina where artists can set roots and thrive.

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Paul Taylor Dance Company Masterclass

with Jake Vincent
Thursday, July 25th
4:00 pm–5:30 pm
$18 drop-in
About the Masterclass

This master class, taught by Jake Vincent, aims to present the Paul Taylor style and a sample of Taylor repertoire in order for participants to encounter signature movements that have influenced modern dance as we know it.

We have found that members of the dance community throughout the world are anxious to explore the various techniques and styles of dance that have shaped the dance profession. Paul Taylor’s impact on the field is indisputable. An understanding of that impact through participation can prove to be an invaluable experience.

The dancers should be in comfortable clothes so they can move or tights and leotards and we are usually barefoot.

About Jake Vincent

JAKE VINCENT was born in Atlantic City and grew up in Flemington, NJ. He attended the Taylor School Summer Intensive in 2012 and received a BFA in Dance and Dance Education in 2014 from Montclair State University. He performed with Rioult Dance NY, Von Howard Project, DiMauro Dance, Zullo/Raw Movement, 360Dance Company, Mazzini Dance Collective, 10 Hairy Legs, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, and Earl Mosley’s Diversity of Dance. He joined Taylor 2 in summer 2017. He joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company in winter 2020.

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ADF Scripps Studios building

Samuel H. Scripps Studios

721 Broad Street
Durham, NC 27705

919-797-2871
studios@americandancefestival.org

We are located on the second floor, accessible by elevator or stairs. There is ample free parking (including two handicap parking spots) in the lot connected to our building.