Summer details are now online. Check out the schedule page.
Join Wherever You Are
Many small steps
Dance technique improves through small steps. I've learned that building a Zoom studio works the same way. After two years of continuous small improvements, the space is well equipped for rewarding classes.
Many movements are easiest to learn by watching from behind the demonstrator. The addition of a second screen on the back wall allows me to watch students while facing any direction in the room.
Framed behind me are a sketch by Andrea Selby and a photograph of Tony Orrico.
One giant fern
Sharing the space with me is a large fern named Audrey III (a Little Shop of Horrors reference).
Multiple Cameras for Important Details
Close-ups even far away
Students take classes from Iowa, Illinois, Indiana, Washington, Texas, New York, and Washington, D.C.
Despite our connection across distance, there's no replacement for seeing a movement or muscular engagement up close. A second camera on the floor makes it possible.
Sur le cou-de-pied
The wrapped position sur le cou-de-pied should be pain free. The details of how you get there make the difference.
Overcoming Distance Learning
Transform your perception of space.
I have long been enthralled by teachers who are capable of transforming their pupils’ experience of space. The best teachers achieve this not so much through altering the physical setting of instruction, but by enhancing dancers’ awareness and engagement with their own bodies and each other. After more than 15 years as a dance teacher, I finally felt confident that I had the knack for making that magic happen. In packed classes dancers would breathe deeply and with intention, allowing themselves to become fully present and thereby transforming our shared space as a community of creative movers. When class would end with révérence and a big round of applause, I would watch with satisfaction as classmates exchanged sweaty hugs and cheerful face-to-face conversation.
Obviously, COVID-19 has so transformed our sense of space that the scene I’ve described now sounds less like a magical pedagogical moment than an invitation for infection. Our traditional teaching spaces and ways of being together remain unsafe for the foreseeable future. Nevertheless, I continue connecting with students in the ways that really count.
Perhaps it helps that I’ve come to think of COVID-era classes less as “distance learning” and more as “overcoming distance learning”. Sure, part of that includes equipping my studio with the technology that enables me to be as scrupulous as ever with my students. Far more significant, however, is the deceptively simple (you, too, can find your space) yet decisive act of setting aside a space dedicated to our practicing together. I look forward to sharing this space with you.
The Atelier, a former wood shop, now a place for teaching.
Lineage
Focus on Cause and Effect
When dancers attend to their interior spaces and connection to the floor through bodily sensation, the improvements they make seem to stick around. This approach to teaching contrasts the traditional view of class as a place to force bodies into approved shapes and hope it soaks in.
In the half decade before the pandemic, working closely with Finis Jhung helped me integrate my commitment to teaching the rigorous nuances of effective technique with my desire to do no harm.
Class Descriptions
Ballet
Drawing on my background in dance kinesiology and classical ballet pedagogy, my classes are aimed at adult and mature teenage learners. Each day, I bring a contemporary approach to richly musical classical exercises, illuminating the muscular engagement and bodily alignment that bring about ballet movement in the body. Working from the inside out in this way, students do not merely recite the shapes and steps of ballet, but practice how to move with intention informed by principles of anatomy and classical style.
Class typically begins on the floor (often barefoot), with exercises to locate and activate the muscles of the inner thighs, abdomen, and pelvic floor, as well as the intrinsic muscles of the feet. This activity is called floor barre, a term describing the various methods ballet masters have developed to help professional classical dancers improve their technique, line, and career longevity. Next, in exercises standing at the barre and center (wearing ballet slippers), students work to apply these principles to their movement in the ballet vocabulary.
The time we spend in each section varies, but with the following goals for an 75-minute class: floor, approximately 20 minutes; barre, approximately 30-35 minutes; center, approximately 20-25 minutes. Class concludes with révérence, which may take the form of a classical bow incorporating the movement themes of the day, or a standing ritual in which we massage the soles of the feet, focus attention on grounding, and create internal connections and spaces.
Daily instruction and feedback from me will include imagery to appeal to the senses, anatomical references to clarify mechanics, and gentle humor to remind that there must be joy in the process. As a student, your responsibility is to strive to maintain focus, let go of unnecessary tension, and make the most of each exercise.
These classes are intended for students who are beginning to intermediate level dancers, or anyone with experience with floor barre technique or ballet-related somatics or imagery. Anyone can benefit from the practice, from absolute novice to seasoned professional.
Modern Dance
This one-hour class will introduce novice adult learners to principles of modern dance and provide veteran dancers a place to tune-in and hone their movements. Classroom activities through Zoom follow a general progression through floor work, eventually making our way upright for a movement exploration or small-scale locomotor activity suitable for at-home spaces. From week to week we will subtly expand and embellish phrases and concepts from the classes before, all while focusing on efficient mechanics, clarity of initiation, and accurate musicality.
The modernists cast off their dancing shoes so they could feel the ground directly with their flesh. That sensory interaction with the space is a central element of the artistry. For this reason, students are welcome to bring socks for warmth, but bare feet are recommended whenever possible.
The ballet class before modern ends at 7:40 (or soon thereafter). Please feel free to join the modern dance class Zoom meeting before the instructor to prepare yourself physically and mentally by doing self-directed warm-up or centering activities. Depending on your needs, this may include light calisthenics, floor barre, a brief yoga flow, etc. You may also wish to use the time to recall or practice material from the previous week.
Wobble Board
For more information about adding balance board training to your week, visit out the page on the topic.
Working from the ground up starts on the ground
Make connections. Open internal spaces.
We start on the floor with breath work and gentle exercises to focus the mind and prepare the body for the demands ahead. When they arrive at the barre, dancers are primed to recruit deep postural muscles and interact with ground reaction force to maximize efficiency and minimize strain on the joints.
Floor barre inspired by the work of Philip Beamish, coach to ballet étoiles.