Modern Technique Workshops You Simply Can't Miss

This week is our busiest week of Summer Workshops. Register for Modern Technique, including the work of masters like Trisha Brown and Sean Curran!


"Discipline is freedom" - Sean Curran

Modern Workshop with Sean Curran
Aug 12, 2013 - Aug 16, 2013; Mon - Fri 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

An Irish step dancer as a young boy from Boston, Massachusetts Séan Curran was a lead dancer with the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, an original member of the off-Broadway hit Stomp, and his dances have been seen at the New York City Opera, Broadway’s Playwright Horizons, Utah’s Rurie Woodbury Dance Theater, Sweden Skanes Dance Theater, Pittsburg Dance Alloy and a long list of College/University’s pre-professional programs.

Enrich your understanding of action, phrasing and timing from this esteemed choreographer!

Photo Lois Greenfield




"Dance every day, follow your passion and never doubt your intuition." - Mariah Maloney

Trisha Brown Dance Company Technique and Repertory with Mariah Maloney
Aug 12, 2013 - Aug 16, 2013; Mon - Fri 4:00 PM - 6:00 PM

Somatic-based technique/repertory workshop and safe environment for participants to deepen a daily practice of learning from the body and expanding a range and diversity of motion. Explore Trisha Brown Dance Company's movement style specific to seminal works Set and Reset (1983) and Line Up (1976). 



Mariah Maloney's journey with Trisha Brown has been a life-changing adventure, join her in continuing the exploration!

Photo © 1999 Chris Callis, Mariah Maloney in Five Part Weather Invention

Quick Tips from Workshop Instructors Elisa Monte and Shannon Gillen

Next week July 8-12, 2013, we've got two great workshops lined up, including Modern Technique with Elisa Monte Dance (11:30am-1pm) and Contemporary Movement with Shannon Gillen (4-6pm).

Learn more about the workshops, and the artist instructors!
Elisa Monte

Elisa Monte Dance (EMD) was founded in 1981, and for each new work Artistic Director Elisa Monte creates entirely new and unique works. We asked what is the greatest challenge in her creative process and how to stay creative.

"The greatest challenge is accessing the essential in oneself. When is the moment one is creating most alive? Having the life force energy available and flowing, being present and not self- conscious. Creating an authentic moment.

Keeping those juices flowing is a constant effort, it's like staying in shape for living life. Every moment one chooses adds up to who and what you are. You become what you spend your time doing, so make choices, don't let everyday life just push you mindlessly in an undefined direction."

Register and draw upon Elisa's expansive range of movement in this workshop. You definitely want to catch her before she vacations to Crete, and several other beaches this summer!

by Joanna McClure for Brooklyn Magazine

Shannon Gillen
Shannon Gillen is a new faculty member at Peridance. The workshop, uncovering techniques from her company Shannon Gillen + Guests (SGG), will have you working up a sweat! We asked Shannon about her daily practice of care, and here's her advice.

"Conditioning is an essential and core part of my classes and daily practice. It goes beyond alignment training and core stabilization into aerobic/ athletic territory that is missing from most dancers' experience. Too many of us get winded far, far too soon when we dance. This comes from a lack of efficiency and from inadequate cardiovascular exercise. It also stems from the inability to properly utilize momentum. Too often, technique inhibits personal velocity and keeps the dancer from engaging in the flow of a phrase. It's surprising how much bigger and more vital the body can be when it is truly free to move. Technique needs to be accessed in motion, not in stasis. This makes it important that we investigate how to call upon our resources not out of neutral conditions, but rather from the dynamic moment. What are the habits that conflict with this practice?…Chances are that by addressing these, dancers will find they can take greater risks in their dancing."

Sign up for Shannon's workshop and give yourself a little push this summer, and stay tuned in November when her dance company SGG presents a new work for Peridance's inaugural year of presenting.

See the full list of Peridance Summer Workshops for 2013.

Dance in Madrid - Baila en Madrid

For our spanish speaking dancers!

¡Lee!

Centenares de bailarines de más de una veintena de nacionalidades se congregarán esta Navidad en Madrid con motivo del taller World Dance Movement Spain, una iniciativa que pretende conectar distintas culturas a través de la danza y conceder ayudas para la formación artística.

Este evento, que tiene como antecede un taller similar en la ciudad italiana de Puglia, ha comenzado hoy en el Conservatorio Superior de Danza María de Ávila de Madrid las audiciones para conceder a 10 bailarines españoles una ayuda económica para la matrícula del taller.

Del 29 de diciembre al 6 de enero, la programación de World Dance Movement Spain contará con talleres impartidos por coreógrafos de "prestigio internacional" que, una vez finalizado el evento, otorgarán becas a los mejores bailarines del evento.

La cuantía de estas ayudas asciende a 70.000 dólares (unos 54.000 euros) y están destinadas a la formación artística en escuelas como "Complexions Contemporary Ballet" "Peridance Capezio Center" o el "Broadway Dance Center", ubicadas en Nueva York.

¡y mas!

Terra
Marioneta Digital

Interview with Nathan Trice of nathantrice / RITUALS

Nathan Trice is filling our studios in the afternoon this week. He and his company nathantrice / RITUALS are here giving all that they have got and hoping that workshop participants do the same. Following rehearsal this Wednesday, Trice spoke with me about his thoughts about his identity as a human being, his company's performance this weekend, and a possible 'made for TV' show.

Peridance Capezio Center How's your workshop going?

Nathan Trice It's good. Class was great. The students seem hungry, so I'm happy about that.

P.C.C. What are you focusing on for this workshop?

N.T. I just want them to feel good and breathe. I want them to find a deeper alignment between matter and breath, and of course have a good time with it, to just relax. My job is to break (the tension) down.

P.C.C. Describe your signature move

N.T. Undulating and rippling arms

P.C.C. Who do you admire as a dance artist in New York?

N.T. Ryoji Sasamoto. He's one of my dancers. 

P.C.C. Why?

N.T. He is a bit surreal. His relationship with space is surreal.

P.C.C. What does that look like?

N.T. He looks like his is constantly dissolving and forming in space.

P.C.C. When do we get to see him (and the rest of your company) next?

N.T. We have a performance this Friday, August 10th, at this space called FreeCandy.  

This is going to be our third episode at this space. The episodes are part of a project called Strange Love, which is about courtship, intimacy and love, and how four couples deal with those things.

P.C.C. Can you explain more about the project?

N.T. I've been working on Strange Love about 4 years now. We created an episodic performance series which we perform once a month at FreeCandy. I wanted to do something different, rather than just have a performance one weekend and then just be done with it.

P.C.C. What is the thing you define yourself as first.

N.T. I am an organism in constant process, In constant expiration. I'm always exploring the process of how things are happening. 

P.C.C. What was your first job in new york?

N.T. I was working for these two Italians who rented out an apartment building and ran a delivery service out of it. I thought it was quite entertaining. 

P.C.C. And how did you transition to becoming a dancer?

N.T. Well first, the restaurant moved into kiosks in Bryant Park. And then I auditioned for (the dance company) Momix.

P.C.C. What was your worst audition experience? 

N.T. It wasn't really 'the worst,' but it was a scholarship audition for the (Alvin) Ailey program. My intention at that time wasn't to go to Ailey. I auditioned as moral support for a friend. I was standing next to Matthew Rushing, a principal dancer at Ailey, and he had had 10 years training, and I had just been training for a year and a half, so it was embarrassing, But I didn't care. I just got up and did it for the heck of it. And I ended up getting the scholarship.

P.C.C. Any other notable audition experiences?

N.T. I didn't audition a lot. I waited until I was confident in myself. I knew that auditions would make me really insecure, so I said 'let me wait until I feel really in my body.' 

P.C.C. And at what age was that?

N.T. Oh, we’re getting into ages now.

P.C.C. Sorry... 

N.T. No, it's not a problem. I started dancing at age 24. I was in the Navy at the time and when I started (dancing) I had two more years in the military.

P.C.C. That sounds like a 'made for TV movie'

N.T. You know, Debbie Allen wanted to make a television series about it. But, no.....

P.C.C. Have you ever said there was something you would never do as a choreographer?

N.T. There's not much I wouldn't do, except make something that was empty of substance. 

P.C.C. If you make a piece and you're satisfied with it, is that enough?

N.T. No. If I make it public, and I'm satisfied with it and that's it, that's self-absorbed. There's no consideration for other humans. We have to spend time on audience cultivation. It is (the choreographer's) responsibility to touch your audience with what you have to say. 

Find out more about nathantrice / RITUALS' upcoming performance here

and Peridance Capezio Center has MORE amazing workshops throughout the year. Learn about them on our website!

Class with Sean Curran

Sean Curran used to have to remind himself that dancing was meant to be a joyful experience. "I used to tell the dancers to point their toes!" Curran said in the middle of his weeklong workshop at Peridance Capezio Center yesterday. Now, he says, "I just tell them to smile." With this said, Curran beams with the giddy grin of the Cheshire Cat. The class responds with wide smiles of their own. In four days, Curran has obviously built a rapport and healthily silly relationship with his students. The class is eager to approach dance according to his requests, which include smiling, yawning like you just woke up, and laughing on command. This last task revealed the trust that Curran fosters in his classes. I was taking the workshop for the first time yesterday, and found that laughter was stuck somewhere inside my chest when he asked us to laugh. It wasn't going to happen. I was so caught up in my own judgements of myself that this simple task- one that probably is enjoyable to the participants- would not come naturally to me. I write this not to chastise myself, but rather to explain the true enjoyment that the students seemed to experience at Peridance this week. They were smiling and laughing heartily. And, possibly because their contentment spread all the way to the last tips of the hands and feet, they were pointing their toes, too.

Workshop Spotlight

Peridance Martial Arts Instructor, Joseph Zeisky will be teaching a Bagua/Qigong Workshop this Summer!

The workshop, "Three Saturdays" (July 23rd, August 20th & August 27th) focuses on a unique principle of Bagua. Unfamiliar with the practice myself I asked Joseph if he would give me an introduction to Martial Arts and explain what drew him to make it a life practice.

1. How did you first get involved in studying Martial Arts?

When I was 8yrs old my Father took me to see the classic martial arts movie, "Enter the Dragon", starring the iconic movie star Bruce Lee. Like most kids who saw that movie in the early 1970's, I too was greatly inspired to start learning martial arts. Soon afterwards I begged my Father to sign me up at a local Karate school near our Sunnyside Queens, New York home. Most of my martial arts exposure and influence, from early childhood up to my teenage years, came from New York City's martial arts movie theaters, especially Chinatown’s Music Palace Theater, which was located off of Canal St. and Bowery. Almost every Saturday after work, my Father and his good Chinese friend “Uncle Ho” would go for Chinese food and Kung Fu movies and they’d always take me along...It was great fun!

2. What drew you to select the particular forms you have chosen to focus on in your career?

Most of those martial arts films I was exposed to as a kid usually demonstrated the more dramatic styles like Karate, Shaolin Kung-Fu, Snake, Tiger, Monkey, Crane, Praying Mantis, boxing, jujitsu and other external styles. So as a teenager, when I first encountered the much more slowly performed and less dramatic forms of the Internal Martial Art of Tai Chi Chuan, I was simultaneous mystified and intrigued. At the time, it was quite the radical departure from what I was used to in terms of what I thought a martial art should look like and feel like, but I was pretty much hooked the first time I saw Taichi performed at an art gallery/Taichi school in Soho, NY in 1984. Even though I couldn’t explain exactly why I liked it so much, I intuitively knew there was something there well worth exploring further. It’s now been twenty-seven years since my first Taichi class and I’m really happy I followed my intuition. The core principles and practices of Taichi further led me on another exciting journey of studying and practicing other dynamic and equally powerful Internal Martial Arts styles such as: Bagua, Xingyi and Aikido. Presently, Bagua and Taichi are the primary arts that I teach and practice.

Featured Workshop

Lydia Johnson and Company are at Peridance next week for a Repertory Workshop.

June 27-July 1, 11:30-1:00pm

Photo by Kokyat

Jessica Sand has been a member of Lydia Johnson Dance (LJD) since 2004 and has originated major roles as well as serving as a costume designer and rehearsal directory for the company. She was generous enough to share some of her experience and wisdom from her time with LJD.

Where are you originally from?
I grew up in Iowa and went to college at Texas Christian University

What drew you to work with LJD?
I grew up training primarily in ballet but fell in love with modern dance when I went to college. Lydia's movement is grounded in ballet vocabulary and aesthetics, but she also incorporates the weightedness and momentum that I find so fulfilling in contemporary movement. The fusion of the two is really satisfying.

Photo by Kokyat

Do you remember the first moment you met Lydia or the first day you worked together?

When I first moved to New York a friend of mine was dancing with LJD and arranged for me to come to a rehearsal as a sort of informal audition. Lydia was creating new material that day and I really enjoyed her process-- she explored ideas with focus and enthusiasm, and was open to her dancers' input. Between the originality of the movement and the atmosphere in the studio, I knew I'd found something really special.

What is your favorite memory from rehearsal with LJD?
I love creating new movement one on one with Lydia. She has a remarkable ability to choreograph movement that's truly well suited to the individual dancer she's working with, and being a part of that is really exciting.

Photo by Kokyat

What do you always have in your dance bag?

M.E.L.T. balls, foot tape, and arnica massage oil

What advice would you give to dancers interested in dancing with LJD or a similar company?
I think that, while being technically strong is obviously important, what really makes a dancer stand out and what Lydia really appreciates in her company members is their ability to let their personality show through their dancing. Not in a flashy, "look at me" way, but in the honesty and nuance of their movement. Lydia's work tends to have a large gestural component to it, which I often find gives the choreography the feel of a conversation. When you can find that element of conversation and make it true for yourself, it gives you the freedom to really speak through your dancing.

What would you say are the "trademark" moments of a class or rehearsal with Lydia?
A lot of Lydia's work has themes of community, and that definitely carries over to rehearsals and classes. Everyone in the studio is a respected member of that community and while we're all working towards a common goal, no one is expected to sacrifice their individuality in the process. When you take away the idea of one interpretation of the movement being right or wrong you gain the freedom to really experiment and take risks. That open mindedness fosters an environment in which there's a lot of respect and support, not to mention a lot of friendship and laughter. It's a really refreshing way to work and learn.

Read a review of LJD's last show by Philip Gardner here.

To register for the workshop click here.

Adult Beginner Workshops

Looking to try something new this summer, get back in shape, or perfect your basics? Sign up for one or more of our Adult Beginner Workshops. These 5 consecutive classes are a fun, pressure free way to get back into dance or try out a style for the first time and with beach weather coming, there is no better time to start moving!

Visit our website for more information & to pre-register.

A New Face at Peridance

Contemporary Workshop with Adam Barruch

Apr 11, 2011 - Apr 15, 2011; Mon, Wed, Fri

11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

Adam Barruch is a young and talented choreographer and dancer who has an extensive resume of his own performance credits, his company Adam Barruch Dance, and several other commissioned works. This April he will join Peridance Capezio Center for the first time to share his unique and investigative movement style. I was able to talk to Adam about his break into choreography and his thoughts on performing vs. setting work.

How did you decide to be a dancer?

My background is in musical theater; I started at a very early age and was working professionally by age 10. I was introduced to dance through taking Jazz and soon became increasingly fascinated by the work of Bob Fosse. Gradually dance began to take precedence in my life, and I attended LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in the dance department for 3 years, graduating early to go to Juilliard.

When did you know that you wanted to be a choreographer?

I started choreographing in high school. My love of choreography stemmed directly from my love of dancing and my desire to fully understand how to be the most articulate interpreter I could be. I also love the creative process--making things and especially knowing how things are made.

How has the work of other choreographers inspired you?

I certainly have been inspired by choreographers and artists who have utilized the body as a tool for emotional expression. I love choreographers who allow their dancers a humanity and freedom within their work. When creating work I often look to generate movement that is inherently emotional, almost textual, where an imposed expressivity isn’t necessary--just an open and honest interpretation. My goal is to make work where everything is punctuated enough to create a clear path to understand how it should be interpreted.

This is your first workshop at Peridance, are you planning to teach repertory?

I will start with a combination of exercises and phrases that will initiate the dancers into my movement style. Then I will work with phrases that I am currently investigating and work that is in progress.

What is your goal for this workshop?

To introduce dancers to my approach and give them information that they can use to open themselves up to a continuous exploration of their own movement.

How do you balance being both a performer and a choreographer?

The investigation always starts with my own body, but the real joy is collaborating with dancers and seeing someone else's interpretation of what I create. I find it great fun and an invaluable process to find someone’s niche within a vocabulary that was based in my body. In those instances, I also can break certain habitual movement patterns that I always seem to fall into. From the outside I can see pathways and options available to the dancers that would not be obvious from inside the work (this is especially true in partnering work). As a director I find that I struggle less to give to the dancers when I am not in the piece myself, because my ego as a performer is not involved. I try to keep a balance between creating solo works and group pieces.

Are you still working with other choreographers as a performer?

I tend to focus mainly on my own work, although I greatly enjoy the young choreographers who are working in New York. I am constantly fascinated by their processes and love watching their work come together. There is a great community here of creators who are constantly pushing themselves to investigate and generate new work. I feel that there is a generosity among the group. Dancers are also often working with many different choreographers and companies at once, which I feel enriches the whole community.

Where do you find inspiration outside of the dance world?

Certainly music is a huge source of inspiration, but also theater because of my background. In some ways I am still more of an actor in the way I approach a work. Many of my pieces are linear, but even those that are more abstract come from an internal place and have an emotional texture to them. I like experiencing and creating work that is transformative for the dancers as well as the audience. For me the audience is always part of the theatrical process and I don’t like alienating them. Not that the work is always frontal or overtly presentational, but I like creating work that is meant to connect people to their own humanity.

Based on your own experience what advice would you give to other dancers?

As a dancer, I know what it is like to reach plateaus where the fear of imperfection inhibits one's growth. However, it is often when you push past that point and dive into areas of uncertainty that you discover the most. As dancers we are constantly re-balancing ourselves and our axes always seem to be shifting. I find the moments of recovery when I’m about to lose control to be the most potent with information. I would encourage dancers to find joy in these moments and accept a breathing, living practice as opposed to one of rigid accuracy.

For more information on Adam visit his website.

To pre-register for the workshop click here.

Upcoming Workshop/Audition!

Chicago's Deeply Rooted Dance Theater

Workshop/Audition: Sunday, March 13th 4-7pm!

Rooted in African-American traditions of storytelling and universal themes in contemporary modern dance, Deeply Rooted Dance Theater performs world class dance that entertains, inspires, and builds community. The workshop, taught by Artistic Director, Kevin lega Jeff and Associate Artistic Director, Gary Abbott will convey the company's mission and choreographic philosophy.

*Students interested in using the workshop as an audition for the company's 2011 Summer Dance Intensive should bring a resume and headshot.

To pre-register for the class visit our website at www.peridance.com.

An Interview with Dana Ruttenberg

Reflections on Dana Ruttenberg’s Creative Minds in Creative Bodies Workshop

Israeli born dancer and choreographer, Dana Ruttenberg trained at the Bat-Dor School of Dance and the Thelma Yelin High-school for Performing Arts before coming to New York to attend Columbia University. While living and studying in New York, Dana was the artistic director of her own dance troupe, The Red Hill Project. She returned to Israel in 2003 and has since been teaching, giving workshops, and choreographing. Currently, she is also finishing her MFA through ADF and Hollins University’s low-residency program, designed especially for mid-career artists. We were privileged to have her come teach a workshop at Peridance this January. Unable to take her workshop myself because of an injury, I instead talked to Dana about her work and was able to watch her showing at the end of the week.

How is the workshop going so far?

It is rather condensed because of the short time slot, but we make it work. The first hour is a warm-up based on what I have learned in my own career, particularly when working through serious injuries. I bring in aspects of Gyrokonesis® and yoga as well as using spirals within the body and imagery. I find that sometimes if you give dancers a new name or image for a frequently utilized movement it can become fresh again.

In the second half we work with exercises and games I have created to aid inspiration. When dancers are inspired they do not need a teacher, but we cannot control when inspiration strikes and it is not always while we are in the studio. Sometimes inspiration strikes in the subway, but once we are in the studio our minds are blank. So, I have borrowed from other worlds like mathematics and poetry to play with old, stuck material.

For instance, today the puzzle we worked with involved telephone and social security numbers. I taught them all some of my material and then split it into the digits 1-9, so that each digit corresponded to a part of the phrase. Then the digits where divided into upper and lower body. Each dancer then organized their upper body movement according to their telephone number and their lower body movement according to their social security number. They then worked through this new material with a randomly assigned partner.

This is just one example of an exercise I might use. They are tools for when you are stuck in choreography or find yourself repeating particular movement patterns. It is meant to challenge coordination and rewire your body. I think it lets you come out of your self and see what you are doing, that way you can clear up what you like and what you do not like. It sharpens the body and mind.


How did you create this method of working?

It comes one part out of my love of crossword puzzles and one part out of all those times I have been stuck and wanted to move in a way I never have before. I found that if you shift one little thing suddenly you have a whole different movement, phrase, or piece. To change you do not have to collapse your whole world rather you can alter one little thing.

I hear so many dancers who say, “I want to move in an exceptional way.” Movement exercises like the ones I have used in my workshop are a great way to find your way of moving and of pushing your movement. You have to travel to know where home is, if you are there then you are just there. If you travel though you may find a new “home” you never thought would be yours. It is the same with a movement style, you can discover that you can or enjoy moving in ways that before you would have said were not you.

You mentioned earlier that you have had some serious injuries, what happened?

I first started having trouble with a spine injury while I was a student in New York. I found that I needed to reimagine the way I though of my body. I think that you have to reimagine your body everyday. A while ago, I read an article about POWs that discussed the three kinds of mentalities that appear. The first do not believe they will ever get out of the camp and they ended up dying there. The second believe they will get out, but they put a timeline on it and they too ended up dying in the camps. The third believed they would someday go home they just did not know when and they were the only group who survived. I found this to be a good way to think about being injured as well, you cannot put a timeline on it rather you must live with your body day to day.

Have you enjoyed working with the Peridance students?

I have had a strong core of about ten people in a class of twenty. It has been a challenge to keep giving the returning students room to progress while allowing new students to join us. Working with them has re-energized me rather than draining me. I think that creativity and humor stem from the same place and all of the students I have worked with have had a good sense of humor and are open to the unexpected which I appreciate.

After I watched the studio showing at the end of the week:


Immediately I saw how the dancers I had watched at the beginning of the week had lost their inhibitions. They seemed comfortable with experimenting and not phased that they were being asked to dance in random couples and then random groups of four. The energy in the studio was palpable and I have rarely been so inspired watching material in a classroom. It made me wish that I had been able to take Dana’s workshop, but after our conversation I both have ideas for how to work on my movement style when I have recovered and a new outlook with which to approach my unwelcome “break.”


Watch excerpts from Dana's Workshop:

Dana Ruttenberg @ Peridance Capezio Center, NYC from Dana Ruttenberg on Vimeo.

For more about Dana and her company visit: www.drdg.co.il/

Contemporary Workshop

Nacho Duato Workshop with Africa Guzman

Juan Ignacio Duato Barcia, also known as Nacho Duato, is an acclaimed Spanish dancer and choreographer. He began his dance career with the Cullberg Ballet in Stockholm and has received multiple awards in recognition of his achievements as a dancer and choreographer. In 1990, he was invited to become the Artistic Director of Compañía Nacional de Danza by the Instituto Nacional de las Artes Escénicas y de la Música of the Spanish Ministry of Culture. In July of 2010, he left the Compañía Nacional de Danza after twenty years. This January, he will become the Artistic Director of Russia’s Mikhailovsky Ballet.

This move represents an exciting step for both Mr. Duato and Russian ballet. He will be the first foreigner to direct a Russian ballet company in over a century, the last was France’s Marius Petipa. For Mr. Duato, it will be his first time leading a large classical repertory company. Russian ballet is not known for its malleability and has had a history of ignoring modern dance influences like Mr. Duato’s, in favor of preserving tradition. Vladimir Kekhman, the businessman who took over as Mikahailovsky’s general director in 2007, feels that a strong contemporary influence is exactly what the company and Russian ballet needs.

Peridance’s Nacho Duato Workshop will be taught by Africa Guzman, another Spanish native. Ms. Guzman trained at the “Escuela de Ballet y Danza Española Africa Guzmán” and at the “Escuela del Ballet Nacional de España.” She became a member of Compañía Nacional de Danza in 1988, two years before Duato became the director. She has received many awards for her achievements as a dancer, has also danced with Netherland Das Theater, and has worked with many of the world’s highly acclaimed choreographers. For 20 years, she has been involved in Nacho’s choreographic and creative process. This workshop is an excellent opportunity to both take from a very accomplished dancer and to learn the style and repertory of one of today’s most celebrated dancer/choreographers and possibly the new face of Russian Ballet.

Preregistration for the Workshop is encouraged. Click here to register.

To learn more about Mr. Duato’s move to the Mikhailovsky Ballet read the New York Times article.

Limón Workshop-Water Study

Ray Cook and current and recent Limón Company members, Katie Diamond and Ryoko Kudo are teaching a tech & rep workshop October 11-15 here at Peridance Capezio Center.

Repertory will be taught from Doris Humphrey’s early work, Water Study. Humphrey was among the 2^nd generation of modern dance pioneers – Martha Graham and Katherine Dunham were among her contemporaries. Trained at the Denishawn school, Humphrey and fellow dancer Charles Weidman moved to New York in 1928 and founded their own movement technique, Humphrey-Weidman, which focuses on the theory and action of fall and recovery.

Water Study is a dance without music – the only sounds the audience hears are the dancer’s feet and breath. The piece evokes images and moods of the sea, ranging from calm to tumultuous. Because the success of the piece depends on synchronization and rhythm, it requires great subtlety on the part of its dancers.

*

Ray Cook, who is originally from Australia, came to New York to study Labanotation, a standardized system for analyzing and recording human movement. He was the first full-time notator of works by Doris Humphrey, Martha Graham, Jeff Duncan, Anna Sokolow, Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Michael Fokine, Dan Wagner, José Limón, Gerald Arpino, Lester Horton, Norman Walker and Lin Hwai-Min. He has restaged sixteen works by Humphrey alone.

Learning repertory from Water Study under Cook is an excellent experience for any dancer – his re-staging will explore not just the technical steps, but also the imagery, motivation, and characterization given to the dancers by the original choreographer.

Select participants from this workshop will be invited to perform on December 5^th at 7pm at Peridance.

Workshop:

Oct 11, 2010 - Oct 15, 2010; Mon - Fri

Technique: 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Repertory: 11:30 AM - 1:00 PM

For more information and to pre-register for the workshop visit the website.

Take a look at Water Study!

Horton Technique with Milton Myers

After a Busy Summer Milton Myers Returns to Teach at Peridance!

Horton Technique

Advanced-Intermediate

Wednesday 2:30-4:00pm

Milton Myers has been away for the summer at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and setting choreography, but this Wednesday he begins teaching his Horton modern class again.

Take advantage of this rare opportunity to learn from the celebrated teacher, choreographer, and performer. Mr. Myers was a performer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and was a performer, founding member, and artistic director of the Joyce Trisler Danscompany. He has been a teacher, choreographer, and Artist-In-Residence at many of the world's most celebrated companies, schools, and universities including serving as the head of the modern dance department at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for the past twenty four years. He has been asked to choreograph for many renowned companies which has earned him extensive recognition and funding.

Mr. Myers teaches Horton technique, a technique developed by Lester Horton in the 1920s, 30s, and 40s. The movement is based on Native American dances and anatomical studies in combination with other movements. A key element of the technique is that it is meant to correct and improve dancers physical limitations.

For more information on Horton technique check out the overview in Dance Spirt Magazine.

For more information about Milton Myers' classes please visit the Peridance website.

Gaga Workshop with Ohad Naharin!

Gaga Movement Language Creator Ohad Naharin is coming to Peridance!

Come take advantage of this exciting opportunity.

Tuesday, Thursday, September 28th, 30th, 11:30am
Friday, October 1st, 2:30pm

Peridance Students: $20 for single class
Non-Peridance Students: $25 for single class

**Students may use their gaga class-card by adding the $5 difference.

**New Students taking any of Ohad Naharin's Master Classes will be able to purchase their first 5 Class-Card at a reduced rate of $70 (instead of $75)

Space is limited, students are encouraged to pre-register online. Click here to register.

Ken Swift Breaking Workshop

Start September with a little Hip Hop!

Never tried Breaking? This workshop is the perfect introduction for any dancer interested in learning Breaking or BBoying/BGirling. Ken Swift, a pioneer from the early years of the scene will teach an intensive workshop that incorporates both the history and the current state of the dance.












Sept 6, 2010 - Sept 9, 2010
Mon, Wed, Thu
4:30 PM - 6:00 PM

Read more about Ken Swift and the upcoming work he collaborated on in the Village Voice.

Ron Brown Workshop

Evidence Modern Technique with Ron Brown














Aug 23, 2010 - Aug 27, 2010; Mon - Fri 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM

Founder and Artistic Director of Evidence, A Dance Company, Ronald Brown will be sharing his unique technique! Evidence Modern technique combines dance forms from the U.S., the Caribbean, and West Africa. In the workshop students will have the opportunity to focus on alignment, increasing their physical range, and rhythm.