Modern Movements Dance Festival Workshop W/ DoppelgäNger Dance

Shura Baryshnikov: In this intermediate/advanced contemporary class, we will draw upon the technical foundations of B.J. Sullivan's Safety Release Technique to build safe and efficient patterning from the floor to standing. We will work to drive movement powerfully with the spine, unleashing the kinesthetic joy which will bring us through moments of risk and disorientation in our dancing. Accessing the floorwork again and again, we will refine progressions which allow for sophisticated plays of suspension, increasing speed, and surprising pathways. If we accept that the body is always falling, we begin to understand that our task is only to guide it safely from up to down and then ride our momentum and structural organization from down to up again. Danielle Davidson: This contemporary/postmodern release technique class will aim at developing a balance between force and freedom, a directed impulse, a clarity of intention and the release of weight and tension in epically-large movement. We will approach challenging material and physicality using exercises based on gravity, momentum and spirals. Emphasis will be placed on a tactile connection with the floor, the relationship between the body's axis and space, and the equilibrium between muscular engagement, efficiency, and effort. Participants will explore new pleasures as they play with the forces of gravity, levity, momentum and inertia. Class begins on the floor with movement phrases loosely inspired by Axis Syllabus, Bartenieff fundamentals and Flying-Low. We will proceed to dynamic core strength building exercises on the floor and standing, geared towards full-body engagement, increasing articulation, flexibility and ease in the joints,. We will be encouraged to take risks, devour space, and find intent for ourselves. More Info below.