classes and workshops
>general info


october 2005

special master class

Modern Dance Technique
Xing Liang - Resident Artist of CCDC from Hong Kong
Tuesday October 11, 1-3 pm, $15
Dance Theater Workshop
Mr Xing is an accomplished dance artist from China. He participated in the International Choreographers Residency Programme in the American Dance Festival in 1996. He was also a choreographer of Guangdong Modern Dance Company before joining CCDC as its Resident Artist. He was invited by Holland Dance Festival to make a new work 180° in 2001. He is one of the co-choreographers of the work the CCDC will perform at the Kaye Theater.

ongoing classes

Contact Improvisation
K.J. Holmes
Wednesdays  6:45-9:30pm 
Simone Forti Studio
Contact Improvisation is a partnering dance form. Skills such as rolling, releasing, giving and supporting weight, expanding range of spatial concentration, lifting, catching and falling help one move with and through gravity, share weight in motion and use momentum and flow in physical contact. These weekly classes, open to people of all levels of movement experience, are informed variously by the individual teaching artists.

RoseAnne Spradlin
September 8 – December 22 TH 1 – 3pm
No class on Nov 24
Movement Research at Eden’s Expressway
Body-Mind Centering®: Integration and Expression
In this class students will be guided through integrative explorations and creative improvisation rooted in principles from Body-Mind Centering®. This work can be used to address problems in dance technique, psycho-physical integration or as a source for creative tools in the choreographic process.

Barbara Mahler
September 6 – January 26 T TH 10am – 12pm
No class on Nov 24
Movement Research at Eden’s Expressway
Please note that classes Jan 3 – 26 will take place at Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
The purpose of this class is to re-educate the dancer’s body, interweaving theory and practice on a physical and organic level. From this comes the potential for students to discover a range of intelligence in their dancing, as well as to help them discover and develop their own choreographic vision. Initially inspired by the work of pioneer kinesiologist Dorothy Vislcoky, and then continuing for upwards of 20 years with Susan Klein, Barbara Mahler has learned to see, feel and teach each person/body individually to help their body function at its highest level of efficiency and function.

Juliette Mapp
September 6 – December 27 T F 6 – 8pm
Movement Research at Eden’s Expressway
This class will work in depth on developing awareness of alignment patterns to better understand each dancer’s unique movement potential and style. Class will be an opportunity to allow the body and mind to release and become aware of our pre-existing physical limitations in order to find greater movement range. Our warm-up will grow from internal structural and breath images to establish a consciousness in both the minute and grand details of dance. Class will conclude with a combination built to further increase awareness and freedom inside each student’s own dancing.

K.J. Holmes
September 10 – January 28 SAT 11am – 1pm
No class on Dec 24, 31
Movement Research at Eden’s Expressway
The Athletics of Intimacy, Improvisations
Classes combine skills and practices of Contact Improvisation, applications of Body-Mind Centering® and tutoring of somatic improvisational approaches in solo, duet (strong emphasis on partnering) and ensemble dancing. I am interested in the very physical, the very sensorial and the very imaginative, and in discovering new challenges and risks within our movement.

october classes


Tere O’Connor

October 3 – 28 M W F 10am – 12pm
Movement Research at Eden’s Expressway
Performance Technique
Concepts of body architecture, locomotion through space, and body centering are explored. The focus is centered on O’Connor’s dance language, which incorporates ballet, modern, ethnic and historical forms, both real and invented, combined with his unique system for phrase structures derived from a physical stream of consciousness. This system is characterized by an exaggerated density of steps, extreme tempo change, and inorganic sequencing transformed into logic. O’Connor concentrates on developing the dancer’s ability to interpret the abstraction put forth by a choreographer. His belief that the performer is not a tool, but a peer in the creation of dance informs his teaching as he encourages the student to aspire beyond the kinetic experience to artistry.

Vicky Shick
September 27 – October 27 T TH 10am – 12pm
Danspace Project at St. Mark’s Church
This class seeks to prepare an articulate, alert and neutral body, ready for precise dancing with intricate coordinations that we will work on together. There is a simple, straightforward, continuous warm-up that relies on the use of release, alignment, momentum, weight and strength. Clarity, simplicity of movement, attention to detail and concentration will be our goal.

satellite (off-site) workshops
Daria Faïn
Location: 241 Bedford Ave. (bet N 3rd & 4th)
September 5 – December 12 Mon 10am – 12pm
Chi Gong into movement NO CLASS THE 1st WEEK OF OCTOBER
This is a technical class using Chi Gong principles to undertake the basics of a potent and healthy approach to movement grounded in exercises that draw in internal forces.

Daria Faïn
Location: 241 Bedford Ave. (bet N 3rd & 4th)
September 6 – December 13 Tues 6 – 8 pm
Introductory Seminars in Chi Gong NO CLASS THE 1st WEEK OF OCTOBER
A weekly seminar with a rotating schedule of topics. This class acts as both an introduction to and practicing forum for Chi Gong fundamentals.

Daria Faïn
Location: 241 Bedford Ave. (bet N 3rd & 4th)
September 7 – December 14 Wed 10am – 12pm
Spontaneous Chi Gong/improvisation NO CLASS THE 1st WEEK OF OCTOBER
Using Taoist principles that connect organs, senses and emotions, Daria Fain leads an exploration into the complex layers of our being. The activated internal forces are at play.