Archive: Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes, and Open Houses

Body Watani (body-as-homeland) is both an improvisational movement practice and an emerging contemporary dance form. A site where improvisational research guides practitioners into their personal ‘body watani’ through spending time with ancestries, contemplating our complex relations to land / water / home, and activating embodied memories into dancing. Developed by Leila and Noelle Awadallah, two Palestinian American dancers, this contemporary form also finds roots in dances of Arabic / *SWANA (South West Asia North Africa)/ Mediterranean geographies through specific movement techniques, music of the region, and cultural / political content to engage with that deepens our relation to Body Watani’s context.

The first half of the workshops will begin with writing prompts, conversations, and improvisation research. Participants are invited to choose how they physicalize the material (dancing, sitting still, everything in between). In the second half, we will share more about our new work, TERRANEA, through teaching movement materials that incorporate elements of our technique and we will teach repertoire from the upcoming performance, premiering May 5-7 at the Candy Box Festival. Participants are welcome to witness or participate as they see fit.

In Collaboration with TU Dance, Body Watani will host a workshop focused on WATER. Ancestral waters, fluid memories, relations to bodies of water as we ourselves are bodies of water. The material will move through the following: What memories are held and carried by waters? What can we learn from the water? What is it to depart and return via waterways? Grappling with the histories and also ongoing realities of bodies moving across water, the imposition of laws and lines on a fluid space, and the loss amongst waves. We will sink into the many complexities and swim together – through.

These workshops are for all levels, all abilities. We welcome everyone from professional dancers, to anyone who wants to deepen their relationship to the movement inside their particular body.

April 16, 2022 | 11:00am-2:00pm | Cost: $10

Urban Bush Women @ The Shawngrām Institute
Creative Process Class
Wednesday, April 20
6:30-8:00

Free Admission + Ticket Discount to UBW’s Performance at O’Shaughnessy (4/23)

Join members of Urban Bush Women in a Creative Process Class using UBW methodologies, a mix of contemporary dance movement practice, improvisation techniques, phrases from company repertory, and movement creation by participants. Each individual has a unique and powerful contribution to make! We welcome Every Body to come and explore and discover their level of rigor and comfort.

This Creative Process Class is part of UBW’s presence in the Twin Cities, culminating in a (one-night-only!) concert performance at The O’Shaughnessy. GET YOUR TICKETS NOW!

Urban Bush Women
Legacy + Lineage + Liberation
Saturday, April 23
7:30 p.m.
Tickets & Info

$5 Discount for the Dance Community (Select a seat, then enter “DANCE” in the Promo Code field at Checkout. )

Students attending in-person classes must provide proof of Covid-19 vaccination and must wear face masks during class. No exceptions.

Leila Awadallah will be returning to the Threads Dance Nexus in Minneapolis for this year’s first installment of our Home || Body workshop series. Home || Body is a program highlighting teaching artists of color and providing a platform for them to share the movement practices that help them build community and feel at home in their bodies. 

In collaboration with Threads, Leila will host a workshop sharing her Body Watani movement practice and repertory from the LAND section of her upcoming work. Open to movers of all levels and abilities, this session will explore the themes of ancestral lands, land memories, and land relations through Body Watani. 

Body Watani (body-as-homeland) is both an improvisational movement practice and an emerging contemporary dance form developed by Palestinian American dance artists Leila and Noelle Awadallah. This contemporary form also finds roots in dances of Arabic / *SWANA / Mediterranean geographies through specific movement techniques, music of the region, and cultural / political content to engage with that deepens our relation to Body Watani’s context. 

*SWANA : South West Asia North Africa

Thursday, April 21st at Threads Dance Nexus | 5:30 – 8:30PM | $10.00

FOR MORE INFORMATION: Please visit www.threadsdance.org/homebody or email dancenexus@threadsdance.org. 

ACCESSIBILITY: Please email leilaawada018@gmail.com for more info & conversation about accessibility within each workshop space and also the structure of this movement-focussed workshop.

REGISTRATION: $10 with limited financial assistance available. Visit https://bit.ly/HomeBodyLA to reserve your spot today!

LOCATION
Threads Dance Nexus
2213 Snelling Avenue, Ste. #100
Minneapolis, MN 55404

Join us as visiting choreographer Marcus Jarrell Willis teaches a Modern/Contemporary class at TU Dance Center. The class is a blend of familiar Horton-based technique exercises with other modern release forms during the warm-up portion. The remainder of the class is an exploration of the continuous development of Marcus’ own signature language through gestural and contemporary forms of modern dance movement. This class is designed for an advance/professional level.

Dance teacher Tamiko French has developed a program centered around revitalizing creativity of storytelling with the building blocks of dance creation that infuses the visual and literary arts. https://vimeo.com/685038137

The 8-week workshop is designed to be sequential for participants, with each class building on the previous class. From a first class in which participants will use poetry, prose, dramatic writing, spoken word, or other writing as a stimulus to create movement, participants will learn about modern and jazz dance techniques and choreographic practice, collaborate and share results with others, study facilitated improvisation and play in dance, and refine their work for a sharing event for family, friends, and the community.

This program is for adults 55+. Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

Thursdays, 10:00-11:30am CST | In-person only. $45 per workshop.

Session 2: May 26–July 16

There will be a showing on last day of each workshop from 12:30-2:00pm.

Proof of vaccination and masks are required at the door for all participants.

TU Dance will offer tuition and transportation subsidy upon request. Please contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708 to inquire.

Mark your calendars for Ananya Dance Theatre’s upcoming Summer Intensive!

Happening every day Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 24, 10:00 am-1:00 pm CST. Classes will be available to attend both online and in-studio.

Whether this is your first experience with Yorchhā, or you have been practicing for multiple summers, we will meet you where you are to steer you towards individual excellence.

Yorchhā is Ananya Dance Theatre’s trade-marked contemporary technique that intersects principles of vinyasa yoga, classical Indian dance form Odishi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha), and martial art form Chhau (also from Odisha).

More details coming soon!

Discover dance with a week-long camp for young artists! Not sure if your dancer has a style they like best, or looking for a way to try out something new? We’ll explore a variety of dance styles and creative movements in this one-week camp. There will be an informal showing on the last day. All abilities and levels of experience are welcome. In-person only at the Zenon Dance School studios.

July 18 – 22, 2022
Session 1: Ages 4-6 with Philip Hommes, 9:00am-12:00pm
Session 2: Ages 7-10 with Hannah Pierce, 12:30pm-3:30pm

Tuition: $195
Need-based scholarships are available for full or partial tuition.

Register online today!
Registration closes one week before each camp begins.

Nic Lincoln teaches a limited workshop series in Intermediate Ballet & Strength Training this spring at Zenon Dance School!

This Intermediate Ballet & Strength class practices healthy alignment and postures, supported by flexibility, strength training, and self-confidence. Concepts from yoga introduce the use of breath as one’s guide. Nic offers personalized guidance to help each dancer discover their own visual “feel” of dance.

Wednesdays, 11:15am – 12:45pm | March 30 – April 20

Register today! | In Person Only

Join us at The ARENA for a special offering partnered with Northrop in the Martha Graham Technique with Denise Vale accompanied by percussionist Tarek Abdelqader.

Friday, April 1
10:00-11:30am
In place of Mathew Janczewski’s Contemporary Flow class

$17 Regular Class Pricing
FREE to U of MN students and staff
Pre-register at https://www.arena-dances.org/the-arena.

This class is intended for intermediate/advanced students.

Graham Technique builds strength, balance, stamina, focus, extended kinetic vocabulary, and provides an introduction to fundamental Graham phrases and repertory.

ARENA DANCES follows the CDC guidelines. Masks will be required to participate in this class and a COVID waiver to sign upon registration or arrival.

Denise Vale danced with the Company for ten years dancing many of the major roles of the Graham repertory.  She is well known for her performance as Woman in White in Diversion of Angels, and widely acclaimed as the first Leader in the reconstruction of Steps in the Street. She starred in Night Chant, a ballet created for her by Martha Graham, and in the Graham solos Lamentation, Frontier, Satyric Festival Song, and Serenata Morisca. As Senior Artistic Associate, Ms. Vale serves primarily as the rehearsal director for the Martha Graham Company, is on the faculty of the Graham School, and travels throughout the world teaching master classes in the Graham Technique for dancers of all ages and abilities. Ms Vale also restages the Graham ballets for major dance companies such as Ballet de Lorraine, Ballet Flanders, Semperoper in Dresden, Germany and the Grand Theater Opera in Lodz, Poland.