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.

RE-EDUCATION OF THE BODY – Klein/Mahler Technique
This ongoing class is a dance/movement technique that works from the premise that the requirements of movement in daily life and dance are basically the same. It provides the underpinnings to support all styles of dance technique and improvisation. The purpose of the work/class is to re-educate one's body with an interweaving of theory and practice on a physical and organic level. The result is clarity and sureness of movement, and a new level of understanding the innate intelligence of the body. A body of work is also a way for dancers to be treated, respected and to be seen as individuals. The main thrust of the work is for dancers to find their own essence, their own identity and integrity and take that into movement. We work at the level of the bone, not the traditional level of the muscles. In order to move most efficiently it is necessary to let go of the muscles that hold us back from moving and fix the body into a set and locked configuration. When the bones are aligned we become connected, powerful and strong. The body becomes efficient and alive. The class is open to all levels, dancers and non-dancers alike.

Alexander Technique��� looks at the way we carry out our intentions. Often we use a process that is habitual, unconscious, and counterproductive. The technique offers a practice of staying open and alert in the moment, observing our familiar tensions and choosing to move without them. Beginning with the assumption that we are perfectly designed for movement and balance, we engage our mind to undo layers of interference, creating opportunity for change.

We will take the time to investigate different states of physical awareness by using a three-fold structure. We will begin with a guided improvisation to observe the body and its natural movements through awareness of breath, weight, tension and release, taking time to notice the body���s qualitative presence moment-by-moment. We will follow by dancing within technical forms to support our range and work as dancers. We will conclude with a phrase that integrates concepts of weight, lightness, initiation and intention. The merging of the unconscious life of movement through observation and improvisation and the conscious attention to physical direction is part of the energizing practice we will explore in each class. This will be the only opportunity to study with Juliette in New York City through 2008

Irene will teach selections of the material choreographed in response to her interaction with professional dancers and dance teachers between 1990 and 2008. These choreographies can be used as a very efficient warm-up for dance, as well as a musculo-skeletal conditioning program, neuro-muscular fine-tuning, and mental preparation for the greater awareness and expansiveness required of us all as creative performing artists. Elements of some of the following choreographies will be taught: Dynamic Trunk Stabilization, Spirals, Turnout Dance, Orbits, Helix, Volutes, Feet Like Hands, Plower-Seed Dance, Extravagant Hand Dance, Horizons, Resonance, Sostenuto, and/or others.

This is a warm-up for being a contemporary dance artist, whatever that means. Real techniques, invented techniques, practicing presence, practicing hope, ��œreleasing,��� sweating, thinking, feeling, moving for no reason and finding out how. Exercises are boring but sometimes important. Phrases are patriarchal but sometimes fun. Smart movers make good art. I am the teacher and I will do what I can.

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.

Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement Class (CM)
Gentle and specific structured movement explorations constructed around a theme to broaden the understanding of basic biomechanics and self use, addressing different functions (such as turning, weight transfer, flexion, extension, etc.) and the way we coordinate and regulate movement. The class includes studies of muscle, joint and postural relationships in connection to our sense of ability and expanding options.

Movement Research at Eden���s Expressway 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.

This class will start on the floor, investigating basic components of movement in relation to the whole self. It will transition to standing in various ways, and new relations to gravity and space. The warm up and phrase work will further explore this relational approach to movement, and how this underlying foundation influences the experience as a dynamic form.

This class will be an investigation in locating presence within choreographic and/or performative forms. Class will begin with imagery and gentle preparation culled from various bodywork modalities to cultivate sensorial awareness. From there we will investigate choreographic structures, improvisations, and performance constructs, exploring ways to engage with the material through physical and imaginative means. We will dance with and for one another in an effort to further our own personal research and practice in how we relate to this form.

Using improvisational and set warm-ups we will focus on the volume and weight inside the body and its relationship to the floor. Exercises that bring awareness to the sternum and pelvic floor encourage the feeling of release in the limbs from those places of support, allowing us to fall and suspend off-center. Using these physical tools inside technical patterns and phrase material, we will work towards a more grounded and direct approach to movement.

We start with a simple straight forward standing warm up using body awareness and alignment. This warm up takes around 45 minutes. The dancing that follows draws from repertory and encourages big, full dancing with attention to detail.

Directed exercises and suggested improvisations give the opportunity to each of the students to observe and experience their own particularity and range of mobility. This will prepare us for a dynamic phrase of material that involves focus on the details, dropping in and out of the floor, and changes of direction and levels. This class is the result of personal investigations and is influenced by many years of study and work with Jeremy Nelson, Barbara Mahler, and more recently BMC��.

Class will give us time to engage in and observe the beautiful, incredible complexities and potentials of our bodyminds. Using improvisation, set movement, and sounding, we���ll explore how our thoughts, perceptions, emotions, breath, and actions shape our experiences. Influences come from performance, whoever���s present in class, and multiple somatic and movement modalities, including yoga, the Alexander Technique���, Body-Mind Centering��, Fitzmaurice Voicework, and BodyTalk.