Summer Sizzle Dance Festival from the Student Perspective
Work Study Volunteer Anu Reddy attended a variety of classes for research in the writing of this article during The Dance Complex’s 2018 Summer Sizzle Dance Festival.
Summer Sizzle is a great time to try new classes at the Dance Complex. From master classes to introductory workshops, Summer Sizzle brings together a group of expert teachers ready to share their knowledge and practice. In case you didn’t get a chance to try any of these classes, here is a recap of three great summer sizzle workshops.
Laura Sanchez’s Dance to Express combines movements of dance with expressive elements of free form writing. Sanchez focuses on the movements of each individual part of the body: feet, legs, hands, hips to help her students understand the structure and techniques. Between each movement, students have time to conceptualize their knowledge through free writing or drawing. Together, all of these components come together to lay the foundations of flamenco. On a backdrop of classical music, hiphop, and reggaeton, Sanchez paints the history of flamenco from its nomadic roots to the expressive dance it is today. Sanchez teaches flamenco at the dance complex and hopes to offer more introductory workshops throughout the year.
Human | Dancer is a culmination of a grant Alex Davis received to explore different dance elements from the city of Boston. This workshop brings together his learnings along with his own experience in modern dance. Davis brings in teachings from Sara Juli, Julia Cameron and Morning Pages, Michelle Boule, Angie Hauser and Chris Aiken, Shura Baryshnikov, and Gaga Technique. Davis also combines elements of mindfulness, meditation, and muscle and core strength to build on dance techniques. Between dance sections, Davis encourages students to journal their emotions to tap into the meaning behind each movement. Through a series of short techniques, freeform, and cross-the-floor segments, this workshop explores the feelings behind dance.
Along with short specialty workshops, Summer Sizzle is a chance for teachers to host longer series. The Somatic Dance Lab is a weeklong series by Bill Evans that studies movements and styles based on Bartenieff technique. The first class discusses the six base corrective movements developed by Irmgard Bartenieff. These movements, designed with attention to neonatal development, focus on basic movements of rocking, crawling and turning. Each movement builds on the preceding one by incorporating a newly discovered skill; from rocking to crawling, from body half movements to cross body movements. Evans demonstrates how these fundamental patterns come together to allow for total body connectivity. Evans explores each movement individually and ends with a culminating routine that brings all of the movements together, changing them from exercises to a graceful dance. Bartenieff techniques are also used as aids to learn, remember and execute movement and as therapeutic practice for cognitive function and coordination. Evans also runs a more advanced workshop parallel to the Somatic Lab to focus on the structure and technique rather than basic theory and practice. This workshop was a new take on an old technique and great way to learn about the fundamentals of modern dance.
While some these classes are available only during Summer Sizzle, many teachers run workshops or other classes throughout the year. It’s easy to get stuck in one type of the dance but there are always new techniques to learn and new styles to try. Whether you made it to a Summer Sizzle class or not, check out a new class or a new teacher at the Dance Complex this fall!
By Anu Reddy
