Velocity Dance Center

TARYN MCGOVERN was born in the New Hampshire forest and raised on oxygen and imagination. In 2013 she completed a joint degree in modern dance from Barnard College and the Danish National School for the Performing Arts. After dancing, teaching, and exploring her way through small towns and big cities in Europe and the U.S., she is now delighted to call the Pacific Northwest home. In her work as an outdoor educator, she has found herself teaching three-year-olds to rock climb, splinting ankles in the backcountry, and describing constellations. As a dance artist, she strives to integrate her love of ecology and the natural world into her creative work. Taryn dreams of being the first artist-in-residence in space.

2017

SERIES III: LET YOUR BODY SPEAK with Erica Badgeley

WEDS NOV 29-DEC 20, 2017 / 6PM-7:45PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
$40 (4 weeks) Full Series // Drop-in $15/$12 MVP

Sometimes the involuntary stretches, squeezes, shakes, and pulls of the body can tell us what we didn’t know we were thinking or feeling. They can lead us to places we don’t expect. “Let your body speak” is an unraveling, a revealing of the subconscious thoughts, feelings, and desires stored inside our bodies. We will dive deep into our inner selves, on a treasure hunt for possibility, and the permission to do the unexpected. We will address our engrained movement habits, how they both help and hinder us in our search for true expression. How can we keep pushing to define and diversify tools for our subconscious to wield in satisfying, transformative improvisations? Let’s find out.

Erica Badgeley has trained, performed, and presented work in Europe, the US, and Canada. She has a diverse background: from ballet, gymnastics, and theater, to gaga, breakdance, flying low, and performed improvisation. She was a member of the SEAD Bodhi Project Salzburg, 2014, and worked in Europe from 2014-2016, touring internationally. She has created and performed multiple solos since 2012, more recently including text and becoming increasingly improvised.

Erica has a desire to integrate her athletic physical knowledge with the expanded conceptual possibilities she’s picked up at home and abroad. She hopes to share this exploration in her hometown of Seattle, which doubles as her artistic birthplace. Seattle performance and creation credits include: Elia Mrak (SCUBA Tour), Kate Wallich | The YC, Danielle Agami / Ate9, Coleman Pester ///TMS, Jeffrey Fracé, Tonya Lockyer, NEXTFestNW, 12MM, BOOST, ACT Theater and PNB. International: Idan Sharabi, Etienne Guilloteau, Julia Swcharzbach, Moya Michael, Boston Antoncic, Matija Ferlin, Lisa Hinterreithner, Szene Salzburg, Volksroom Brussels, and Danscentrum Jette. Erica is an alumna of the University of Washington, graduating with a BA in Dance 2011 Cum Laude. She has been a Certified GYROTONIC® Trainer since 2010, and is a recent student of various Martial Arts. / honeybadgeley.tumblr.com + vimeo.com/ericabadgeley

SERIES II: EXPLORATIVE WORLD-BUILDING with TABLE FLIP

WEDS OCT 18 – NOV 15 / 6PM-7:45PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
$60 Full Series (6 weeks) // Drop-in $15/$12 MVP
REGISTER >>

Join Table Flip, as we take you through a series of generative techniques. You will learn how to take the tiniest seed of an idea and how to nurture it into a full-scale show. You will learn how to discover and explore what is at the heart of an idea. While we may incorporate some text and vocal soundscape, this is a class about physicalizing story and how movement can best serve the stories we tell. All levels of movers, performers, and humans welcomed! Each week, we will enter into a unique world, collaborate on building the physical reality inside of the world, and discover what compelling story abounds within!

TABLE FLIP (Alyza DelPan-Monley, Eddie DeHais, and Ryan Higgins) is here to turn movement creation on its head! We are physical theater artists, fighters, dancers, and clowns. We believe in personal and artistic growth through cultivating a relationship with all forms of movement. We believe that storytelling lives in the body, and we seek to enrich others’ ability to discover and articulate by creating applicable tools and methods to physicalize those stories.

SERIES I: LIGHTS! SOUND! VIDEO! Plugging into the multidiscipline with ILVS STRAUSS

WEDS SEPT 6-OCT 11 / 6-7:45PM 

In this workshop series, we’ll cover the basics of lighting and sound design, programming in QLAB, the difference between a XLR, RCA, VGA and DMX cable, how to talk basic tech to a tech person, how to write a tech rider, navigating site specific and other non-conventional venues, and other related topics. We will also explore the creative process and how it is influenced by the addition of tech (lights/sound/video). Participants will be able to experiment and field test with different lighting fixtures (incandescents, LED’s, practicals, etc.), video projectors, and sound systems to see how they shape, mold and develop preexisting or improvised work.

The first half of each workshop will cover a specific topic, with room to explore or review other topics. The second half will involve exercises that combine practical tech knowledge with artistic ideas in a concrete yet playful way. Come, step into the light. Bring all your questions, ideas, inspirations. Open to performers and artists of all kinds, tech people of all backgrounds. 

ILVS STRAUSS is an analytical chemist turned multi-disciplinary performance artist living and loving in Seattle. Her art cuts a wide swath across disciplines, ranging from Dance Narrative performance to anamorphic outdoor sculptures, illustrated storytelling (aka Slide Shows) to haiku poetry. She also leads workshops on writing, movement, performance and the ever amusing combination of all three. Her solo piece, Manifesto was listed in Dance Magazine’s BEST of 2014 list (exclamation point). She’s presently writing a queer sci fi play to be premiered in April. More information, pertinent and otherwise, can be found at ilvsstrauss.com.

HEATHER KRAVAS: LABOR, STRUCTURE, DESIRE

WEDS MAY 31 – JUNE 28 (5-week Series) / 6-7:45PM
$50 (Full Series) / $15 Drop-in / $12 MVP

SPRING 2017 SERIES:
Series 1: JAN 18 – FEB 22: Amy O’Neal
Series 2: MAR 1 – APR 5: Victoria Jacobs
Series 3: APR 12 – MAY 17: Zoe Scofield
Series 4: MAY 31 – JUNE 28 (5-week Series): Heather Kravas

DRAWING BY ZOE SCOFIELD

ZOE SCOFIELD
WEDS APR 12 – MAY 17 / 6-7:45PM
REGISTER $60 (Full Series) / $15 Drop-in / $12 MVP

PHOTO TIM SUMMERS

VICTORIA JACOBS: BEGIN HERE
WEDS MAR 1 – APR 5 / 6-7:45PM
REGISTER $60 (Full Series) / $15 Drop-in / $12 MVP

PHOTO NATE WATTERS

AMY O’NEAL: RHYTHM IS A DANCER
WEDS JAN 18 – FEB 22 / 6-7:45PM
$60 (Full Series) / $15 Drop-in / $12 MVP

What is your personal relationship to rhythm?  Do you desire a deeper connection to it? Do you want to get better at picking up choreography in class, get out of a freestyle/improvisation rut, be a better dancer at the club, bring something new to the cypher, or simply improve your physical sense of musicality?  Each week is a new playlist diverse in style and rhythmic patterns. The class begins with a structured warm up to get the body ready to respond to guided improvisation that will challenge how you listen to, interpret, and physically communicate music. You will witness many interpretations of the same concept through dancing with and for each other. This class is open to all styles of dancer and all levels of experience. Come with an open mind and a desire to grow and get down.

AMY O’NEAL is a versatile dancer, performer, choreographer, and dance educator with equally participating in Street and Club dance culture and Contemporary dance and performance.  A sought after dancer and educator for seventeen years, she teaches and performs nationally and internationally and choreographs for stage, commercials, rock shows, galleries, dance films and music videos. For fifteen years, she taught Contemporary Dance and Street Dance Styles at Velocity Dance Center and choreography/improvisation for Seattle Theater Group’s Dance This program. She co-teaches and co- hosts House classes and open sessions with her friend and colleague, Dani Tirrell, at The Beacon: Massive Monkees Studio. She spent last Fall teaching her class, Rhythm is a Dancer in Los Angeles at Ryan Heffington’s studio, The Sweat Spot. This Spring, she is finishing a tour of her show Opposing Forces and facilitating a Street and Club Dance course at the University of Washington. For more info, go to amyoneal.com.

2016

Very movement research oriented, it will remain in its essence physical, yet will allow dancers to express their individuality and voices through stories, dreams, and myths. Together we’ll work on guided solo, duo, trio, and group propositions, while discovering exciting things we barely knew existed. Some dancers might be considered for a production in 2017. Previous dance training is required. Please bring your favorite notebook, pen, and comfortable dance clothes.

PETRA ZANKI is Seattle based dance and performance maker that among others studied movement with renown choreographers and artists such as Emio Greco, Jonathan Burrows, Patricia Bardi, Goat Island, Deufert&Plischke, and Gob Squad. In 2010 Petra was awarded as best Croatian choreographer at XI. Platform of Young Choreographers. In 2012 she received a two-year choreography scholarship SPAZIO from The ICK- Emio Greco and Croatian Institute for Movement and Dance. Her dance and theatre works were presented on festivals and venues across Europe, in the US, and Australia. In the US she collaborated with Velocity, On The Boards, and PS122.

OCT 5 – NOV 9
GENDER TENDER : between you and me

Each class will include a warm up, partnering and solo work as well as ensemble work. Influences include Fluxus, drag, method acting, post-modern and jazz dance techniques, contact improvisation and more. We will investigate using improvised and devised material.

This class is for all levels and offers a challenging and supportive environment for all that are interested. Dress comfortably, you might want a notebook, come ready to move and have fun!

SYNIVA WHITNEY (choreographer, lead performer, collaborator) and WILL COURTNEY (lead performer, collaborator) are the duo behind Gender Tender, a performance project that centers transgender, non-binary and multiracial points of view in a process that combines dance and acting techniques, cinematic devices and visual art practices. They’ve shown work in duet and ensemble mode in Seattle at Velocity Dance Center, On the Boards, the Seattle International Dance Festival, Yellow Fish Epic Durational Performance Festival, Gay City Arts, Studio Current and more and have performed in Minneapolis produced by 20% Theatre Co. Twin Cities, 9×22 Dance Lab, Patrick’s Cabaret and Pleasure Rebel, and at Future Interstates curated by HIJACK. They have worked as performers and collaborators with Aniccha Arts (MPLS) and Vanessa DeWolf (SEA) and have had their short films screened nationally as a part of Malic Amalya’s project Infrared: New Visions from the Queer Underground. They have also experimented with co-writing and most recently were invited by the Walker Art Center to respond to the 2016 Out There performance art festival . Syniva holds an MFA in studio art from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and has exhibited their visual art nationally. Syniva has also performed with Maureen Whiting Dance Co, kt shores and Paris Hurley (all SEA) and has studied performance and dance with BeBe Miller, Kris Wheeler, Vanessa DeWolf and Stephanie Skura. Will and Syniva met at Shakespeare camp as teenagers and have been a collaborative in love and work for over a decade. See them take on the reSET challenge at Washington Ensemble Theatre October 13-14 2016.

SEPT 7 – SEPT 28
LOUIS GERVAIS: Transform Your Life Stories Into Dances

MAY 11 – JUNE 15
ALICE GOSTI: Making Work // Composition Class for All Levels

A unique non-modality based class exploring techniques to unlock creative potential and flow. This Praxis series focuses on increasing our facility as observers and our fluency as performers, creators, and humans. Dress comfortably, bring a notebook, and come ready to move, be still, and work in the spaces between. Live music by Angelina Baldoz.

KT SHORES is a choreographer, sculptor, writer, director, dancer, yoga teacher, martial artist, and mom based in Seattle, WA. She taught Samadhi yoga for a decade, is the Director of Studio Current, and is the Co-Artistic Director of the creative duo Mother Tongue with Angelina Baldoz

FEB 17 – MAR 23
VICTORIA JACOBS: to be a mirror for your whole body

What do you walk into a room with? How does your structure shape your solos, duets, injuries and fluidity? Your unique history, filters and patterns create your dancing body and determine your flow. Your anatomy mirrors the architecture of your psyche.

This class will offer simple tools to release naturally held tension throughout the body. Open Source Forms is a technique developed by Stephanie Skura that uses visualization, simple movement exercises, safe partnering, vocalization, as well as writing and/or drawing as ways to access and develop an individual’s inner creative potential. The work encourages a sense of wonder and play. This course is open to anyone interested in freedom of movement and creative expression. This material can benefit creative professionals working in any medium. No prior movement experience necessary. Bring a notebook and a writing implement.

NIKOLAI LESNIKOV balances a professional life as an attorney with being a student of contemporary movement practices who seeks to embody an applied philosophy of creative life. He has trained in a variety of movement disciplines mostly at classes and workshops facilitated by Velocity during the past decade and through private instruction. He is a devout Dance Churchgoer. In recent years, he has focused on the study of Open Source Forms with Stephanie Skura and underwent a pre(liminary) teacher training in June, 2015. Nikolai has performed in many venues in and around Seattle most recently with Amy Johnson’s AJnC Dance and Emily Johnson / Catalyst. He is currently working with Jessica Jobaris and General Magic. In addition to performing, he maintains a creative practice in digital photography, experimental music, and drawing.

2015

NOV 18 – DEC 16
Alia Swersky: Sensation into Play into Design

Moving from sensation we will follow our instincts and be guided by what is already happening in our bodies.  We will tap into what is primal to access multiple layers of our innate creative wisdom.  In essence, engaging our inner world to release the subconscious into physicality, play and compositional design.  Through a dynamic physical collaboration of the senses, along with attention to image, space and touch, we will gently interweave internal and external awareness to create solos, duets, and ensemble dancing.

Alia Swersky is a movement artist, performer and teacher, engaged deeply in the vital act of dance improvisation. She graduated from Cornish College of the Arts in 1998 with a BFA in dance and now teaches as part of the creative process curriculum at Cornish as an adjunct faculty member since 2005. Swersky has taught at Velocity’s Strictly Seattle Festival and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI). She was a long time Co-artistic director of Dance Art Group (DAG), a non-profit organization that promotes the practice and appreciation of dance and somatic education in the Seattle area, including the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation. Alia has taught yoga continuously for over 10 years and invites this influence into her dance work and teaching. Other influences include contact improvisation, release/somatic techniques, Authentic Movement, Tuning Scores, Aikido, Buddhist meditation, and many pivotal dance partners and teachers. Alia danced and toured nationally and internationally as a member of the LeGendre Performance Group. She has also collaborated and performed in the works of many Seattle artists including The Maureen Whiting Company, Khambatta Dance Company, Jurg Koch, KT Niehoff of Lingo Dance, and Salt Horse. Alia has been actively performing, and creating improvisational and choreographic works in Seattle since 1998.

OCT 14 – NOV 11
ilvs strauss: um, those aren’t my eyes: perception and identity in art and performance

Is what i’m looking at actually happening? Is what i’m putting down being picked up? Does it even matter?

This series will explore the ideas of intention and perception in art with an emphasis on personal narrative and honest performance ie You Doing You On Stage In Front Of People (YDYOSIFOP). Through exercises in writing and movement and open dialog, we will examine the stories we create, the experience of those stories, and the peculiar now and then gap that occurs between the two. Also up for discussion: the interplay between Text, SubText and SuperText. Open and accessible to artists of all disciplines, experience levels and identities.

ilvs strauss is an analytical chemist turned multi-disciplinary performance artist and theater tech living and making work in Seattle. Her art ranges from haiku poetry, to anamorphic outdoor sculptures, illustrated storytelling (aka Slide Shows), to narrated dance performance. As Technical Director / Lighting Designer she has worked for Pat Graney, KT Neihoff, Salt Horse, and Cherdonna, and is currently the TD at Velocity Dance Center. Her solo piece, Manifesto (now an evening length show), was listed in Dance Magazine’s BEST of 2014 list. More information, pertinent and otherwise, can be found at ilvsstrauss.com

SEPT 9 – OCT 7
Noelle Chun: Just a dance, but not just improv

This series follows my improvisational and choreographic practice around acknowledging our complex bodies as we zoom in on our attention to language, sensation, and form. We interrogate improvisational performance sans scores and known agendas, but not without rigor and specificity. We’ll work from scratch to create a space where we physicalize an abundance of visual, linguistic, and kinetic ideas and consider how we come to organize those ideas into dance(s), individually and collectively.

Noelle Chun is a movement artist specializing in improvisational forms and radical openness. Her individual and collaborative work has been presented through notable venues including: Capitol Theater (OH), Green Street Studios (MA), Southern Theater (MN), and Velocity Dance Center (WA). She has received fellowships and project support from the Ohio Arts Council and Greater Columbus Arts Council during her tenure in the Midwest. While there, she also supported Ohio State University and Ohio Wesleyan University as dance faculty. Recently in Seattle, she has created several dances for local companies and performed in Alice Gosti’s How to become a partisan. Chun holds an MFA in dance from Ohio State University and a BA in anthropology and theater arts from Beloit College.

MAY 27 – JULY 1
Victoria Jacobs: MOUTHFUL OF FEATHERS

Spit it out. SPIT IT OUT.  You are invited to 6 weeks of moving your body, losing your lips, and accessing image and dream logic to craft exquisitely weird shared moments. Write, mumble, spiral, scrawl, tell stories, attempt impossible dances. We will combine expansive movement practices with sensation-based improvisation and talking while moving.  We will use rock-solid timed scores to go hard and deep into honesty and possibility. We will gather gold nuggets to bring back to the surface. Bring all of you. Move as all of you.

This 6 week series culminates with a showing on July 1 in Velocity’s Founders Studio.

Victoria Jacobs is a teacher, mover and writer with insatiable curiosity and over 10 years teaching experience. Coming from the lineage of Aileen Passloff, Sheri Cohen, Barbara Dilley and Anna Halprin, she researches flexible functional structure and incites students to honest conversation with their own bodies. She holds a BFA in Dance and Writing from Bard College, NY and is a certified Gyrotonic trainer. Her work has been presented throughout Seattle as well as in Vancouver BC, New York, Martha’s Vineyard and Tel Aviv. Her most recent work was seen in Some Nights, a quartet of new postdisciplinary solos developed at Studio Current’s Project Winter and presented throughout a house.

APR 29 – MAY 20
Molly Sides: TANKED

Do you ever feel the need to lose your shit!? Let loose, let go, and surprise the hell out of yourself! In Tanked we will explore the energetic sensations of our bodies, the images in our minds, and vibrations of our bones through both technical and improvisational movement. Accompanied by live and recorded music we will explore playful, high energy and driven scores incorporating our voice.  Get In. Get Out. Get Tanked. This class is open to all levels interested in adventurous play and having fun!

Molly Sides is a Seattle based Sound, Movement and Film Artist whose curiosity and attraction to movement has lead to both wild and tame adventures in performance, commercials and film. Sides moved from Ketchum, Idaho to attend Cornish College of the Arts and graduated with a BFA in Dance in 2010. Since then she has had the pleasure to dance with such companies as SaltHorse (Seattle), tEEth (Portland), Lingo (Seattle) and The New Animals (Seattle). Sides has choreographed and presented her own work at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Cornish College of the Arts, The Pink Door, Vermillion, Yellow Fish Festival and various settings throughout the West Coast. She has also choreographed for notable personalities such as AWOLNATION, Android Amaker, Katie Kate, and the production company World Famous. She is constantly looking for new ways to bring dance to an assortment of audiences and thus created Trigger. New Dance Happenings a quarterly performance event held in unexpected venues throughout Seattle. In addition to dance, Sides fronts local rock ‘n roll quartet THUNDERPUSSY.  www.mollysides.com  www.thunderpussyusa.com

APR 1 – 22
Babette DeLafayette + John Marc Powell: Activated Environments

Upcoming Velocity Made In Seattle artists Babette DeLafayette and John Marc Powell have partnered to form a creative entity that encompasses their omni-disciplinary visions. Through their partnership they developed a creative process called Activated Environments. In this workshop series DeLafayette will work alongside individuals to build an activated environment within the body, in collaboration and contact with other dancers, and through connecting with the original visual/sonic surroundings created by Powell. The series will build each week and culminate in a final informal showing. This workshop is open to dancers looking to strengthen or add aspects of visual/performance art into their creative practice and daily life.

Babette DeLafayette is a choreographer, creative entrepreneur, omni-disciplinary artist, and founder / co-executive director of The Pendleton House. Babette began her training at the acclaimed Baltimore School for the Arts and Nutmeg Conservatory for Ballet. She trained with Alonzo King Lines Ballet/BFA program for a year before graduating with a BFA from Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle. Her work has been presented in Northwest New Works Festival, Next Fest Northwest, Next Dance Cinema, 12 Minutes Max, Velocity Fall Kick-Off, Boost Dance Festival, Trigger. New Dance Happenings, Akimbo Site – Specific Festival (Baltimore), High Zero Music Festival (Baltimore) and Decibel Music Festival. She has presented at LxWxH Gallery, The Steel Gallery at Gage, 12th Avenue Arts, and Hedreen Gallery as part of Yellowfish Durational Performance Festival.

John Marc Powell is a creative entrepreneur, omni-disciplinary artist, painter, and founding member / Co-executive director of The Pendleton House. Powell began his artistic training studying Fine Art at the South Carolina Governor’s School for the Arts and Humanities. In South Carolina he developed his own fine art practice with an emphasis in oil painting while successfully starting and running an industrial pallet recycling company. In Seattle he graduated from Cornish College for the Arts with an emphasis in emerging art practices + technologies and new media. His work has been shown at On The Boards, Velocity, Cornish Gallery, 12th Avenue Arts, LoveCityLove, Hedreen Gallery, Steel Gallery at Gage, LxWxH Gallery, and Benaroya Hall.

MAR 4 – 25
ilvs strauss: Lying Face Down Forever: Crude Gestures and the Annihilation of Storytelling

In this series we’ll take part in Word and Movement Practices influenced by my studies and experience in science, shamanism, technical theater, and art. Starting with the first letter of the alphabet, H, we’ll convert Particles into Put Together Stories and extract Authentic Physical Movement from Elemental Impulse. From there, an exploration of the dialogue between words and physical movement to create new intersections of depth and meaning will ensue. The workshop is open to all ages and all levels of experience. Bring a journal and writing implement.

ilvs strauss is an analytical chemist turned multi-disciplinary performance artist and theater tech living and making work in Seattle. Her art ranges from haiku poetry, to anamorphic outdoor sculptures, illustrated storytelling (aka Slide Shows), to narrated dance performance. As Technical Director / Lighting Designer she has worked for Pat Graney, KT Neihoff, Salt Horse, and Cherdonna, and is currently the TD at Velocity Dance Center. These days, she is working on an evening length of her solo piece, Manifesto, which was listed in Dance Magazine’s BEST of 2014 list. More information, pertinent and otherwise, can be found at ilvsstrauss.com.

FEB 4 – 25
Cathy Madden + Crispin Spaeth: An Introduction to the Alexander Technique for Dance

The Alexander Technique (AT) is a tool that supports self-awareness and constructive choice in thought, action, and communication. In Cathy’s words, “The Alexander Technique is constructive, conscious kindness to ourselves, cooperation with our design and supporting our desires and dreams.”  Performing artists have used AT for over a century to improve the quality and sustainability of their performance lives. This class focuses on the specific activities and unique requirements of dance artists, laying out practical and repeatable processes to more fully realize creation and expression.

Cathy Madden is an internationally respected teacher of the Alexander Technique. Based in Seattle, she is Principal Lecturer at the University of Washington Professional Actor Training Program, Director of the Alexander Technique Training and Performance Studio in Seattle, and Associate Director/Research Director for BodyChance in Japan. She is also the author of Onstage Synergy: Integrative Alexander Technique Practice for Performing Artists due out in December 2014. Crispin Spaeth is a choreographer, producer, and long-time student of the Alexander Technique. She is thrilled to bring this work to the Seattle dance community.

JAN 7 – 28
Jan Trumbauer: Embodied Writing: Movement Linguistics

This workshop assumes that your writing and dancing tendencies are manifestations of your physicality. We will tone and stretch our writing by pushing at the textures and tempos of our physicalities, and we will enliven our kinesthetic imaginations by dancing the terrain of highly-specific language. Open to all levels of comfort with movement and writing.

2014

DEC 3 – 17
Jonathan Lilly: Dance Meets Martial Arts: Contact Improvisation and Aikido

The genesis of Contact Improvisation was originally inspired by aikido, a martial art based on the idea of blending energy. While Contact Improvisation has evolved greatly since its creation, there is still much commonality between these two very differnt arts, and much to be learned at their intersection. This class will apply skills, forms, and awaremenss practices derived from aikido to Contact Improvisation. Topics include forward and backward rolls, skeletal alignment as base, two-person rolls, and lifts derived from modified aikido techniques. The class is suitable for all elvels; no previous experience in contact improvisation or aikido is required.

Jonathan Lilly began practicing aikido in 1991, and has fifteen years’ experience teaching aikido to adults and children. He holds a fourth degree black best as well as on instructor certification from the United States Aikido Federation. His movement practice has been heavily influenced by the Feldenkrais method, and more recently, by conact improvisation and improvisational dance.

OCT 15 – NOV 19
Tamin Totzke: Contact Improvisation: Refreshing the Basics

Contact improvisation (CI) is a dance form exploring the spontaneity of improvisation through shared physical contact with another person. In this series we will build foundational CI skills, such as rolling, surfing, giving and receiving weight, off-center dancing, lifting and releasing into the joy of disorientation. Skeletal alignment and efficiency will be emphasized to find strength through structure instead of force.  Playing between image-based and athletic sensibilities, we train our attention to stay curiously responsive. Each class will build upon the last to embody rich new potential while cultivating the confidence to trust in our own dancing. We will tune to the forces of gravity and momentum- releasing tension in our minds and bodies to find ease and vitality. Come find readiness, pliability, humor, connection and flight.

Tamin Totzke is a dance educator, improviser and choreographer with an MFA from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign. She has toured throughout the US teaching and performing at universities, theaters, and festivals including West Coast Contact Festival, both SEEDS and Ground Research at Earthdance and the Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation. She has taught internationally in Taiwan, Cambodia and Mongolia working with companies such as Cloud Gate Dance Theater, Taipei Dance Forum, Epic Arts and Nature Dance. Tamin most recently finished a film project that toured through Mongolia, Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan exploring dance improvisation as a vehicle for the storytelling of sacred places.

OCT 1 + 8
Melanie Noel: SOURCE TRANSLATION

What have you encountered lately that your body wants to translate?  What is your translation’s unique syntax?  In her book of poems translating the rubbings of beetle trails under bark – _Translations of the Bark Beetle_ – Jody Gladding writes “there are only two verb tenses: the cyclical and the radiant.”  In this two class workshop you’ll encounter the distance and mystery of the thing you want to translate and find a language for its translation into dance.  This will involve thinking about writing, language, and score, and how they both alienate and engage the body.

Melanie Noel grew up in Oregon and lives in Seattle, Washington. She’s the author of The Monarchs (Stockport Flats, 2013) and her poems have appeared inWeekday, LVNG, La Norda Especialo and THE ARCADIA PROJECT. She’s also written poems for short films and installations, and co-curated APOSTROPHE, a dance, music, and poetry series, with musician Gust Burns and dancers Michèle Steinwald and Beth Graczyk, and IMPALA, a reading series that took place in her grandmother’s car. She sometimes teaches experiential workshops meant to invoke synesthesia.

MAY 14 – JUNE 18
Sara Shelton Mann Project

Legendary choreographer, improvisor and activist Sara Shelton Mann launches this IMP Series, guiding attendees into her uniquely developed material. Tune kinesthetic perception and unveil “the Morse code of our collective body.” From many years of research, Sara has created a training that integrates the physical and energetic body. We will dance solo, in partnership, and with creative puzzles from this platform.
Training includes Chi Cultivation as a way to both detox and invigorate the whole being. We address a segment of the body each day and through function and research. This may include writing and image creation.
We work the imagination muscles. We play and invite new possibilities each day. We dance.

Sara Shelton Mann will lead the first two classes in this series. Beth Graczyk, Alice Gosti and Alia Swersky will continue the trajectory of the work by synthesizing Sara’s workshop material with the work they will be delving into while in residence with Sara at Velocity. Graczyk, Gosti + Swersky bring their own long standing research in dance, improvisation, healing and spirituality.

Sara Shelton Mann is an already legendary dance artist whose choreography and teaching has played a significant role in shaping contemporary dance performance aesthetics and choreographic process. Her protégés (Curtis, Epiphano, Hennessy, Hermesdorf, de Hoyos, Erdman, among many others…) tour internationally. Herself a protégé of Alwin Nikolais and Murray Lewis in NYC in the 60s, Sara was also deeply influenced by Contact Improvisation. From 1979-96 Sara directed Contraband, a ground breaking troupe of artists working at the leading edges of contemporary dance, performance, ritual, and music. She has received 5 Isadora Duncan Awards and was a Guggenheim Fellow in Choreography in 2000. Sara collaborated and toured internationally with Guillermo Gomez-Pena 96-99 and has created commissioned work across the US, in Europe and Russia as well as at UC Davis and other universities. Sara’s work has been supported by Djerassi Artist in Residence Programs, ODC commissions, NEA, NEFA, SFAC, SFF, Zellerbach Family and Gerbode Foundations.

APRIL 2 – MAY 7
Sheri Cohen: Seeing, Dancing & Your Kinesthetic Imagination

2013