Laban & Bartenieff for Social Justice

December 21, 3 PM EST

We are living in an age of dramatic reckoning. Hierarchies, entrenchments, and patterns of belief that shaped us are unraveling and dismantling and we are slowly defining our values and contexts in ways that invite all humans to participate. But seeing the road can be difficult, and seeing our own biases and limited beliefs even harder. This one-hour FREE workshop uses Laban and Bartenieff as tools to zoom out and in on cultural contexts, and offers some strategies for recuperation and self-care for activists who are depleted by the profound, but exhausting, work of activism.

Laban & Bartenieff for Dancers & Choreographers

TBA, 3PM EST

This FREE one-hour classintroduces Laban and Bartenieff to dancers and choreographers in order to develop greater sensitivity and awareness of the body for both functional and expressive movement. We are working on the intersectionality of moving and making: to recognize the structure and instinct inherent to both dancing and choreographing. This class focuses on understanding both the subtleties of finding inspiration, and the craft of molding material towards an aesthetic end by using a few of the tools in the profound system of Laban and Bartenieff. We will practice breaking choreographic and movement patterns, using structured chance as a tool, and letting our inner critic take a break without losing attention to analysis, structure, or conscious creation.

Laban & Bartenieff for Actors and Directors

TBA, 3 PM EST

This FREE one-hour class gives actors and directors a taste of how to use Laban’s Effort Theory to create vivid, clear, three-dimensional characters. Using Effort in speaking and moving is a portal to specificity, and a way to break the habits of the performer, at the service of the character. These ideas can also be used in larger, compositional choices, andto help design the flow and tone of a whole work. It is an extremely activated way to view and devise part of, or whole, performance. This Introductory class will provide students with a chance to analyze, speak, and move inside the various possible choices for expression, and offer them actionable new information that can be used to create a character, challenge their habits, and devise in a deeply specific, clear, and objective way. This is a participatory workshop, so please come prepared to both speak and move.

Laban & Bartenieff for Pedagogy

TBA, 3 PM EST

This one hour FREE Introduction to Laban and Bartenieff for Pedagogy aims to help you find yourself as a teacher and to create structures that allow your students to access the material in the most efficient and joyful way. We will use Laban’s coherent system to ask questions about aligning your vision with your class structure, cueing with clarity and purpose, attending to a variety of learning styles, finding rhythm and pacing, non-verbal communication, developing balance between Stability/Mobility, Exertion/Recuperation, Inner/Outer, and Function/Expression.

Alexandra choreographed “Sense and Sensibility” (Sheen Center, Judson Gym, Folger Shakespeare Library, American Repertory Theater, Portland Center Stage), (Helen Hayes Award, Lortel Nomination, IRNE Best Choreography), the Off Broadway musical, “The Mad Ones” (59E59), Bedlam’s “Peter Pan” (Duke Theater), “Two Gentlemen of Verona” (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival), “As You Like It” (Hudson Valley Shakespeare Festival, Folger Shakespeare Library), “How to transcend a happy marriage” by Sarah Ruhl (Lincoln Center Theater), “Pride and Prejudice (Dorset Theater Festival, Actor’s Shakespeare Project), “Antonio’s Song” (CATF, Milwaukee Rep, Goodman), “Fandango for Butterflies (and Coyotes)” (La MaMa/La Jolla/touring), Directing/Choreographing “Make Thick My Blood,” a two-person adaptation of Macbeth (Theater Row), and A Midsummer NIght’s Dream (Folger Shakespeare Library at The National Building Museum, DC).

Her international performance career includes 7 years with the Bill. T. Jones/Arnie Zane Dance Company, projects with Martha Clarke, John Turturro, and others. Alexandra Beller/Dances formed in 2001 and she has created over 40 original Dance Theater works, for her own and other companies. Her choreography has been presented at theaters throughout the US and in Korea, Hong Kong, Oslo, Cyprus, St. Petersburg, and Poland.

Alexandra holds a BFA/Dance (University of MI), MFA/Dance (University of WI at Milwaukee), and CMA (Certified Movement Analyst) in Laban Movement Analysis/Bartenieff Fundamentals (LIMS). She is on faculty at Princeton University, Rutgers University, and The Laban/Bartenieff Institute for Movement Studies, and guest teaches nationally and internationally. Upcoming projects include “Let The Right One In” at Boston University with Actor’s Shakespeare Project, “Antonio’s Song” at The Goodman (Chicago), a workshop of “Perfect World” (Director: Karen Carpenter), and a devised adaptation of “Waiting for Godot” (Alexandra Beller/Dances). She lives in Brooklyn with her partner and two kids, is writing a book, studying guitar and is currently training in Intimacy Direction with TIE.