Work & Play: SUMMER INTENSIVE

a LIVE NYC Summer Intensive @ Mark Morris

June 3-7, 2024

10AM-4:30PM EST

$500

Plus a free year of PRAXISPACE

About this Workshop

Work & Play is a five-day LIVE workshop in which we will spend time both being deeply introspective, vulnerable, personal, and intimate, and also spending time considering relationship, community, global context and environmental impacts.

Each day will feature a 75 minute Bartenieff Fundamentals class taught by Alexandra. This is followed by a 90 minute rigorous, full-bodied movement class by a rotating guest teachers. The afternoon is a 180 minute Choreography and Directing workshop in which you will build a piece. You are welcome to have dancers join you, or work on either a solo or in collaboration with other members in class to create a duet or larger piece. Overall, the week is meant to invite us back into our bodies, collaboration, creativity, flow, and generation, while leaving behind models that do not serve us.

The final day will culminate in a longer 2-hour Bartenieff Class followed by a Choreolab with in informal showing at the end.

Here’s how this workshop works...

10-11:15 AM:

Bartenieff Fundamentals with Alexandra

This opening class will take students through a comprehensive series of both concepts and physical exercises aimed at increasing awareness and functionality, articulation in both moving and talking about movement, and deepening observation skills.

We will be working both physically and intellectually to use the concepts of connectivity to relate to our larger environment and integration not only to ourselves but our full life. 

This juicy, floor-based class is a gentle, personal, and profound daily exploration of the body as it is, and an invitation towards kinder, more efficient movement patterns. It is a chance to examine habits that may not be serving us, recover from trauma, including injury, and engage in healthy, mindful movement.

11:30-1:15 pM:

Movement Technique with Guest Artists

Each class will be taught by a different luminary in the field. This year’s guest teachers are TENDAYI KUUMBA, Mike Esperanza, Jenna Riegel, Adam Barruch, and BAIRA MVMNT PHLOSPHY.

This class, taught by a different luminary in the field each day, explores the qualities of released and off-balance dancing while daring students to find disparate qualities of stillness and explosion.  Students are encouraged to develop an individual style driven by their internal life and the specificity of their bodies. By researching movement tasks as opposed to recreating shapes, students will begin to solve kinesthetic problems in a profound and personal way. We will focus on becoming compelling and magnetic performers, and working within a broad range of movements, from vigorous and athletic, to gestural and theatrical. The movement is approached from many systems: muscular, skeletal and nervous systems, inviting dancers to work with versatility, intuition, strength, flow, stamina and ease. Multi-cultural inspirations are drawn from a broad range of musical styles and rhythmic complexities.

2-4:30 PM:

Choreolab with Alexandra

This is a chance to create work within the supportive structure and gentle pressure of a community. Strong attention is given to creating an environment that fosters individual growth and artistic fertility. Prompts will be given to further each day’s work, and a low-stress sharing/feedback session will end each session. Feedback methods are drawn from “Critical Response Process,” with additions and deletions based on the artists’ needs and the evolution of the work.

To support your creative process, I’ll offer myself as a witness, guide, colleague and mentor, as needed and requested. The group is there to support your choices and goals, and help you find your most profound, and unique, voice. You are welcome to invite dancers to the afternoon session, work on a solo or dance film, or collaborate in duets, trios, or more on a shared work with other members of the class.

2023 Guest Teachers

TENDAYI KUUMBA 

One of Dance Magazine's "25 to watch 2023" &

Chita Rivera Outstanding Female Dancer on Broadway 2022 as Lady in Brown in the Tony Nominated Broadway Revival of "For Colored Girls Who have Considered Suicide/ When the Rainbow is Enuf". International dancer, choreographer, singer, songwriter, & Spelman College grad. Tendayi formerly performed as a background vocalist/dancer & original cast member of Specal Tony Award Winning David Byrne's America Utopia on Broadway as well as its World Tour since 2018 and HBO Film adaptation directed by Spike Lee. 

Previously a touring company member of Urban Bush Women, Tendayi is longtime collaborator with partner Greg Purnell as the alias UFLYMOTHERSHIP. Their sonic/choreographic projects include, The Mixtape, Incog-negro, and other works that have been featured at AfroPunk, Gibney Dance, Stephen Petronio Residency Center, New York Live Arts, Movement Researches’ Spring Festival, Czech Republic of NY, “ Prague Effects” , Dancespace "Collective Terrains " platform, Spelman Colleges' "Toni Cade Bambara Scholar- Activism Conference, Harlem Stage, Hi-ARTS, BRICLab, Dance Mission Theaters' D.I.R.T Festival 2021 & Park Armorys' 100 Women/ 100 Years and Lincoln Center's Restart Stages.

She's also worked with choreographers T. Lang, Marjani Forte'-Saunders (7NMS), ASÉ Dance Theater Collective, Nathan Trice, & Philadelphia Operas’ We Shall Not be Moved directed by Bill T. Jones. She continues to build her pedagogy as a teaching artist & B.O.L.D Facilitator for Urban Bush Women. She recently premiered a new choreographic work "NYSea", Co-created with Greg Purnell/ ÜFlyMothership, in "The March"  Dec 2023 at the PerlmanArtsCenter under Big Dance Theater alongside Annie-BParson, & Donna Uchizono. She gives thanks and blessings for life, love, breath, and the pursuit of happiness through creativity

Mike Esperanza is a multifaceted creative force, celebrated for his transformative contributions to the world of dance and choreography. With an innate ability to merge contemporary aesthetics with authentic storytelling, Mike has captivated audiences worldwide. His journey began in Los Angeles and currently in New York City, where he honed his craft, drawing inspiration from urban culture and the human experience. As an accomplished dancer, choreographer, and artistic director, Mike has choreographed for renowned educational programs and companies such as WhimW’him, LACDC, Urbanity, Dark Circles Contemporary Dance, leaving an indelible mark on the dance landscape. His work transcends boundaries, evoking emotion, and pushing artistic boundaries. Mike’s work has been described as “bold, athletic movement and theatricality – the latter clearly the coming together of Esperanza’s many talents – the company epitomizes the dance of the new millennium: shape-shifting, vernacular-blending with a prescient focus on the brave new world in which we live.” ~ Jessica Abrams, Explore Dance. 

Adam Barruch began his career as a young actor, performing professionally on Broadway and in film and television, working with prominent figures such as Tony Bennett, Jerry Herman and Susan Stroman. He later received dance training at LaGuardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts. After three years, he graduated early and was accepted into the dance department at The Juilliard School. As a dancer he has performed the works of Jiri Kylian, Ohad Naharin, Susan Marshall, Jose Limon, Daniele Dèsnoyers, and was a dancer with Sylvain Émard Danse in Montreal. He has also worked with The Margie Gillis Dance Foundation, performing and researching Conflict Transformation as part of Gillis' The Legacy Project. Based in Brooklyn, Adam currently creates and performs work with own company, Anatomiae Occultii.  In addition, he has also created works for companies such as The Limón Company, Ailey II, Keigwin + Company, Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, River North Dance Chicago, BalletX, Whim W'Him Seattle Contemporary Dance, Graham II, GroundWorks Dance Theater, Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Gibney Dance Company, 10 Hairy Legs, and Daniel Costa Dance—as well as for dance icons Margie Gillis and Miki Orihara. Adam Barruch is also the developer of ‘Dynamic Sequencing,’ a movement practice designed to promote expansive range, healthful coordination and optimal awareness in motion. He is currently pursuing a Master's Degree in Acupuncture at Pacific College of Health and Science. 

FAQs

Q: Can I drop into classes?

A: In an attempt to come back to community, and build relationships moving forward, we are keeping this workshop a registered workshop, and asking people to attend for the full week. The Choreolab will be cumulative material, building a piece, potentially in collaboration with other students, so attendance is important.

Q: I have an injury. Will this be too much for me?

A: The Bartenieff class is an amazing way to come back to dancing after injury, and help you to assess the underlying structural or biomechanical underpinnings of your injury.. The technique class would likely require a bit of modification on your part, but all of our teachers are extremely sensitive, empathy-driven facilitators who will work with you as you are. The Choreolab will allow you to make what you are able to, and wanting to, create, be that a film, work on other bodies, small kinesphere work, or more theater-forward work. So.. not too much is the short answer…

Q: I am short on funds, but really want to do this. What are my options?

A: We don’t want money to be the deciding factor in a creative opportunity. While we have a very limited number of scholarships, you are welcome to reach out to inquire about one of our partial scholarships. We prioritize BIPOC and LGBTQ artists for these scholarships. We also are happy to work with you on a payment plan that fits your financial situation and cash flow.

Q: I haven’t choreographed in a while and I feel anxious. Will it be a high pressure environment? Is everyone very advanced?

A: I don’t believe in creative hierarchies, and I construct classes to meet everyone where they are. I believe the facets of art we discuss about the most famous work hold equal value for someone’s first piece. The passage of time, the use of space, the telling of a story (emotional, literal, or abstract), and the creation of meaning are all ubiquitous to the creative process.

What people have experienced in previous workshops…

It is a refreshing (and mind blowing) experience to be guided by Alexandra in creating without judgment, but not without decision making. Her articulations around choice have helped me create with more ease, depth and joy, as well as both receive and give artistic feedback in a more generous and generative manner. Alexandra champions the work and prioritizes the artist. She values the artist’s perspective over her own and is incredibly skilled at navigating the delicate balance involved in one on one mentorship between providing support and sharing wisdom.

--Sophie Allen 

“In her weekly Bartenieff Fundamentals classes, Alexandra creates a space for engaged exploration that is collaborative and filled with kindness. I always feel both seen and heard in her classes. “

Joe Bowie, Lecturer at Northwestern University and former member, Mark Morris Dance Company (student of Anatomy of Choice and BF)