Int/Adv Contemporary Modern with Lauren Beale

As an experiential laboratory for movement, this modern technique class is a rich blend of integrated contemporary styles that offer a thoughtful and dynamic movement experience. This class encourages movers to cultivate a deeper intuitive awareness of their movement capacities, while transforming habitual patterns into dancing that is articulate, raw, honest, and charged with intention. We will explore principles that bring the body into balance and order (dynamic alignment, coordination, spatial clarity, and connectivity). We will also explore ways that allow the body's non-sensical, uncensored, and un-apologetic chaos. Influenced by the interweaving of somatic work with traditional contemporary dance techniques, classes consist of a thorough warm up including yoga, floor-work, and improvisation that progresses to more vigorous, full-bodied dancing. Movement phrases that travel across and in and out of the floor investigate flow and effort while paying attention to the dancer’s focus, perceptive skills, and their intimate relationship to gravity. Class culminates with a dance phrase that integrates mind and body—harmoniously pushing the threshold between moving with equilibrium and abandon.