In this course, you will work with contemporary dance as a foundation, enriched with the power and rhythms of the West African dance tradition. Expect a combination of physical challenge, technical depth and expressive freedom. This unique style is rooted in grounding, spinal alignment and bounce – elements that help you move firmly, fluidly and full of intention.
What will you be doing?
Each class starts with a focused warm-up, preparing your body for movement and working on core activation and spinal mobility. You then do technique exercises that cover:
– Grounding
– Bouncing
– Undulating & waving
– Feeling and performing polyrhythms
The class will then continue with a specific focus, the 18:15 class focusing mainly on choreography, the 19:30 class on improvisation.
18:15 – Choreography
The techniques from the warming up are then integrated into a choreography. The emphasis is on translating technique into expression: how do you really bring dance to life? Throughout the series, you work on performing this choreography: powerfully, musically and personally. At the end of the course, you will have deepened your technique, increased your performance power and enriched your own movement vocabulary.
19:30 – Improvisation
After the warming up we will work on improvisation assignments. You will develop your own movement material and explore how your unique movement quality relates to the techniques taught.
Finally, you work on creating short compositions. You will apply the tools from class in your own work, thus growing not only as a dancer, but also as a maker. By the end of the course, you will have become a more versatile and expressive performer.
