COURSE DESCRIPTIONS

   Contemporary Flow

This class is for students in Grades 9-12 with prior dance experience who want to take their technique to the next level. Physical training will draw on a wide variety of contemporary techniques and will include warm-ups and exercises that emphasize alignment, placement, articulation, efficiency, and awareness. Combinations will focus on dynamic range, musicality and developing a personal style. Students will apply their expanding technical abilities to improvisation and choreographic exercises. A final project will culminate in group choreography to be performed in the annual student dance concert. Guest teachers, trips to live performances, and video viewings are also integral to the course. Students may receive PE credit for the duration of the course. 

Prerequisite: Dance Fusion or permission of the instructor

Dance From Studio to Stage

This course is a deep dive into choreography for musicals, dramatic theater and film. 

We will study great directors/choreographers from the past and present. List includes: 

Jerome Robbins (West Side Story 1961), Rick and Jeff Kuperman (The Outsiders), Agnes De Mille (Oklahoma), Bob Fosse (Chicago/Cabaret), Twyla Tharp (Hair/Movin' Out), Savion Glover (Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk), Andy Blankenbueler (Hamilton), Camille Brown (Hell's Kitchen), Justin Peck (West Side Story 2021, Illinoise). In addition to mastering excerpts of famous numbers and routines, we explore the storytelling power of movement through creative assignments and partner with Adventurous Audiences to go see productions. This course  is highly recommended for those of you who want to improve your movement and dance skills for upcoming auditions and productions. 

Prerequisite: Dance Fusion or permission of the instructor

ChoreoLab 

This course will begin with a continuation of physical training that builds technical skills. Once exercises and combinations have been mastered, students will participate in a variety of movement investigations and improvisational scores with the purpose of exploring and creating their own movement. These exercises will lead to a series of compositional studies emphasizing movement invention, space, time, music, text, and even the use of props. One of the compositional studies will then be be developed into a full dance. Students will share their dances at the end of the semester in an informal showing. In addition, some students may have the opportunity to share their finished dances in the larger NYC dance community by participating in NACHMO (National Choreography Month), which takes place in February. The focus of this class will be on encouraging students to discover and develop an artistic voice through the medium of dance. Prerequisite: The Athletics of Dance Parts I and II or permission of the instructor.

Movement & Media

This course examines how dance choreography can be crafted specifically for the video camera. By using a wide variety of locations, camera angles and editing techniques, a unique hybrid is created called “Videodance.” We begin by viewing and studying the work of choreographers and directors, who use the relationship between movement and media as their central theme, such as Maya Deren, Victoria Marks, Philippe Découflé, Thierry de Mey, and Michel Gondry, among others. Using the text and manual, Making Video Dance by Katrina McPherson, we will do a series of short exercises to learn the mechanics of the camera and the basics of video editing using iMovie and/or FinalCut Pro. Once this groundwork has been laid, students will then write a proposal, storyboard, shoot, and edit their own videodance in pairs.