The Department of Dance invites you: our alumni, friends, and community partners, to enjoy a day of dance classes, building tours, and performances that represent many of the various practices we offer at U-M. You are welcome to take any courses listed here or, if you prefer, we invite you to observe any class you wish (chairs will be set up in each of the studios). We look forward to you joining us on this important day in the history of the Department of Dance.
Please contact Maria Paterno (mpaterno@umich.edu) with any questions.
In this course, we will explore improvisation as a means of discovery and as a tool for illumination, self-examination, and composition. Through guided movement exercises and experiences, participants will broaden self-awareness, physical and expressive skills in the movement aspects of time, space, energy, shape and dynamics.
A modern dance class based on the techniques of Graham and Limon, exploring how the force of energy brings more expression to one’s performance capabilities.
Cancellation: Due to the tropical storm in Florida, Liz Bergmann is unable to attend the building celebration and her class, The Art of Movement, has been cancelled.
Focusing on one area in ballet: the warm-up, this session will address how flipping the script on the ballet mindset and empowering yourself with some knowledge can change your relationship with this physical practice that many find alienating. This is a view of ballet technique that isn’t static or pose-oriented. Rather, we’ll approach ballet technique through movement principles. It’s an empowering mindset that allows you to discover what “being at home in your body in ballet” means for you.
In this class we will explore rhythm, steps, movements of the arms and upper body and will develop characteristic nuances of Polish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, and Spanish national dances among others. The focus of the class will be on musicality, proper alignment, use of upper body and head, coordination, and precise rhythms, all accompanied with live music!! And most of all to express a joy of the movement and having fun!! The class consists of stylizations of folk dances as danced on the concert stage. Everybody can learn and benefit from this class! Welcome to the class which is taught only in a few other universities in the US!!
Choreography by Amy Chavasse in collaboration with the performers: Stephanie Gennusa & Rowan Janusiak
Plunder Thunder traveled to South Korea for performances at the New International Dance Festival in Daejeon, the Goyang International Dance Festival in Goyang, and some workshops at Kyunghee University from 9/20- 9/29.
This class provides a study of physical training with a focus on a Tai-Chi influenced contemporary dance technique. Attention will be given to the anatomical, scientific, and pedagogical foundations of dance training as well as to the fusion of Chinese corporeal philosophies with post-modern concepts. The practice of this experimentation aims to cultivate dancers’ bodily sensitivity in ways different from “western” dances and their self-aware embodiment of dance as culture.
This class is a ballet technique class where we will explore movement, energy, and artistry within the rules of classical ballet and contemporary ballet. The focus of the class will be on strengthening the dancer’s physical practice, proper alignment, core strength, precision in footwork, musicality, versatility/understanding of ballet styles, as well as incorporating specific individual details needed to make a dancer polished and marketable in the dance world today. You are welcome to do as much as you are physically able and/or observe the class.
Registration for Ballet w/ Amy West has reached capacity.
This class will focus on the bones of the pelvis and their natural three-dimensional movements within the body while in motion. We will explore these motions via palpation, imagery, and movement. Being conscious of these rhythms increases proprioception, efficiency and function while decreasing tension and imbalance.
On the occasion of our new building’s official opening, as a way of excavating and sensing site, dancers in this workshop will explore the possibilities of threshold spaces. A threshold or doorway may act as a liminal space, a zone of passage from one space to another, a place of transition--between public and private, inside and outside, past and present, here and there, known and unknown, hidden and revealed, open and closed. It navigates opposites and embraces reversals. It has a dual and simultaneous purpose as a place of entrance and exit; as a place of separation and connection between two spaces. How do technology and form affect our relationship with a threshold (automatic doors, revolving doors, sliding doors, hinged doors, archways?) What narratives, metaphors are suggested?
Dancers will choose a threshold/doorway nearby and explore it, creating a brief movement study/structured improvisation, considering sound, texture, weight, qualities of light, function, the surrounding contexts and histories of the threshold/door. What spaces does it connect/separate? What images, associations or narratives arise?
The intersections of dance and technology have been ripe with possibilities for innovation in both creative and performance areas for decades. This continues to be true as video, motion capture, projection design, and even virtual reality are integrated with movement by choreographers and companies. Assistant Professor of Dance Charli Brissey and SMTD Media Consultant Sean Hoskins will present about the technological capabilities within the new dance building, the department's plans to expand further in this space, and how this opens valuable conceptual frameworks and practical experiences for dance students.
Dunham Technique is a vibrant African American dance form that engages the body, mind and spirit! Created by dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, the technique is informed by the traditional dances of the African Diaspora, as well as by modern and ballet.
Reception to follow in the Perry Kasper Granoff Studio: Room 1060.
Registration for the evening performance and reception has reached capacity.