Emphasize the fluid nature of responsibility for choreographic investigation between teacher and student. Learning and creating within this context gradually moves students away from dependence on teachers and toward artistic and technical independence. We engage with great choreographic works in order to apply movement concepts to a variety of contexts, and experience them directly and viscerally. Repertoire – study of classical, neo-classical, and contemporary works in order to apply ballet’s concepts artistically.

Floor Barre:

Re-orientation of the sense of how joints and muscles operate in ballet-based movements that are practiced while laying on the floor. Excellent for recovery from injury and for test-driving advanced movements safely.

In each 90-minute Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, students will be verbally guided through a specific sequence of slow, gentle movements designed to illuminate aspects of movement and sensory awareness chosen specifically for their relevance to dancers. This series will feature four ATM lessons that will each explore the use of self in relation to one or more orientations of the arms (e.g., arms extended overhead, forwards, sideways, etc.). There will be an opportunity at the end of each lesson to explore these relationships in various orientations other than lying down on the floor. Each ATM seeks to provide a setting in which students may work at their own pace and be led by their own curiosity to rediscover and enhance their innate human capacity for graceful, effortless movement.

Benefits include:

• Increased freedom and ease of movement
• Improved balance and coordination
• Increased flexibility
• Injury prevention
• Rehabilitation from injury
• Increased expressive range
• Improved understanding of skeletal anatomy as it relates to dance

Information/Registration**: 619-464-3856

*participation in the first Feldenkrais for Dancers workshop (Aug. ™07) is NOT a prerequisite for this class series

**Space is limited so pre-registration is required.

Registration deadline is Thursday, July 10.

Drop-ins will be admitted on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Co-taught by Leslie Seiters and Kristen Baum Wilcox

Each morning and afternoon segment will begin with a Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement (ATM) class, in which students will be verbally guided through a specific sequence of slow, gentle movements designed to illuminate aspects of movement and sensory awareness chosen specifically for their relevance to dancers. Each lesson seeks to provide a setting in which students may work at their own pace and be led by their own curiosity to rediscover and enhance their innate human capacity for graceful, effortless movement.

The second part of each morning and afternoon session will investigate and expand on movement principles and pathways introduced in the ATM lesson and will include focused improvisations, set movement sequences with an emphasis on floor-work, and finally complex movement phrases. The dancing portion of this workshop is designed to continue the awareness, efficiency and specificity generated by the ATM classes to create a refined way of œworking when dancing.

This workshop will provide contexts for disorientation and reorganization to allow dancing bodies to utilize their intelligence.

Registration Deadline: Tuesday, June 3rd

Information/Registration: email kbaum1001@yahoo.com or call 619-464-3856

*each day will include a one-hour lunch break

**A sliding scale fee structure is available for those who qualify. If you would like to be considered for a fee reduction, please let us know when you call to register.

March 4, 2008
San Diego Union Tribune

Katherine Cordova approached a ballet barre for the first time when her younger daughter, an avid dancer, left home. œShe made me take a class to give me something to concentrate on when she left, Cordova says.

Three years later, the lithe, energetic Cordova goes to five ballet classes a week. œI’m in better shape than I’ve ever been in, she says.

Cordova, who dances at Stage 7 in North Park, also enjoys the beauty of ballet as an art form. As Stage 7 director Kathryn Irey puts it, œThere’s something intrinsically satisfying about exercise that has an artistic lens.

Along with aesthetic rewards, adult ballet offers a range of fitness benefits, say Irey and other teachers who offer classes for adults.

Ballet training improves flexibility, tone, balance, coordination and posture, says Michelle Noblejas-Bartolomei of Music and the Mirror Ballet Center West in Mission Hills. œOne student went to her doctor, and she’d gained three-quarters of an inch in height by the improvement in her posture and the way she carried herself.

At the intermediate level, students get an aerobic workout, Steven Wistrich of City Ballet says. œThey do a fair amount of jumping. When they leave class, they’ve worked up a good sweat, and they’re breathing pretty hard.

œA lot of students tell me it keeps their minds sharp, Wistrich adds. That goes along with recent research on the cognitive benefits of dance.

JANICE STEINBERG

Absolute beginners: Adult ballet attracts many people who danced as children, but there’s plenty of room for neophytes. A number of studios offer pre-beginner classes, such as Irey’s œBonehead Ballet. Irey begins each Bonehead class by drawing students’ awareness to their wrists, for instance, or their upper backs. The idea is to œfind alienated body parts and to integrate the body as a whole.

Belly up to the barre: Don’t worry that you’ll be expected to leap across the floor like Baryshnikov. Most of a beginning class is spent at the barre. œThat’s where the foundations for the center work are learned, Noblejas-Bartolomei says. The barre helps you balance as you shift your weight to one leg, freeing the other leg to trace a pattern on the floor or in the air.

No tutus required: Ordinary workout clothes are fine, though you’ll want to wear something form-fitting, so the teacher can see what you’re doing. For footwear, Irey’s Bonehead class is done in socks the wilder, the better. Other classes request ballet slippers, available for $12 and up online; you may want to spend a little more at a dance store to assure the fit of your first pair.

Other class schedules vary, so be sure to check with your instructor.

11am-1pm

A ballet based warm-up will be given at 10:45am.

Stage 7™s new Pas de Deux Lab will explore principles of partnership from contemporary ballet backward toward classical ballet techniques.

Movement problems will explore the following:

• How do we communicate with weight?
• What perceptual skills support effective collaboration in dance?
• What makes the space between us dynamic and useful?
• How can we harness principles of leverage and displacement to share power?

Expect an experimental, experiential approach!

Expect to have fun!!

Class will be conducted with guidance and direction from Kathryn Irey.

beginning Tuesday July 3rd
continuing weekly

10-11:30am

Through the practice of Asana and the coordination of intention, breath and movement, we will balance strength and suppleness in our form and cultivate a non-judgmental attitude toward our body.

Lead by Justin Morrison

beginning Wed July 4th
continuing weekly

7-9pm

Weekly sessions will provide structure and practice in improvisation, and will develop perceptual skills crucial to ensemble performance.

Through experimentation, dialogue and guided exercises, dancers will investigate the impact of actively seeing and hearing while moving.

Classes will emphasize:

• Noticing the impact of “feeling” states in performance.
• Recognizing ones personal, choreographic “ethic”.
• The use of choice in creating a collaborative Instant Composition.

Open to dancers from all disciplines.

Drop-ins welcome but continued attendance is encouraged.

"Movement is produced by the rapport of odd elements, of the contrasts of colors between themselves which constitutes Reality." -Robert Delaunay

Facilitated by Justin Morrison

We are very happy to announce the beginning of a new 4 week series, lead by Feldenkrais practitioner Kristen Baum-Wilcox.

COST:

$25 drop in rate
$80 for all 4 days (8 hours, registration required)

(contact Justin for discount & work/trade options)

DATES/TIME:

Weekly on Friday July 13th, 20th, 27th & August 3rd
2-4pm

REGISTRATION

Due to limited space we require registration and pre-payment in order to receive the discounted rate of $80 for all 4 sessions. Register by completing our contact form.

Checks may be made out to:
Stage 7 School of Dance
3980 30th St., San Diego, 92104
ATTN: Feldenkrais Workshop

Registration and payment can also be made in person at Stage 7.

If attending specific days, please Register and specify which days you will attend (the drop-in rate will apply).

Workshop description

In the Feldenkrais For Dancers Workshop, you can begin
to rediscover your innate capacity for graceful, easy
movement through increasing your awareness of how you
have learned to adapt physically to the world around
you. Each two-hour workshop will focus on a theme
chosen for its relevance to the specific needs of
dancers and will draw upon knowledge of biomechanics
and an empirical understanding of human learning.

In class, students will be verbally directed through a
sequence of related movements designed to improve some
aspect of physical functioning (e.g., freedom of the
head, ribcage, arms, legs). Students will be
encouraged to learn at their own pace, moving slowly
and gently so as to increase their sensitivity to the
quality of their own movements.

Benefits include:

• Increased freedom and ease of movement
• Improved balance and coordination
• Increased flexibility
• Injury prevention
• Rehabilitation from injury
• Increased expressive range
• Improved understanding of skeletal anatomy as it relates to dance

Kristen Baum Wilcox

Kristen is a guild certified Feldenkrais practitioner. She operates her own practice teaching Functional Integration ® and Awareness Through Movement (ATM) ®, at her studio in La Mesa, the Center for Creative and Playful Activities.

For more information contact Kristen at: 619-464-3856

Download printable flyer

music:

Jeremy Drake / Tucker Dulin / Chris Heenan

dance:

Justin Morrison / Leslie Seiters / Amanda Waal

admission: free

Please RSVP below by leaving a comment.