Here’s the list of class descriptions! See the schedule here!
Amber
Building Comfort in Compression Based Frame
Have you ever felt unsure or uncomfortable when dancing in close embrace? Close embrace is a frame created by mutually investing into connection with your partner. In this class we will work together to build trust for leaning in and forming a direct connection. You’ll also gain bridging skills to make it easier to connect with your partner. Once we have these tools for mutual investment, bridging, and direct connection, we’ll explore the playground of micro movements inside of compression. This can allow lead and follow roles to melt away as trusting the direct connection enables you to effortlessly move in sync with your partner. (Close Embrace is not required – all exercises will also be possible in other frames).
Spiral Micro
Spiral Micro is a sub-style of micro with smooth, spiraling movements – like contact juggling with your connection and your partner. To delve into this style we’ll work on relaxing our bodies and surrendering into a continuous flow. We’ll develop the skills needed to create circular momentum with slow suspensions and redirects. The suspensions in spiral micro allow for a natural eb and flow of lead and follow where you’ll have many opportunites to share your ideas with your partner in this flowing conversational style of micro.
High Tone Micro
Are you curious about how to emotionally connect with more intense music? Want to be able express a range of feelings through the story arc of a song? Do you enjoy high compression connections? Join us in this class to learn another sub-style of micro called High Tone Micro. In this class you’ll learn how to safely use high tone to accentuate emotional moments and create dynamic contrast throughout your micro dances. You’ll have opportunities to build your understanding and awareness of body mechanics and safety. You’ll learn how to tone up, how to meet your partner there, how to bail out of connection and keep yourself safe if you don’t want to go there, and how to create dynamic contrast through toning up and then fully relaxing. Join us in this class to explore body mechanics, safety, and emotional expression through the use of high tone and contrasting relaxation.
Andy
Intentional patterns, ephemeral choreographies
We all love to let the music flow through us freely, but this time we’re going to build patterns intentionally. Think Windows 98 pipes screensaver, but less random. We’ll work with the connections between our head and sacrum, cultivating an awereness of the spine and its role in micro, and subsequently between the bottom of our ribcage and the hip bones. Then, we’ll pick a few movements that emerge from here and apply choreographic tools to create a small phrase. Integrate this small phrase into a few dances and discover how it lives in those different storylines – do you lead it all the way, do you let your partner build up on it, do you intersperse bits of each partner’s phrase to create something new and unique to that partnership?
Hazel
Getting serious about being silly
Spontaneity, presence, vulnerability. Clown work teaches us to hone these skills. This will be a safe space for us to find the delight in mistakes and access a joyous flow state of dance.
Stretch, release and micro weight sharing
We will be working on your sensitivity of body tone and trust, allowing increasingly intricate moments of play. Tiny can peaceful, it can also be dynamic!
Joe
Micro Waves & Body ControlAdd your title here
Explore the inner intricacies of your body and deepen your understanding of body control with body isolations, waves and muscle control. Discover how to manipulate isolations & waves by varying the speed, velocity, direction and more. Learn the fundamentals behind waves and how to integrate them into a micro partner dance.
Grounded Micro: Tarraxo Technique
Dive into the captivating world of Tarraxo-infused micro dancing in this specialized workshop. While traditional micro dancing often emphasizes subtle upper body movements, Micro Tarraxo Technique broadens this focus to deeply engage the hips, legs, and rhythms of Tarraxo. By diving into the lower body’s potential, we explore hip and leg isolations and the nuances of weight distribution, all tied to the groundedness and control inherent to Tarraxo. With a firm commitment to consent and boundaries, this class offers a new dance experience, melding the essence of micro dancing with the passionate expression of Tarraxo, allowing dancers to fully integrate and express through their entire body. Tarraxo is a a music and dance style with roots in Kizomba, Urban Kiz and Tarraxinha. Kizomba originated in Angola and was popularized throughout Europe. Tarraxo is characterized by its distinctive textures, a close embrace, and deeply grounded hip and leg connection.
Jona
Exploring the Microcosmic orbit
The Microcosmic orbit is an ancient Taoist Qi Gong practice to cultivate and circulate energy in your body center before letting it flow. Pun aside, we can apply the idea to our micro dancing by letting energy and movement build and flow within ourselves first before connecting and sharing with others. This embodiment and connection focused class uses a holistic approach to dance drawing inspiration from practices like Qi Gong, Authentic Movement, Dance Therapy and Mindfulness. Note: All practices are suggestions. Go with what feels good to you. I will suggest sitting/laying on the floor for parts of this class. If needed bring something to sit/lay on.
All the Rhythms – All the Dances
In this class we are looking at different rhythms and music styles (with artists from Angola to Argentina, Brazil, the Dominican Republic, the U.S.A. and more) drawing inspiration from associated dance styles (like Kizomba, Twerk, Zouk, Bachata, Blues and more). The aim is to not only build our Fusion dancing but find micro expressions in any song no matter the style or energy.
Julie
Switching roles to grasp the full dance
These classes are tailored for the students to try their non-primary role and ease into switching roles as a tool to expand their awareness of the dance as a whole concept. What is the quality of a lead? What is the quality of a follow? How can I better connect and answer to my partner? How can I create with both roles? How do I keep my personality in each of them? In this class, we will ground and explore the common language shared in our dance partnership. What are the elements that make both roles so easily switchable? What if we couldbe in a constant state of flow when switching by pinning down our common ground. This class will help you find ease, joy and and better communication in the practise of switching roles.
Layers of Connections : from micro-movement to embodiment.
Where does our communication start in partner dance? How can we listen and adapt to different bodies, tones or sensitivity? This class is made to give you a structure within which you can explore and understand the physical aspect of connection and how the body speaks and answers. You will also be given tools and pathways to explore how to change the connection for different types of movements.
Somatic Consent for deeper authentic connection
This topic is specific to the closeness and intimacy of Zouk and partner dance. Zouk offers a special place for connection. We will learn how to experience this deep connection, and thus set boundaries non-verbally to feel safe in it. These exercises will help sharpen your listening to yourself, to your body, to your capacity for connection in each dance. It will help you practice how to hear and respect your partner’s space and timing, without words and give you confidence and tools for a more authentic connection in dance.
Please note that verbal consent is welcome here, but is not the focus of the class
Leader / Follower Communication
This topic is specific to the closeness and intimacy of Zouk and partner dance. Zouk offers a special place for connection. We will learn how to experience this deep connection, and thus set boundaries non-verbally to feel safe in it. These exercises will help sharpen your listening to yourself, to your body, to your capacity for connection in each dance. It will help you practice how to hear and respect your partner’s space and timing, without words and give you confidence and tools for a more authentic connection in dance.This topic offers tools to help you get familiar with things like self-awareness, muscle engagement, body presence, different amounts of tension, compression. etc. What are the words our body possess? What is our own body saying to the other person? How can breathe change all of our movements? How do we receive invitations in movement? How do we make it our own? This class sets the base of non-verbal communication in conversing in the partnership and also helps dancers from other dance transition to the Zouk connection by teaching them ‘the codes of Zouk’