CONTEMPORARY DANCE TECHNIQUE
with Jenna Riegel
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2020
10:30AM - NOON EDT
Technique Class: $10-$30
Day Pass (Saturday): $30-$100
Festival Pass: $80-$250
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
A definition of contemporary is ‘belonging to or occurring in the present.’ Voilà! To practice contemporary dance is to practice belonging to the present. But, can we find a sensational presence within ourselves and with each other even across the numbing platform called Zoom? Indeed, we must! And now to the nitty gritty...
In this class we will begin with improvisations or a floor warm-up to build warmth, ease us into motion, find agility and help us arrive. Introductions to one another will be made in order to build a sense of trust and community together. We will progress to standing center work for alignment, coordination and strength building and culminate with locomotive choreographic phrases that challenge our agility, memory, specificity and risk-taking and that incorporate our humanity and work as a community. We will focus on movement complexity and density, the layering of performance tasks, qualitative and dynamic choice making (including musical phrasing) and the cultivation of self-expression in the interpretation of class material. Above all, we will work hard and joyfully and make kinetic connections within our own body, the movement material and, by reaching across the Zoom void, with those around us!
JENNA RIEGEL, originally from Fairfield, Iowa, is a dance artist, maker and educator. Jenna holds an M.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Maharishi International University. During her eleven-year performing career in NYC, Jenna danced with Daara Dance (choreographer Michel Kouakou), Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Shaneeka Harrell, Tania Isaac Dance and johannes weiland. She toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of David Dorfman Dance, Alexandra Beller/ Dances, Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas & Company and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Jenna taught classes in contemporary technique in New York City at Gina Gibney Dance Center, New York Live Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center and 100 Grand Dance. She has been on faculty in the dance departments of Barnard College, The Juilliard School and Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, she has taught master classes at The Joffrey Ballet School, Columbia College, NYU, The New School, Ohio State University, SUNY Purchase, Bard College, Connecticut College, Hollins University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Skidmore College, University of Maryland, University of California-Berkeley, the American Dance Festival and the Bates Dance Festival. Jenna is currently an Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance at Amherst College.
with Jenna Riegel
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 26, 2020
10:30AM - NOON EDT
Technique Class: $10-$30
Day Pass (Saturday): $30-$100
Festival Pass: $80-$250
CLICK HERE TO REGISTER
A definition of contemporary is ‘belonging to or occurring in the present.’ Voilà! To practice contemporary dance is to practice belonging to the present. But, can we find a sensational presence within ourselves and with each other even across the numbing platform called Zoom? Indeed, we must! And now to the nitty gritty...
In this class we will begin with improvisations or a floor warm-up to build warmth, ease us into motion, find agility and help us arrive. Introductions to one another will be made in order to build a sense of trust and community together. We will progress to standing center work for alignment, coordination and strength building and culminate with locomotive choreographic phrases that challenge our agility, memory, specificity and risk-taking and that incorporate our humanity and work as a community. We will focus on movement complexity and density, the layering of performance tasks, qualitative and dynamic choice making (including musical phrasing) and the cultivation of self-expression in the interpretation of class material. Above all, we will work hard and joyfully and make kinetic connections within our own body, the movement material and, by reaching across the Zoom void, with those around us!
JENNA RIEGEL, originally from Fairfield, Iowa, is a dance artist, maker and educator. Jenna holds an M.F.A. in Dance Performance from the University of Iowa and a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Maharishi International University. During her eleven-year performing career in NYC, Jenna danced with Daara Dance (choreographer Michel Kouakou), Carolyn Dorfman Dance Company, Shaneeka Harrell, Tania Isaac Dance and johannes weiland. She toured and performed nationally and internationally as a company member of David Dorfman Dance, Alexandra Beller/ Dances, Bill Young/ Colleen Thomas & Company and the Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company. Jenna taught classes in contemporary technique in New York City at Gina Gibney Dance Center, New York Live Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center and 100 Grand Dance. She has been on faculty in the dance departments of Barnard College, The Juilliard School and Virginia Commonwealth University. In addition, she has taught master classes at The Joffrey Ballet School, Columbia College, NYU, The New School, Ohio State University, SUNY Purchase, Bard College, Connecticut College, Hollins University, Dartmouth College, Williams College, Skidmore College, University of Maryland, University of California-Berkeley, the American Dance Festival and the Bates Dance Festival. Jenna is currently an Assistant Professor of Theater and Dance at Amherst College.
