New Feldenkrais Series: Generating Choices

The lessons in this eight-week online Feldenkrais series with Sarah Baumert will help one sense differences in the body, select the good sensations from the useless, and help one respond to the environment around them with new options.

You will experience learning at your own pace where noticing what makes you feel good is a priority. Notice what you are curious about and recognize that experiencing pleasure and enjoyment in your body are measures of freedom.

The lessons will be suitable for all levels, and will include a variety of positions, from lying on the back or side, to sitting in a chair. We will not focus in on one particular area of the body for this series, but we will zoom in on certain areas and then zoom out to see how the whole self is moving. In each lesson, you will investigate how you move and relate to your body in motion, while discovering in your own way new sensations of comfort and pleasure that can lead to profound and lasting change.

Livestream classes will be taught over Zoom
March 6-April 27
Sundays, 4:00-5:00pm CST and Wednesdays, 6:30-7:30pm CST
Scholarships/Pay-as-able available – please inquire directly with Sarah for scholarship options.

Series Includes:

  • 9 Feldenkrais Awareness Through Movement lessons (16 live classes)
  • Community discussion after each lesson with time for asking questions, harvesting, and sharing
  • Recordings automatically available (48 hrs after each live class) on member page
  • Stream recordings indefinitely/ option to download 

What students are saying:

“You have a manner that gives us permission to be kind to our bodies. An hour of that itself really translates into these new wonderful sensations. I am enjoying my body so much more.”

“Yum!! Sarah, your classes are DELICIOUS!”

Raising the Barre for Mental Health – A Dance Teacher Workshop Series

Mental health is as important as physical health for healthy, happy dancers. Minding the Gap presents a workshop curated in five sessions, each presented by an accredited professional.

Remaining Sessions:

#3 – March 6, 2022
Language Matters: Shifting how we speak about food and bodies to prevent eating disorders and improve dancer health.
Presenter: Monika Saigal, MS, RD, CEDRD-S, CDN – nutritionist and eating disorder expert based in New York City.

#4 – March 20, 2022
Productive, proactive communication. How to engage students and dancers on the tough topics and disappointments.
Presenter: Jackson Jirard, M.Ed – Education psychology specialist and dance educator, associate director of Urban Improv at Rehearsal For Life in Massachusetts.

#5 – April 3, 2022
How to support an injured dancer. Best practices to get the dancer back into the studio strong both mentally and physically.
Marissa Schaeffer, PT, DPT, CSCS – licensed physical therapist and NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist in New York City.

Moving Practice with Judith Holo Shuǐ Xiān in March at The Arena

Moving Practice is a weekly class series for professional dancers. Classes prioritize rigor, diversity of contemporary aesthetics, variety of class content, and commitment. Professional level dancers of all styles are welcome.

Tuesdays, 10:00-11:30am at The Arena
Judith Holo Shuǐ Xiān teaches throughout March!

Pre-register at https://www.arena-dances.org/the-arena/
Drop in rate is $17 with flexible pricing and free parking!

Judith Holo Shuǐ Xiān is an interdisciplinary choreographer, improviser and sound artist whose work is interested in engaging with the deconstruction and parody of dominant culture narratives and conventional performance expectations, and standing in allyship to communities going through persecution and discrimination in the days we are living in. She has presented works at venues including Fresh Oysters Performance Research(R.I.P.), Public Functionary, Bryant Lake Bowl, Tek Box, The Southern Theater, Intermedia Arts (R.I.P.), Frey Theatre (Twin Cities, MN) and 9 Herkimer Place (Brooklyn, NY). She has recently enjoyed performing for/collaborating with others including Dua Saleh, Valerie Oliviero, Leila Awadallah, Judith Howard, Rosy Simas, Sophiaaaahjkl;8901, Shayna Allen, Pramila Vasudevan, Megan Mayer, Emily Gastineau, and Erin Drummond. She is a 2017 Q-Stage: New Works and 2019 Momentum: New Dance Works recipient, and currently works with the Lightning Rod Arts Organism as a teaching artist and ensemble member. She is currently working on a piece to be premiered as part of Red Eye’s New Works 4 Weeks festival from May 26-28.

“So excited to share my practice of improvisation and collaborative decision making in the Moving Practice series! In this set of classes I will be focusing on the development and practice of improvisational scores, and what it looks like to allow them to be consistently generative practices that change with you over time as you continue living in them. You will be led through scores I’ve been working with for the past four years to warm up, and then prompted (either by direct text or conceptual/aesthetic stimuli or reflection on personal experiences as impetus, etc.) to develop your own scores in which you can continue to be in dialogue with and build skills to share and relay with those you’re in artistic conversation with. These classes will build on each other sequentially, but also be accessible to drop in for one at any point! Depending on the comfort of those in workshops there may be an element of contact improvisation/weight sharing.”

Concerto Dance Master Class with Visiting Guest Artist Steve Rooks

Join Concerto Dance for an open master class with our visiting Guest Artist Steve Rooks!

Saturday, March 12, 1 – 3 pm at the Cowles Center for Dance, Tek Box

Mr. Rooks will be teaching a two-hour modern master class influenced by Horton and Graham techniques geared for professional and pre-professional dancers.

  • Space is limited
  • Masks required
  • Pre-registration highly recommended
  • Cost for class is $20

Visit www.concertodance.com/classes for more information.

Steve Rooks studied dance at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center and has performed classic works by Ailey, Donald McKayle, Talley Beatty, and Ulysses Dove. He joined the Martha Graham Dance Company in 1981 and was promoted to Principal Dancer. Currently he serves as Resident Choreographer and Professor of Dance at Vassar College, and is a Guest Instructor at the Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, The Martha Graham Dance Company, and American Academy of Ballet. He has also taught at the Ballet Nacional de Mexico, International Summer School in Sydney, Australia and the Studio Centre de Dance in Paris, France. He is a member of the International Association of Blacks in Dance. In 2020, Mr. Rooks joined the Board of Trustees for the Martha Graham Dance Company.

Offered in partnership with the Cowles Center for Dance.

TU Dance Center: Dancing Together – Session 2

A child and parent/caregiver creative movement class, this 8-week workshop is designed for children ages 2-4 and their parent/caregiver who are interested in a shared movement experience that engages the senses of curiosity and play.

Both child and caregiver will participate in developmentally appropriate movement exercises that incorporate elements such as effort, shape, and tempo. Music will play an essential role in the class as students will be asked to respond to sounds as well as make sounds themselves. Participants will be encouraged to join at their own comfort level with the understanding that observation is often the best form of learning with younger children.

This class will give children and caregivers the opportunity to learn more about themselves and one another through the art form of dance.

Session 2: March 12–May 14
Saturdays, 9:00-9:45am
8 weeks. No class on April 9 and 16.
Tuition: $120.00

Youth Hip Hop Workshop with Erin Sheppard

Erin Sheppard offers a great workshop series for new and continuing hip hop dancers who love to move. Students will learn fundamental techniques and choreography while expanding their knowledge of rhythm and movement.

This class is a great foundation for any young dancer. All levels of experience are welcome!

March 13-April 3, 2022
Sundays, 12:00-12:45pm
For ages 7-10.

In-person only. Limited space available.
Four-Week Workshop: $60 enrollment

Register today: https://conta.cc/3ekHNdW

Dance Innovation for Seasoned Adults 55+ at TU Dance Center

Dance teacher Tamiko French has developed a program centered around revitalizing creativity of storytelling with the building blocks of dance creation that infuses the visual and literary arts.

The 8-week workshop is designed to be sequential for participants, with each class building on the previous class. From a first class in which participants will use poetry, prose, dramatic writing, spoken word, or other writing as a stimulus to create movement, participants will learn about modern and jazz dance techniques and choreographic practice, collaborate and share results with others, study facilitated improvisation and play in dance, and refine their work for a sharing event for family, friends, and the community.

This program is for adults 55+. Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

Thursdays, 10:00am-11:30am CST
Session 1: March 17–May 5
Session 2: May 26–July 14
In-person only. $45 per workshop.

There will be a showing on last day of each workshop from 12:30-2:00pm.

Proof of vaccination and masks are required at the door for all participants.

TU Dance will offer tuition and transportation subsidy upon request. Please contact us at education@tudance.org or (651) 724-9708 to inquire.

Ananya Dance Theatre’s Upcoming Summer Intensive

Mark your calendars for Ananya Dance Theatre’s upcoming two-week Summer Intensive!

  • Monday, June 13 through Friday, June 24
  • 10:00am-1:00pm CST
  • Daily classes
  • Available both online and in-studio

Whether this is your first experience with Yorchhā, or you have been practicing for multiple summers, we will meet you where you are to steer you towards individual excellence.

Yorchhā is Ananya Dance Theatre’s trade-marked contemporary technique that intersects principles of vinyasa yoga, classical Indian dance form Odishi (from the eastern Indian state of Odisha) and martial art form Chhau (also from Odisha).

More details coming soon!

Rosy Simas Danse Managing Director Job Opening

Rosy Simas Danse is seeking a Managing Director in Minneapolis, MN.

Full Time, salaried. Salary: $60,000 annually plus benefits.
Reports to Board of Directors
Supervises Contractors

Position Summary

As the first Managing Director (MD), you will work with the Artistic Director to implement the infrastructure and systems which support day-to-day operations and strategic objectives to execute the vision of Rosy Simas Danse. The Managing Director is responsible for the overall business, administrative, and operational management of the company. This includes leadership of fundraising, budgeting, financial management, HR, information systems, institutional marketing, and board relations.

  • Build the team – hire new staff
  • Engage with new work and local/national artists at the start of a production year
  • Collaborate with the Artistic Director on the organization’s national tour plans
  • Complete tasks with essential filings for a nonprofit 501c3
  • Work with a stable and growing budget, prepare for a fully funded Minneapolis premiere project and its engagement activities in 2022

About Rosy Simas Danse 
For Native communities, art is everything. Art, song, and story manifest our activism, dance is our primary assertion of spirit and identity, and the creation of art is an enormously important part of both our economy and our traditions. Our lifeways and our art ways do not separate.

We make the work of Native artists nationally and internationally visible, to shift the global view of how Native people are seen—to demonstrate that Native artists are contemporary, groundbreaking artists bringing critical Indigenous worldviews to all fields of the arts. RSD furthers artistic and professional growth for Native and BIPOC artists, which in turn provides income, education, visibility, artistic autonomy, and hope for individual artists.

To learn more about us visit the RSD website, our Facebook Page, or our Instagram to get to know our community and programming.

Anti-Oppression, Equity, and Inclusion are Foundational
We believe that the liberation of all peoples starts with the healing of oppression and trauma caused by the intersectional, historical, and current oppression of Native, Indigenous, Black, and People of Color in this country. We acknowledge that all human beings and all species in relationship with human beings need to be free.

The work of Rosy Simas Danse specifically seeks to simultaneously work against all named and unnamed forms of systemic oppression such as white supremacy, patriarchy, homophobia, transphobia, xenophobia, ableism, and gender-bias while advancing an inclusive, abundant, holistic ecosystem, working against capitalist notions of scarcity and value. An ecosystem that will support and allow the Native and BIPOC of the dance community in this country to thrive.

Does this position interest you? Email us and tell us your story! 

Be sure to include your contact information: name, email, and phone number. Please use the subject line “Managing Director” and include the following attachments: 

1) A document with your story or letter of interest telling us why you want this position. Describe the experience that you bring. We want to hear about you, your journey, and why you think this position and RSD are a good fit for you.  
2) Your resume or a list of your experience.

Contact us with your information or any questions at: info@rosysimas.com 

Materials must be received by: Midnight March 1, 2022 CST

Open Call for Film Submissions: Dance Camera North

Join us as we celebrate dance on film for the second annual international dance film festival in Minneapolis!

Hosted by Borealis Dance Theatre, Dance Camera North provides a supportive space for dance filmmakers to challenge choreographic storytelling through film. This innovative platform creates the opportunity to expand the dynamic performative art of dance to larger audiences while pushing the envelope to what is possible through film. Bring your work to the big screen as we present our second annual festival this June.

Early submission deadline is March 14!

For more info and to submit, visit https://filmfreeway.com/DanceCameraNorth.