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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:

#2 – February 20, 2022
Tough Love in teaching. What is it? How is it done correctly? Unlearning problematic methods from our past and moving on with a mental health approach to dance pedagogy.
Presenter: Jo-Anne La Flèche, MPsy, MA Dance – consulting psychologist to l’École supérieure de ballet du Québec.

#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.
Presenter: Marissa Schaeffer, PT, DPT, CSCS – licensed physical therapist and NSCA Certified Strength and Conditioning Specialist in New York City.

Join us for Flow Space, an atmosphere that allows for the act of “pure play” to help dance artists use more capacity, intellect, sense, courage, and imagination in their movement styles.

Conducted by director of The DASH Ensemble, Gregory Dolbashian, the class is a highly developed series of improvisational tools and games that warms and pushes both the mind and the body to break habits and fulfill more presence. These exercises are all methods that Gregory has developed and utilized to create movement with The DASH.

The artists learn confidence not just in themselves but also in the environment that they are a part of. Games and tasks work both on the individual and in tandem, so that Flow Space creates a community for progress, inspiration, and most of all, discovery. Classes are for dancers aged 16+.

Sunday, February 20, 2022
11:00am-12:30pm CST
$20 per participant
In person and via Zoom
Pre-registration required as in-studio space is limited!

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

Join us on Monday, February 21, for a day of classes featuring a variety of fun styles! Spend your day off from school exploring new styles of dance with your friends! Classes include Family Dance, Creative Movement, and a half-day Variety Camp.

Family Dance
Join us for a morning of dancing together with teacher extraordinaire, Julia Davidson. Children and caregivers will get a special start to their day, exploring movement and stories in a fun environment.
Ages 1–6 with Caregiver
9:15–10:00am
$15

Creative Movement
Your little one can explore the possibilities of movement with a focus on storytelling. From a personal experience to the depths of their imaginations, children will spend time expressing the stories that reside in their bodies and minds. In this fun-filled class, children develop large and fine motor skills, as well as coordination, rhythm, and listening skills as they go on their creative adventures.
Ages 4–7
10:00am–12:00pm
$25

Variety Dance Camp
Send your dancers to us for their afternoon off! In this camp, dancers will experience a variety of styles including Percussive Dance with Karla Nweje, Hip Hop with Waswa Kalema, Jazz Dance with Javan Mngrezzo, and Modern with Anat Shinar.
Ages 7–13 and 14–18
1:00–4:30pm
$50 

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

Each session will begin with a guided improvisation rooted in the Gaga movement language to warm up the body and creative mindset. Students will both learn phrase work, as well as deconstruct Ahlgren’s previously made choreography as a means to collaboratively build new movement vocabulary. Depending on weekly attendance, phrasing may build from week to week or start fresh each session. Expect a physical practice with room to honor personal needs and/or limitations week to week.

Originally from St. Paul, Berit Ahlgren gained her foundational dance training from Minnesota Dance Theater and received a BFA in Dance from St. Olaf College, where she also studied biomedical studies. Ahlgren was a founding member of TU Dance under the artistic directorship of Toni Pierce-Sands and Uri Sands, and performed with the company between 2006—2016. Receiving Metropolitan Regional Arts Council’s Next Step Grant in 2011, Ahlgren had the opportunity to study the Gaga Movement Language in Tel Aviv, and moved to Israel to pursue teacher certification between 2011-2012.

Ahlgren earned her MFA in Dance from NYU/Tisch School of the Arts in 2016, and has since been on faculty at the University of Minnesota and Winona State University, performing with independent choreographers between Minneapolis and New York, and choreographing her own growing body of work for both stage and camera under her organization HoneyWorks.

Ahlgren has had the great pleasure to work with Crystal Pite, Ohad Naharin, Netta Yerushalmy, Gregory Dolbashian, Dwight Rhodan, among others. Ahlgren co-choreographed and performs in Ashwini Ramaswamy’s Let the Crows Come” (hailed by the Washington Post as one of the best dance performances of 2021) and co-created the event “Live @ The Shed” with Helen Hatch which has premiered both bolerobolero (“A heroic work, a spectacle for our time,” 2020) and LDV (“an exuberant work [of] whirling gusto,” 2021). In addition to her work as performer and choreographer, Berit teaches classes in the Gaga Movement Language regularly in the Twin Cities, and well as guest teaching nationally and abroad.

Creative Movement is a hybrid class (in studio or online) made for adult movers who are just beginning to enter, or re-enter, a movement practice and are curious about improvisation within the realm of contemporary dance. However, more experienced movers are also welcome in order to explore their own practice in a relaxed and open environment.

This workshop will include a group warm-up, several layers of prompted improvisation, and a shared improv score set to music. The atmosphere is welcoming and celebratory of all styles, levels, and abilities. It is a chance to explore your own body and self through motion and flow, bringing out your authentic movement voice. Let’s have fun, be playful, and get curious together through dance!

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.

Proof of vaccination and masks are required at the door for all participants. There will be a showing on last day of each workshop from 12:30-2:00pm.

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