October 31st, 11am-1pm Hana van der Kolk

This is Dancing...
is a contemporary dance technique class open to all levels of dance experience. Class begins with a slow warm up drawing from yoga, mindfulness meditation, the Alexander Technique, Body Mind Centering, and various dance traditions. With a focus on cultivating kinesthetic awareness and heightening mental presence we then move between guided improvisations and simple and repetative set material that draws from jazz, Hip Hop, modern dance, and West African movement vocabularies. Class might finish with a simple movement phrase set to music (think Cyndi Lauper, Janet Jackson, Animal Collective, Justin Timberlake, NIna Simone) and/or scores for practicing improvised choreography. From start to finish we will move, sweat, play, and dance together in a collective space of exploration and positivity. This is Dancing draws inspiration from the work of Deborah Hay, Simone Forti, d. Sabela Grimes, Germaine Acogny, Merce Cunningham, and many others.

Hana van der Kolk is a choreographer based in Los Angeles. Her projects combine elements of conceptual practice with the techniques of postmodern theater and choreography and take place in a wide range of sites, including the stage, studios and galleries, in writing, on film, and in outdoor, public spaces. She is highly influenced by choreographer Deborah Hay whose solos she has been learning and adapting since 2000. The adaptations as well as Hana's own work have been presented throughout the U.S. and Europe. Hana has collaborated with Carolina San Juan, Layard Thompson, Jesse Johnson, Robby Herbst, My Barbarian, Jesse Aron Green and many others. As a performer she has appeared in the work of Taisha Paggett, Rebecca Pappas, Cid Pearlman, Dan Froot/Dan Hurlin and others. Hana has taught dance and yoga in public parks, private back yards, studios, retreat centers, universities, and high schools throughout the country, and is a regular guest teacher at the School for New Dance Development, Amsterdam. In 2008 Hana founded Genesis Project, Los Angeles, a forum for dialogue about interdisciplinary, body-based artistic practice and a month-long, process-based artists’ residency. For more please visit www.genesisprojectla.org <http://www.genesisprojectla.org/> and www.hanavanderkolk.com <http://www.hanavanderkolk.com/> .