Class Description & Bios

Waves and Waltzes by Catherine Gallant

This workshop will focus on the breath and embodied flow of the Duncan technique and include a close look at one of her nature focused works created between 1900 and 1923. Through an acknowledgement of Duncan’s time period we re-examine and re-imagine the work making it our own expression rooted in the now. Duncan is quoted as saying that she never taught her students to dance but rather asked them to appeal to their spirits. We will renew and build upon this vision of self-empowerment for a diverse and inclusive dance community bringing 21st century energies and understandings to enliven the work.

Catherine Gallant is the director and co-founder (with Patricia Adams in 1989) of Dances by Isadora which performs, teaches and collaborates with dancers throughout the world. She began her study of the technique of Isadora Duncan with Julia Levien, (a student of Anna and Irma Duncan) in 1982. She is a founding member of the Duncan Archive, an online repository for the Duncan legacy. duncanarchive.org. Catherine is the US performer of Jerome Bel’s Isadora Duncan, part of his dancer series. Ms. Gallant was a NYCDOE dance educator and taught at PS 89 in Manhattan for 25 years. She and her students were featured in the Emmy-nominated PBS documentary, PS DANCE!
She is currently on the faculty of Hunter College and the Dance Education Laboratory (DEL) Catherine creates fully contemporary works with her company Catherine Gallant/DANCE, which has performed at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Jacob’s Pillow/Inside Out, ADG and is currently working on a dance film to be shown in 2025. She is a graduate of the Boston Conservatory and holds an MFA in Dance from Temple University. www.dancesbyisadora.com    www.catherinegallantdance.com

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The Dying Swan – an exploration of movement dynamics. Instructor: Dian Dong

 The session will explore the language of movement, starting from the distinguishing characteristics of modern dance vs classical ballet. By analyzing the actions and dynamics of the iconic solo from Swan Lake, students create their antithesis through modern dance.

A graduate of The Juilliard School, Dian Dong performed with Anna Sokolow’s Players Project, Kathryn Posin Dance Company, Lance Westergard, the national tour of The King & I, Doris Rudko’s Improvisation Ensemble, and was a founding member of H.T. Chen & Dancers. In 2021, she and her late husband H.T. Chen created a K-12 curriculum through Dance Education Lab (DEL) for the NYC DOE’s TRACING FOOTSTEPS series titled “Into the Heart of Chinatown – Hidden Voices”.

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A Historical Dance Odyssey with Celia Ipiotis and EYE ON DANCE

Experience our rich dance legacy through lively conversations featuring icons and mavericks framed by rare performance footage captured on the award-winning EYE ON DANCE television series. Creator, producer and host of EOD, Celia Ipiotis guides the class through generations of concert and vernacular dance artists responsible for building the foundation of an ever-changing artform. Tap into Baroque dance, classical and modern dance at the turn of the century, vernacular and hip hop, as well as tap, experimental, and activist dance forms with artists like Alvin Ailey, Katherine Dunham, Charles "Cookie" Cook, Frankie Manning, Alwin Nikolais, Alicia Alonso, Arthur Mitchell, Yvonne Rainer, Violette Verdy, Virginia Johnson, Merce Cunnhingham and Agnes deMille among others.

Celia Ipiotis is the creator, producer and host of the award-winning humanities PBS series, EYE ON DANCE. Honored with a "Lifetime Achievement" award in 2024 by American Dance Guild, Ipiotis began her professional career as a dancer, choreographer, director and videographer. Singled out for her expertise, Ipiotis lectures and served on college faculties including Rutgers University, Hunter College, Harvard, Ohio State University, New York University, Marymount Manhattan, Aegina Arts Center; sits on local, state, and national arts panels; advised WNET's "Dance in America" and led arts forums at major cultural institutions like the Brooklyn Academy of Music, Lincoln Center, NYC Ballet, NY Foundation for the Arts, Guggenheim Works & Process and Harlem Stage.

After receiving a BFA in Dance at OSU and MA in Arts Media Studies at New School, Ipiotis secured choreographic fellowships, and held artist-in-residence positions throughout the USA. Invited to join the Bessie Awards Nominating Committee, Ipiotis is a member of the Columbia University Dance Scholars Seminars and served as a Research Fellow at Jacob’s Pillow. Articles by Ipiotis appear in various cultural publications and she manages the on-line cultural journal EYE ON THE ARTS. Ipiotis also produces public lectures coupled with EYE ON DANCE episodes for the general public, educational, and cultural institutions. Ipiotis heads the team raising tax-deductible funds for the restoration of the EYE ON DANCE archive for future generations. www.eyeondance.org.

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Description: Dance Composition/ Choreography by Anabella Lenzu

This masterclass will give you the tools to create your own original dances, exploring the elements of composition for the stage. We will examine the creative process by learning how to take risks, transition from thinking to feeling to making artistic choices.

Through short in-class assignments, students will investigate both form and content in choreography. Participants will create solo studies based on choreographic problems.

We look not only at what you dance but also ask the question “Why do you dance?” Dance is the expressive medium of our heart, mind, and soul.

Originally from Argentina, Anabella Lenzu is a dancer, choreographer, scholar & educator with over 30 years of experience working in Argentina, Chile, Italy, and the USA. 

Lenzu directs her own company, Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama (ALDD), which since 2006 has presented 400 performances, created 15 choreographic works and performed at 100 venues, presenting thought provoking and historically conscious dance-theater in NYC.

As a choreographer, she has been commissioned all over the world for opera, TV programs, theatre productions, and by many dance companies. She has produced and directed several award-winning short dance films and screened her work in over 200 festivals both nationally and internationally.

In 2023, Anabella received the National Award for Outstanding Leadership in the Independent Sector by NDEO (National Dance Education Organization) and in 2022, the Innovative Dance Educator Award by NYSDEA (New York State Dance Education Association), acknowledging her work as a dance educator who develops innovative pedagogy in the dance field, groundbreaking teachings that have a significant impact on dance, as well as an established record of exemplary leadership on the state and national level in USA.

Lenzu has written for various dance and arts magazines, and published her first book in 2013, entitled Unveiling Motion and Emotion.  www.AnabellaLenzu.com

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Class Description:  "The Art of Improvisation" Workshop

The session begins with a screening of the 25-minute film, Dancing Without Steps: The Art of Improvisation with Margaret Beals, co-directed by Adriana Davis and Margaret Beals. The screening will be followed by a one-hour workshop on improvisation. 

The practice and performance of improvisation is a process of giving oneself, one's energy and being to whatever focus, situation, or stimulus the "now" moment offers. As one gives oneself to that open and unknown space, one becomes more and more able to experience, express, and shape it. Using different stimuli - sight, touch, words, paintings, etc., we will practice meeting the moment with our most alive and present selves. 

Bio: Born in Boston, Margaret Beals self-trained, dancing without steps until the age of 17. Arriving in New York, she had the privilege of studying with luminaries Martha Graham, Paul Sanasardo and Jose Limon. In the cabaret scene of the 1960s, she worked with solo musicians, including Sam Rivers, Vishnu Wood, and Lee Kunitz. She ended the 1960s performing in stock musicals such as The Music Man, Where’s Charley, Can Can and The Boyfriend. In the 1970s, Ms. Beals danced with the companies of Anna Sokolow, Lucas Hoving, and Jean Erdman. A three-year National Endowment for the Arts grant enabled her to create Improvisations to Chopin with pianist Thomas Hrynkiv. In 1976, Olwyn Hughes gave Ms. Beals the rights to choreograph the “Ariel” poems of Sylvia Plath. She also has written and performed two one-woman evenings, The Teak Room, directed by Tony award winner Tony Tanner, and Pathways, directed by Obie Award winner Lee Nagrin. She continues to coach and teach in her New York studio. www.margaretbeals.org

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Sue Bernard Limon Class Description:

Together we will explore the movement principles that form the basis of the Humphrey/Limon technique: weight, breath, fall and recovery, opposition, succession, and rhythm as tools to further our potential as expressive, dynamic, creative and enlivened movers, in an atmosphere of joy and discovery.

A former member of the Jose Limon Dance Company, Sue Bernhard has taught internationally. She is on faculty at Purchase College Conservatory of Dance and rotating faculty of the Jose Limon Institute. She has set Limon works in workshops and colleges and has also taught at the Juilliard School, Marymount Manhattan College, Hunter College and LIU. She has found Limon technique to be an ongoing source of inspiration, exploration and growth. Sue is Artistic Director of Sue Bernhard Dance works. Her choreography has been shown internationally and

in many venues in NYC. She has created video dance pieces in collaboration with award-winning videographer Penny Ward. As an active member of the American Dance Guild, she enjoys helping to create performance and learning opportunities in the dance community.

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“Flow, Form and Feeling”:  Gloria McLean Class in Erick Hawkins Technique

Gloria McLean will offer a Master Class in Hawkins Technique designed to introduce the principles of movement that are the basis of Hawkins Technique and 

can apply to all dancing.and which also inspire her work LIFEDANCE:  pelvic integration, breath, dynamic kinesiology, momentum, flow, and musicality through creative invention. 

Floorwork, standing, and combinations across the floor.  Open to all - advanced beginner through professional level.  

Gloria McLean is a choreographer, dancer, and teacher, and the artistic director of LIFEDANCE offering workshops and performances. She is based in NYC and Andes, NY at Squid Farm a center for dance and sculpture shared with her life partner Ken Hiratsuka. Gloria became well-known as a leading dancer and rehearsal director for the renowned Erick Hawkins Dance Company from 1982 through 1993, when she left to focus on LIFEDANCE.  Critically acclaimed for her roles, she is a major exponent of this important Modern Dance Legacy.  She is equally recognized for her own choreography with LIFEDANCE/Gloria McLean & Dancers which has been presented in US and internationally, and was called by NYTimes critic Jennifer Dunning  “… “An intelligent, witty and sensuous choreographic voice.”   LIFEDANCE is a creative movement practice that builds on the Hawkins Technique as a base for somatics, technique, composition and performance. McLean has been President of the American Dance Guild since 2012 supporting our mission of offering a “window to the past” and a “doorway to the future” of dance.  

www.gloriamcleandance.com    Www.vimeo.com/gloriamclean

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Class Description: Improvisation by Ara Fitzgerald 

In the tradition of ADG honoring dance legends, Ara is thrilled to share basic techniques of the Workgroup, directed by Daniel Nagrin, as well as elements of composition inherent in movement creation in the moment. All level of dancers are welcome. We are led by our personal movement vocabularies into spontaneous interaction with others. Improvisation is an art of its own but as a training tool it can elevate technique to the communicative language we seek in performance. 

 Ara Fitzgerald has performed and taught improvisation for decades. She was a member of The Workgroup, directed by Daniel Nagrin, The Entourage Music and Theatre Ensemble, and is currently collaborating on projects with dancers Clare Byrne and Martha Moore, composer Wall Matthews and photographer, Peter Cunningham as well as performing as a soloist. 

A graduate of Connecticut College (BA) where she studied improv with Martha Myers and Wesleyan University (MALS) where she studied with Richard Bull, Ara taught improvisation at The National Theatre Institute, Connecticut College, Trinity Square Conservatory and at Manhattanville College where she served as a director of Dance and Theatre, created a freshman seminar, “Serious Play. Improvisation in Life and the Arts.”  Dedicated to improvisation as the essence of artistic process, she suspects she performed her first improv in the living room at age 3 and this year introduced a new character, The Bird Who Knows Everything, who attempts to dance out answers to life’s questions.  Ara is creating  a book of her solo performance scripts and drawings, Slow Dancing Is Easy.(www.arafitzgerald.com) 

Daniel Nagrin (1917-2008), one of the great modern dance solo dance artists, was a master teacher, choreographer, and a seminal figure in dance improvisation whose book, “Dance and the Specific Image: Improvisation” was published by The University of Pittsburgh Press in 1994.  He directed the Workgroup, an improvisational dance company in the 1970’s whose methods are as relevant today as they ever were. 

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Technique & Repertory from Joan Miller: Teacher Dina Denis

 Company member Dina Denis will teach SECTIONS FROM the repertory piece, "GO FER B'ROQUE", a celebration of dynamics, suspensions; a jubilant play with the classical and random everyday movement. Experience Joan Miller's zany sense of humor, slightly off-beat point of view and eclectic sense of dance. "On your mark, get set, go Baroque". (Sections from repertory courtesy of Sheila Kaminsky). 
Joan Miller created her unique varied repertory for over 40 years. She had received numerous grants in support of her work and has been awarded and honored by numerous organizations, most recently the ADG lifetime achievement award. She danced with the companies of Jose Limon, Anna Sokolow, Ruth Currier, Rudy Perez, Rod Rodgers, and in the early 1960's Judson Church Dance Programs. Joan Earned a BA in dance from Brooklyn College, an MA from Teachers College Columbia and a professional diploma from Juilliard.  She was the founder/director of the dance program at Lehman College where she created the BA and BFA dance degree.
SECTIONS FROM the repertory piece, "GO FER B'ROQUE", a celebration of dynamics, suspensions; a jubilant play with the classical and random everyday movement. Experience Joan Miller's zany sense of humor, slightly off-beat point of view and eclectic sense of dance. "On your mark, get set, go Baroque".  (Sections from repertory courtesy of Sheila Kaminsky). 

Joan Miller created her unique varied repertory for over 40 years. She had received numerous grants in support of her work and has been awarded and honored by numerous organizations, most recently the ADG lifetime achievement award. She danced with the companies of Jose Limon, Anna Sokolow, Ruth Currier, Rudy Perez, Rod Rodgers, and in the early 1960's Judson Church Dance Programs. Joan Earned a BA in dance from Brooklyn College, an MA from Teachers College Columbia and a professional diploma from Juilliard.  She was the founder/director of the dance program at Lehman College where she created the BA and BFA dance degree.

Dina Denis  is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher from Queens, NY. She holds a BA in Dance from Hofstra University and an MA in Dance Education from New York University. Dina is a K-12 New York State certified dance educator who has taught in public and private schools, colleges as well as various studio and community settings. Dina is the founder and artistic director of the modern dance company, Dance Into Light, Inc.(www.dinadenisdance.org). Dina is also co-owner of Here and Now Yoga, Wellness & Arts Collective, in Floral Park, NY. Dina began performing with Joan Miller’s Dance Players in 2002 until Joan’s final performance in 2007. Dina also worked with Ms. Miller as her administrative assistant. Dina had the pleasure of closely working with Joan and her Dance Players on creating original works and restaging repertory pieces. She also represented Joan Miller’s Dance Players by teaching and performing in community engagement programs. Dina has had the pleasure of dancing throughout her professional career with: Anabella Lenzu/DanceDrama, Yana Schnitzler's Human Kinetics Movement Arts, Robin Becker Dance, Douglas Dunn and Dancers, Joan Miller's Dance Players, Sheila Kaminsky, Martial Roumain, Abdel Salaam, Dr. Glory Van Scott, Joan Peters, and Val Suarez.