Groundwork
Discover new pathways and conquer old fears

Train and experiment low to the ground, inverted and off-balance. Fall in love with falling and discover an intimate relationship with the floor. Cultivate the specific awareness and sensory fields necessary in three-dimensional action. Discover new pathways and conquer old fears moving in and through all planes. A warm-up to build structural integrity, strength, instincts and control is followed by set material and creative work. Knee pads are recommended!



Partnering
structured situations and personal discovery

Train in partnerships both improvisational and composed with a focus on full range – basic to virtuosic, abstract to dramatic and experiential to expressive. Approach partnering from four directions – energetic and somatic work to awaken sensation, articulation and efficiency; Contact Improvisation for instinctual, intelligent and imaginative responses to shared touch, weight and composition; techniques in levity, leverage, frame, grip and phrasing for power, precision and communication skills; and repertory and creative investigations to filter the information through set material, structured situations and personal discovery.




Integration
a language for action and reaction

Investigate approaches to the act of motion, improvisation, creative process and performance. Engage in energetic, somatic and hands-on experiments to generate sensation. Explore improvisation in solo and contact realms to discover new ideas with spontaneity and clarity of intention. Navigate groundwork and motion techniques to ignite and inform physical intelligence, efficient power and three-dimensional range. Learn and create material to fine-tune and quicken the body-mind connection. Give and receive feedback to articulate a language for action and reaction. Pool all of your resources and go deeper into how and why you dance.


Kathleen Hermesdorf
Kathleen Hermesdorf is a San Francisco-based dance artist known for a sensate, feral and mercurial style of motion, creation and performance as well as depth, presence and range in the collaborative company work of her mentors - Margaret Jenkins (1993-99/1999 IZZY Award), Sara Shelton Mann/Contraband (1994-present) and Bebe Miller (2002-present/2006 Bessie Award). With musician Albert Mathias, she directs MOTIONLAB (www.motion-lab.net), creating work of deeply integrated dance and music that is vigorously intertwined and viscerally transmitted. They produce events for the stage, club and studio, offer training throughout the US and are on the faculty of ODC School (www.odcschool.org). Hermesdorf has collaborated with Stephanie Maher in Berlin since 1997 and she co-directed Hermesdorf & Wells Dance Company with Scott Wells, sharing a 1994 GOLDIE Award. She holds a BFA and MFA in Dance Performance & Pedagogy and teaches and creates throughout the US and Europe. She is the recipient of a 2005/06 CHIME Grant with Brenda Way via the Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, a 2006/07 San Francisco Arts Commission and continuing support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation.