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SPECIAL GUESTS:
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ALANNA KRAAIJEVELD (CANADA)
WORKSHOP EXPLORING
FIGHTING MONKEY PRINCIPLES
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VIM VIGOR's SUMMER PROGRAM is in response to the need for contemporary dance-theater based education in the greater NYC area. The PROGRAM is anchored in the company's commitment to activating the whole of the performer, from the extremes of virtuosic dance to the fluid awareness of emotion and experience.

 

VIM's program is focused on professional development with daily contemporary floorwork classes that improve dancers' ability to access their natural stealth with power into and out of the floor, their athleticism to move with efficiency and healthy alignment, and their artistry to work with context, emotional impulse and the ensemble. Afternoons are dedicated to workshops focused on improvisation, contact partnering and momentum based mechanics, VIM VIGOR repertory, dance theater exploration, creative exchange with the company, and roundtable community discussions. And new this year ,we are adding morning acting classes prior to the physical aspects of the day, to provide each dancer with in-depth theatrical training.

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In addition to VIM's incredible artists teaching classes and workshops, we are delighted to have several special guests join us from around the world including Victoria P. Miranda from Spain. Other guest teachers to be announced shortly!

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ALANNA's BIO

Alanna Kraaijeveld is a contemporary dance artist who has been active in the milieu for 15 years. She toured internationally with Dave St-Pierre, one of Canada's most sought-after choreographers, in productions Un peu de tendresse bordel de merde and Foudres.  From 2004-2008 she was a company dancer of Le Groupe Dance Lab, an international centre for choreographic research, under the direction of Order of Canada recipient Peter Boneham.  Alanna is a close student of Linda Kapetanea and Jozef Frucek, developers of Fighting Monkey Practice.  

 

As performer, teacher and improvisor, her collaborations have been diverse and numerous.  Artists and organizations include Marie Claire Forté, Modus Operandi, École supérieure d’art dramatique (Paris), Justine Chambers, Yves Charuest, Company 605, Studio 303, Stella Adler Studio of Acting (NYC), Opéra de Québec, William Parker, Louise Bédard, Frédérick Gravel, among others.

 

Alanna shares her knowledge of movement across various communities including dance, theatre, sports, and at-risk youth.  She holds a Master of Arts degree in Professional Practice (Dance Technique Pedagogy).

ALANNA'S
 
WORKSHOP

Improvised tasks and forms are employed to determine and stimulate those areas where mobility, coordination, and perception are limited or less integrated.  Here the aim is to develop breadth of movement, creativity, and individual expression that can be applied across many contexts and disciplines.  


Alanna’s classes are informed by her ongoing study of Fighting Monkey (FM). FM is an evolving movement practice centered on context driven, collaborative practices that prioritize communication, intuition and whole-body coordination through play to accelerate skill development. 

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BEN MEHL (USA)
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ACTING / PHYSICAL THEATER
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BEN's BIO
BEN'S
 
WORKSHOP

BEN MEHL  / SPECIAL GUEST / ACTING

Mehl has served as an adjunct teacher at the NYU Graduate Acting Program, where he received his MFA in acting. He currently teaches in the Hagen Core Training program at HB Studio and at the New York Film Academy. He has also taught at The Public Theater, Red Bull Theater, The Refugee Youth Summer Academy, the New School and as a private coach. He is a member of the Actor's Center and a volunteer at the 52nd Street Project. Acting credits include: Off-Broadway: The Government Inspector, School for Scandal;  (Red Bull Theater); Pericles, Comedy of Errors (Public Theater). Regional: The Crucible, Yentl (Cleveland Playhouse); Troublemaker (Berkeley Repertory Theatre); Six Degrees of Separation (Williamstown Theatre Festival); Henry V (Two River Theater); Love’s Labour’s Lost (Chautauqua Theater Company). Other New York: dannykrisdonnaveronica, Julius Caesar (Wheelhouse Theater); At the Table (Fault Line Theatre); Habit (P.S. 122); The Law of Return (4th Street Theatre). TV: "The Good Wife", "Supernatural Investigator". Film: Viral Beauty, The Fly Room.

When you can surprise yourself, you can surprise an audience. Through games and physical/vocal play, participants will work on following impulses, listening, befriending failure, stepping out into the unknown and assuming their own brilliance. We will play games as a group that demand a high level of focus and listening, we will also work in smaller groups and in partners, acting and reacting and honing in on a moment-to-moment sense of play. We will also explore how true desire and need can force us to get out of our own heads and place the focus on our scene partner. 

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VIM VIGOR SPECIAL WORKSHOPS
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PARNTER PLAY
IMPETUS

Starting with the basics of a rolling point of contact through which both dancers give and share weight - participants will ride the wave together without judgement, prediction or independent control. Through a guided set of exercises and propositions, dancers will become mind reading daredevils that fall, fly, slide, pivot and support a shared practice. Culminating in a circle of support, dancers will join one another to explore and share; in the moment creative choices will form new pathways and raw material for future creative development.

A study of the body as a vehicle for storytelling. This workshop aims to source the impulses that create movement. In order to connect to our experiences and our ability to emote. Viewing movement as the epicenter for communication; we will train our sensitivity to the group mind. In an effort to create context for improvised scores. Working towards efficiency in our actions to create clarity in our narratives. 

VIVID STATES / ALTER EGO
VIM VIGOR CREAIVE PROCESS

 I’m interested in raising the stakes and in doing so by thrusting performers into surreal and heightened spaces. I’m interested in physical and psychological triggers and portals. I’m interested in bringing characters to life that begin at our true natures and then breaking through into new and forbidden places. Working with improvisational and theatrical propositions we will look at: what happens when the floodgates of your inner world are opened? Who do you become when you believe in a fantasy? How do we move seamlessly between the surreal and the simple? The balance of listening and reacting will offer unprecedented access into the unknown territories of other people and ourselves. Meisner based acting exercises have been coupled with Gillen’s unique theatrical approach to assist dancers in accessing their ability to live truthfully. Monologue and scene study will also be explored.

Bring it all together inside a creative process with VIM VIGOR. For the first time we are excited to offer a creative process during our educational programming in NYC. Join us for a rigorous and collaborative research process, where we will generate the first sketch of a new work. Participants will dive head long into building, editing and finally sharing their discoveries. Mind, body and inner life are going to get a work out.

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