WORKSHOP

MADE BY WOMEN WORKSHOP

Saturday, September 28th
10am-4:30pm
Location : Gibney 280

As part of the MADE BY WOMEN Festival, Dual Rivet is excited to add a 6-hour, high intensity workshop comprised of the key technical and theatrical elements the company works with. This year’s Faculty includes Dual Rivet, Stefanie Batten Bland, and Isadora Wolfe! The workshop will dive deep into theatrical exploration,  floorwork technique, states of tension, improvisation and partnering repertoire. This workshop is designed to push our understanding of our physicality as movers, explore our technique through physical communication, and delve into exciting character development. We are so excited to share our highly physical, contemporary movement with the community.

MEET THE FACULTY

  • STEFANIE BATTEN BLAND

    Stefanie Batten Bland A global creator based in NYC and France. Stefanie is the child of a jazz composer/producer, father, and writer mother, and was raised in SoHo when artists led it. Stefanie's work interrogates contemporary and historical cultural symbolism—their categories of cultural identifiers and how these identities influence human relationships. 

    Stefanie works with proximity by creating worlds for guests to step into through interactive & immersive theatrical experiences. Artistic Director for Company SBB, Creative Casting & Movement Director for Life & Trust, Performance and Identity liaison for Sleep No More, 

    SBB launched the first-ever immersive theatre Summer Intensive CONCRETE to better address the hyphenated dance genre—physical theatre—and how the techniques are used in proximity-based creations. Be it her company, commercial projects, or summer intensive, SBB approaches performer perception in physical space and interrogates the unintentional cultural biases that flare up in up-close promenade performance.

    https://www.companysbb.org/

  • DUAL RIVET - Jessica Smith & Chelsea Ainsworth

    DUAL RIVET

    is a women-led dance company focused on creating and sharing highly physical contemporary dance to a wide audience. Based in NYC, Dual Rivet creates work for stage and film that exchanges a cinematic and visceral language to influence both platforms. Directors Jessica Smith and Chelsea Ainsworth have been making and presenting work since 2017. They have performed, taught, and set work at Festival PRISMA (Panama), b12 (Berlin), Centro Cultural Los Talleres (Mexico), Barnard College/Columbia University, Sam Houston State University, Oklahoma International Dance Festival, Austin Dance Festival, Joe's Pub, West End Theatre, Kittery Maine, Musikfest Pennsylvania, Gibney Dance, Peridance Capezio Center, CreateArt, Arts On Site and many more.

    The company teaches a myriad of classes, throughout the United States and internationally, with an emphasis on contemporary partnering and floorwork. Dual Rivet is currently on faculty at The Juilliard School, Gibney, Peridance, SUNY Purchase, Marymount Manhattan College, and Adelphi University. The company hosts an annual choreography festival, MADE BY WOMEN, highlighting women choreographers and filmmakers from around the globe. For more info:

    www.dualrivetdance.com

  • ISADORA WOLFE

    Isadora Wolfe is a dance-theater artist located in New York City and the Berkshires.  She is currently an Artistic Associate of Punchdrunk, following her tenures as Resident Director and Associate Artistic Director at Sleep No More.  Isadora has collaborated with makers such as Johannes Wieland (Kassel, Germany and original member of Wieland's NYC company), Martha Clarke (Garden of Earthly Delights, Angel Reapers), Punchdrunk (Sleep No More), Richard Jones (The Hairy Ape), David Auburn, Maxine Doyle and Gerald Casel.  She has taught for companies and institutions including Alvin Ailey II, Ballet Hispanico, Jacob's Pillow, Marymount Manhattan, NYU's Tisch School, Rutger's University and Springboard Dance Festival; and is on faculty at The Juilliard School where she continues to develop her Acting for Dancers course. 

    www.isadoramovementarts.com

WHAT TO EXPECT

PHYSICAL THEATRE PERSPECTIVES
with Stefanie Batten Bland

Physical Theatre Perspectives examines our ability to tell stories in experimental movement, text, and proximity-based scenarios. This genre-blending class explores devising and directorial skills necessary for moving, acting, sound, and text to defend abstract and linear narration.

PARTNERING + FLOORWORK
with Dual Rivet

Dual Rivet’s class encompasses a wide range of contemporary floorwork and partnering skills. We will explore intense physicality through strength building techniques, attention to placement and weight, and a curiosity to move. The classes will include basic floorwork and partnering concepts, contact improvisation, and repertoire that is inspired heavily by capoeira, acrobatics, and release technique. The class emphasizes our maximum physical capacity as movers as we will focus on softening and delving into safe practices. The result will be momentous, seamless and sustainable movement, allowing for personal exploration of style and musicality.

STATES + STORY
with Isadora Wolfe

Using her two decades of performance and creation with dance theater artists such as Johannes Wieland, Punchdrunk and Martha Clarke, Isadora has honed her workshops and classes to develop performance skills of professional and pre-professional artists. Through a designed progression, the artist learns how to release inhibition and gain nuanced control of their energetic and storytelling abilities. Performers will gain comfort and freedom in their play inside both contemporary dance and theater-driven work.