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uma blog

contemporary Fusion Dance workshop

3/30/2021

 

Helen Nolan teaches a contemporary fusion Dance workshop April 4th @UMA! 

Contemporary Fusion
Sunday, April 4th @ 2:30pm
Sign up through our homepage!
Helen has been training in street styles such as hip hop foundations, house, locking and popping since she was in grade school in Boulder, Colorado. Later on she began to branch out to incorporate contemporary dance styles in her training. Since then, she has refined her own style through experimentation in choreographing, enjoying and exploring the interplay between the various styles she has under her belt. Helen has danced and toured with, in addition to choreographed for, LA based dance company Academy of Villains Contemporary and has sat as artistic director and danced for Colorado based company Side By Side Dance Co. founded by Larkin Poynton and Sarah Touslee. ​
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In her workshop on April 4th “Contemporary Fusion”, Helen will present a version of what a fusion between contemporary movement and hip hop movement could be. She will introduce participants to her personal methods of movement generation within this blend of styles. Participants will also begin to explore and discover within their own bodies what movement possibilities are opened up when we experiment with this kind of fusion. 
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Get to know a little more about Helen and what to expect from her upcoming workshop below!
Could you talk about your relationship with choreographing movement?
An early inspiration for me was being interested in seeing how contemporary choreographers formulated their dances for the stage as opposed to for a cypher or street gathering. Different stories and emotions can be told by utilizing these tools in choreography. I like to take elements from both [contemporary dance and hip hop forms] and have them ping pong back and forth from each other. That will definitely happen in this class. 

My love for choreographing really started in CO when I was dancing with a company called Side By Side Dance Co founded by Larkin Poynton and Sarah Touslee. They were 2 humongous inspirations for me in terms of pushing my preconceived boundaries of what making dances that aren’t clear cut hip hop dances but still uphold its principles can look like. What if we use hip hop vocabulary but perform to a different type of music? What if we use hip hop vocabulary and other movement strategically to tell a story in a dance? I’d also like to say my relationship to choreography really grew out of being a part of a supportive community who was excited to make stuff with me. It takes a village!

Today I use choreography as a tool for reflection and recontextualizing the world around me. I’m interested in using the practices of dancing, making, and watching choreography to question and make sense of things that sometimes aren’t so apparent in everyday life! I’m always working to expand my movement vocabulary to have more things to pull from.

How do you discover the movement that you decide to set in your choreography?
We’ll touch a little on that in class! Some of the improv work we do will be movement creation using one version of a process that I use sometimes. I come to choreography in a lot of different ways. I like to put myself through prompts or games to try to find different ways of combining movements together vs. listening to a song and trying to make a move that matches that part of the song. I try using limitations or choreography maps or other types of fun prompts to help spice things up and allow different results to come than I might have gotten if I just tried to pull moves out of my brain cold. After the initial exploration the next stage is usually revision and articulation of the nitty gritty details like musicality and texture. 
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What is your goal for this workshop?
My goal is not for everyone to look exactly like me at the end of the class. My goal is for the choreography and improvisation scores to be a guide into your own individual exploration and experimentation practice in your mind and body.
Sign up for Helen's workshop through our homepage!

UMA fam heather wrote a very moving letter to uma <3

3/25/2021

 
Learning about learning: A Love Letter to UMA and to Imperfection 
UMA Homie Heather (who made the dope "Seduce Yourself" poster featured below and is just generally a badass at making things, dancing, teaching Spanish and so much more) shared a reflection on learning, vulnerability and embracing imperfection that centers around her experience at UMA. Heather is a shining example of a community member that goes after their goals while also uplifting and supporting the rest of the community. We're so lucky to have people like Heather in our midst! ​
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(Shout out to UMA fam Julia D. on the left in the pic with the puppets!)
Learning about learning: A Love Letter to UMA and to Imperfection   

My first experience at UMA involved me standing in the back corner of the studio watching my body move in the mirror. Spastic, erratic, and stiff.  It was a house class, and I was mortified. I had a small crisis, contained to the few speckled white floor tiles where I stood.  I was quick to make jokes about how terrible and how sweaty I was, to beat others to the chase. I muttered them to the people beside me any chance I got. This has been my M.O. over the years—self deprecating armor. In a way the armor works. It also prevents me from trying anything wholeheartedly. I suffered through to the end of class, relieved to be able to get out of there. 

It went on like that for a few classes. One mortifying experience after another.  One more hour of watching my body do something very different from what I was asking it to. At some point I stopped cracking jokes about how bad I was, mostly because no one seemed to care much. Honestly no one was really looking at me in class at all.  Sometimes I’d get to class early and eat a snack that I’d bought in the deli downstairs and I’d watch people practice. The people practicers ranged from being brand new to the teachers whose artistry was, and still is, otherworldly to me. Over time I let myself genuinely try in class. And I started to get the hang of some movements. That felt good. Then I got the hang of a few more. Each time I learned something I had more evidence that getting it was possible, because I had gotten things before.  It went on like that in a loop: movement, progress, confidence and so on.  

As my vocabulary grew, I started to be able to decode the movement of dancers that hung around that I admired. I started to see their movements in their smallest units, little steps strung together and made personal by the way their particular bodies tended to move.  Before this I just thought that dance was magic, and it is, but not the kind that I thought. Not the kind that you are born with —or not —but the kind that you go building.  Developing over the course of many hours of linking small learned things together, of messing around with friends, of practicing in the lobby before class while shy new dancers eat snacks nearby and try to play it cool like they aren’t watching you intently.  
   
About a year into going to UMA regularly, they hosted a series called “Working on It”. A cabaret of sorts in which people showed pieces they were working on that were at varying stages of development. Again, demystifying the creative process. Watching these shifted something in me, allowing me to see people’s unfinished works. And again, witnessing people that I had come to know in class letting themselves be seen as they were. 

Somewhere in the intersection of these experiences I learned something other than movement. Or rather, movement became the vehicle through which I could practice vulnerability in a concrete way: over and over in a room full of sweaty people.  People say things all the time like “believe in yourself” or “be more confident.”  And I always agree, but never knew how.  Understanding this process has opened up a whole creative world for me.  I’ve been able to teach myself things with a new fluency, and a new joy. 

It was on the train home from a Working on It that I decided to make my own puppet show. Because, why not me? And a year later I did — an imperfect, falling apart, beautiful, DIY, earnest, clumsy puppet show in my living room. The cast was populated by people that I know through UMA.  Friends from UMA filled the audience. Here, another stepping stone in that movement- progress- confidence cycle. This summer, I will be publishing a book of short stories. This, yet again, terrifies me, but the terror is now something I’m better acquainted with. When I was writing out my thank you’s at the end of the book I felt compelled to include everyone at UMA, for teaching me how to stick with myself through all of my imperfection. For screaming “YOU BETTER GET IT” at full volume every time I got up the nerve to close my eyes and jump into the middle of a cypher.  

contemporary dance workshop March 28th

3/18/2021

 

whole Body: Moving from the floor up
A workshop with michele tantoco

Michele is coming to us with years of experience in contemporary dance techniques, somatic movement practices, performance and teaching. After graduating from Bryn Mawr in 2001, she began performing, teaching, creating and exploring movement in Philadelphia. She has been a longstanding member of Leah Stein Dance Company. She has worked with numerous individuals and groups such as Dancefusion, Ann-Marie Mulgrew, Shannon Murphy, Gabrielle Revlock, Meg Foley, Daniele Strawmyre, Nicole Canuso, Myra Bazell, Darla Stanley, Charles Anderson, and Kate Watson-Wallace. Over the course of the pandemic she has focused primarily on teaching virtual movement/ conditioning classes through the lenses of pilates, yoga, strength training and somatics.

In her workshop on March 28th, Michele will focus on mindfulness in transitions and finding trust in sensation. Movers will begin the workshop at the ground level and progress to standing, culminating in an exploration of moving into and out of the floor.
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I talked with her to find out a little more about her and what to expect from her upcoming workshop! Check it out: 
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You have been primarily teaching conditioning and yoga classes throughout the pandemic. Often when people come into these classes they may not necessarily be looking for a creative or mindful practice. Could you talk about how you’ve brought creativity and your experience with dance into the teaching of those disciplines?

Recently I have become more interested in transitions. In classical exercise you do one exercise and then the next and it feels very broken up. I think there’s a lot to be said about the moment in between. For instance, if we’re doing something on the ground and then something standing- what do we do in that moment in between being on the ground and standing? That can be something that is very technically difficult to break down or think about. There's so many ways to get onto and off of the ground- of course there’s “functional” ways. But ask- what are the ways that you in your own body are able to find your ranges of coming up and down? It might change everyday. So focusing on transitions is one. 

Mindfulness comes to mind too. The pace that I teach at is often quite deliberate. I challenge people to think about more than just the experience of alignment and precision. What are the possibilities of changing that alignment? Pushing further than the architecture of your body but instead finding trust in sensation. That’s what I get from dance- I don’t want to just say “I know that I’m dancing well when it feels good”- but… basically- that’s what it feels like to me. [As a dancer] I know when I’m getting into a flow with an improvisation and I know what that sensation is like.  Being able to find that in more simple movements is important too.”

What do you plan to focus on in this workshop?

I built this class around transitioning from the ground to standing and doing so in a progressive way so that at the end we can combine all the elements to be up standing. Then we can work on moving into and out of the floor with options- moving through lunges or hands and knees or rolling on your side etc. The flow of the class is like a choreography in that it has this element of building up to something- with some openness to it. It’s not strict- it’s more of an exploration. A class that progressively builds up to an exploration of moving into and out of the floor. 

I’m interested in the idea of openness. You can do a bicep curl a million different ways. You could be lunging and then stand up or lunging and then fall over to your side. I’m interested in breaking down the walls that technique has set up- walls that feel really secure but then you don’t always know how to get outside of them. I'm hoping to work toward being able to move and be moved by what you’re feeling inside and the space around you and not just mastering technique. 

What has kept you interested in/ coming back to dance for so long?

Mostly the community of people I find myself in. Collaborators. I get the most inspiration from moving and making in collaboration. I thrive off of being in contact with and building relationships within a community.
Join Michele March 28th @ 2:30pm. Class will take place on zoom. Sign up through our website homepage!

Umfundalai workshop with julian

3/7/2021

 
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Sunday, March 14th 
2:30-4:00pm
Online and In-Person
Sign up through our Homepage!
Umfundalai is a contemporary African dance technique that comprises its movement vocabulary from dance traditions throughout the Diaspora. The literal word, Umfundalai, means “essential” in Kiswahili. Much like the late Katherine Dunham, Kariamu Welsh, Umfundalai’s progenitor, has designed a stylized movement practice that seeks to articulate an essence of African – oriented movement or as she describes, “an approach to movement that is wholistic, body centric and organic.” - umfundalai.net 

Julian has been working in the style of Umfundalai for about 9 years. He says that Umfundalai began as a dream for black women to have a space to “have a space to express their stories, learn more about their bodies and utilize them as an instrument of creation,” (it wasn’t until the mid 1990s we began to see more men participating in the style). 
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Umfundalai is an explorative style- it asks “what can you do with your body? How many different ways can you access different types of movement? How can you express different concepts with the information your body has to offer?” The style centers on arriving where you are and expressing who you are in the moment while constantly learning and adding more information, knowledge and skills. The fact that everyone will look different performing, studying and creating work within the Umfundalai technique is welcomed and encouraged. 

I spoke with Julian to find out a little bit more about his relationship to Umfundalai and what we can expect from his workshop! Check it out: 
How did you get into studying Umfundalai?
 I have been working in this style for 9 years. I remember one of my friends from Temple University asked me ‘what are you doing on Saturday morning?’ and I said…sleeping?’ and she said ‘no you’ll be in Studio 221 at 10am’ and walked away. It seemed pretty urgent so I showed up and it was the beginning of a life changing experience.

Can you talk a little more about why you consider your relationship with Umfundalai life changing? 
It has been life changing for 2 reasons. 1) It has helped me work through mental health issues, body image issues, and confidence issues because it really focuses on living and existing unapologetically. Maybe you feel like your body isn’t moving the way that you want it to in a particular moment- that's ok! Thats who you are today. How can you work with and work through what is ailing you and still be able to stand on your own two feet-- or maybe you even sit on a chair that day! The focus is on how can you still be physically present and aware and appreciative of the body that you are in.
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And 2) On a more performative level- I have been able to tour different states of the country- I have been able to leave the country and perform in Jamaica for 3 years in a row. Having a dance family outside of the country is something I am so grateful for. It's about connectivity- its not always about movement. Sometimes there has to be a conversation-- Umfundalai gets at the idea that the physical body and the psychological body overlap 

What is the structure of the class typically like? 
We would typically start with something called nanigo. Nanigo is comprised of 2 concentric circles that give everyone the opportunity to see everyone else in the room and affirm them as they are in that moment. From nanigo we would typically move to center to and then we would move across the floor (sometimes this order is changed depending on the instructor and needs of the participants.) And then if the goal of the class is a movement phrase then you can work on that.

What are some of your personal goals in dance?
In my teaching practice I am interested in finding the balance between what different students are after and what I want to communicate with them. Some students will just show up with the attitude of- ‘I’m expecting you to kick my butt today and then we’re going to do this amazing combo to end and I’m going to put my phone down to record myself and then it’s going on social media.’ And that’s fine but -there's more we can do. We are expected to be cookie cutters. There is often an expectation that if one person could do something then everyone else should be able to. But not everybody is the same. One of my biggest goals in dance is to help people find themselves- whatever that might mean. 

UMA FAM MADDIE HAS BEEN PRACTICING TAIKO. LEARN MORE ABOUT HER JOURNEY!

3/1/2021

 
Hi friends! For the past few months, I've been re-learning a music/ movement practice from my childhood that I wanted to share with you all: taiko! Taiko is a traditional Japanese drumming form (UMA homies Shin and Yushi know about it I'm sure). There are also many different styles within the overall umbrella of taiko. Here is a picture of me as a youngin performing taiko at a school festival: ​
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As you can see the drums are pretty big! The style I’m playing here (called beta) involves bringing your sticks (bachi) all the way above your head and bringing them down with full force for the bigger hits. So many of the styles are played in a really full-bodied way, which has been interesting to explore as someone who mainly dances nowadays. It’s also been fun to get on the other side of things and actually produce rhythms/music.
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Before I continue: big shout out to my teacher Mac for just randomly offering to teach me taiko after I wrote a thinkingdance review of his piece that was in Fringe, and also his wife Alex for teaching me taiko while being a badass dancer and medical professional at the same time. They are the other two people that you will see in the videos below!
This is the main style I’ve been practicing, called naname, where the drum is tilted on this 45 degree-ish angle. This makes for a really cool, almost whip-like relationship between the hips and the arms, and there’s lots of gorgeous horizontal flowy movement potential (skip to 2:20 for prime example). The relationship of the stance to the torso kind of reminds me of waacking, like those movements when you twist your body and use the momentum fling your arms, but it’s as if the sticks are an extra arm joint where rotation is possible. People also sometimes add in cool-looking twirly stick moves. Watch my teacher in front to see how stick twirlies are actually done!
This style is called nidan, and it’s so fun! As you can see it involves two different drums at different angles, and it’s usually played with several different people rotating in and out of the middle. It’s like taiko partner dancing. (Remember partner dancing?!) Except you are also waving around giant sticks that you could accidentally wack your partner with. Exhilarating! This is an excerpt from a longer song that Mac is creating right now.

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