contemporary dance workshop March 28th

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: 

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!