Taught by Broadway dancer and professional choreographer, Ms. Kat Murphy, students will have the opportunity to hone their dance skills each month with a lab focused on specific dance technique. Students may either register for all 4 labs or pick and choose which they’d like to participate in based on topic. Dance labs for this semester will follow the B.E.S.T philosophy. B.E.S.T. stands for Body, Energy, Space and Time. Each lab is appropriate for all levels of dance as Ms. Kat will differentiate her teaching based on student level. Specific details for each lab are available on the registration website.
February 11- BODY
In this class, students will work on where movement comes from and how we can make our bodies do certain movements. The class will focus on breaking down the fundamentals of the movements that create more complex choreography.
March 11-Energy
As dancers we use a wide variety of dynamic movements, such as contrasting fluid, sustained movements with sharp, percussive bursts of energy.
The dancers will explore moments of release, tension and the ability to see the difference and practice going from one to the other, uninhibited, and free flowing.
Students will explore energy which is light and buoyant, with upward-reaching movements that defy gravity. At other times, the class will work on heavy and collapsing, submitting to the pull of the floor
April 8-Space
We will work on utilizing the full performance area, moving from personal space to the general space of the stage.
Practicing and tracing intricate floor patterns and pathways.
The class will incorporate choreography which makes full use of levels, with movement shifting from low, floor-based work to high, soaring lifts and jumps.
Negative space—the space around the dancers—is as important as their physical presence, with certain gestures carved to frame and define the empty air around them.
May 20-Time
Timing shifts between a slow, sustained tempo and a rapidly accelerating, syncopated rhythm.
A period of complete stillness, a "pause" can be used to reset the energy and focus.
The dancers will work in cannon, with one dancer initiating a movement a beat later than the other, creating a rippling, echo effect.
They sometimes move without music, relying on natural breath and impulse to dictate the timing.
We will experiment with different music, and categories of dance styles Contemporary, Jazz, Lyrical and Musical theater so that the dancer leaves with the understanding of how to change
within each genre.
