6WS classes are supplemented by the WFSS (pronounced woofs) classes that are designed to inform and enhance the regular schedule. They allow students the opportunity to explore individualized interests, cross train in various body therapies and somatic work, or participate in special projects. The WFSS schedule also includes open showings, video screenings, panels, and discussions. WFSS classes meet on Wednesdays, Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays, and are offered on a regular as well as a drop-in basis. Only full time 6WS students take part in WFSS. Projects Monica Bill Barnes Students will investigate the use of deadpan humor, dynamic movement and theatrical scenarios in the course of learning the repertory of Monica Bill Barnes. The movement vocabulary swings from full bodied dancing to nuanced gesture in dances which draw on a radical mixture of influences: pop-culture, show business, absurdity and high drama. Through this workshop, the students will focus on their performance choices within this company's work, which celebrates individuality, humor and the innate theatricality of everyday life. Elizabeth Corbett | Forsythe Project William Forsythe's vision "revolutionized" ballet's potential. As artistic director of an extraordinary collection of dance artists, Forsythe and Ballet Frankfurt blazed a trail for contemporary dance for 20 years. One of Ballet Frankfurt's evolving projects was the codification of a Laban-based, real-time movement analysis called Improvisation Technologies. Improvisation Technologies was employed by Ballet Frankfurt not only as a method to generate set phrases of movement but also as a tool for performed improvisation. Since Forsythe's early years with the Frankfurt Ballet many new concepts and movement generating systems have been developed in his work. Under the direction of long-time Forsythe dancer Elizabeth Corbett, dancers in this workshop will explore Forsythe's phrase material, improv systems and scores and rewrite and develop their own. John Jasperse John Jasperse will work with students on a laboratory project developing new material and ideas that will lead to an informal showing of a new work at the end of the project. This project will introduce you to Jasperse's creative process. Our work together will include movement vocabulary created and directed by Jasperse, partner work, directed improvisations, and found movement drawn from other sources. The focus of the project will be to create an art piece in which dance and movement are the primary vehicles. The working title for our research is Beyond Otherness. We will look for ways in which the seemingly disparate can speak powerfully in dialogue with one another. The work will explore how we can get beyond apparent differences to a space of interconnection. We will embrace the seemingly contradictory and discordant to question whether or not these initial impressions are substantive or projections. All participants need to commit to being present at all of the classes. I'm looking for people who are advanced movers, skilled and interested in both set material as well as improvisation and who want to engage in an inquiry about art making that includes lots of different ways of moving and being. Rafael Lopez-Barrantes | Text Into Performance This class is a hands-on exploration regarding tools for integrating text into performance. Text will be approached from the perspective of extended vocal range techniques. We will be exploring different ways of delivering text and how to materialize it into performance. We will also be looking at five basic elements in text delivery: pitch, intensity, rate, pronunciation, voice quality, and how these elements relate to the dancer. Each participant will bring a text of their choice not longer that 90 seconds long with the aim to explore it and integrate it in a performance context. The work will require active participation of students through class discussion, voice work and the creation of in-class presentations. Sara Procopio | Shen Wei Dance Arts Project The Shen Wei Dance Arts Project is led by company Artistic Associate and dancer Sara Procopio.  The project serves as an introduction to Shen Wei's Natural Body Development Technique and a unique opportunity to learn excerpts from selected company repertory.  Through the detailed investigation of moving ideas, the project will explore breath, internal energy, center-shifting, momentum, spirals, rotations and flow. The group will investigate compositional and movement ideas in relationship to other art forms as a means to open the body and mind to new ways of approaching motion.  Pulling from both individual and collective movement research, each dancer will have a chance to work on both group and solo material within the repertory works.  The project will culminate in a final sharing for the ADF community. Select WFSS Mini Series and Select WFSS Drop Ins Anjali Austin | GYROKINESIS® GYROKINESIS® exercises allow one to work on the entire body through seven natural elements of spinal movement: forward, backward, left side, right side, left twist, right twist and circular, as well as all other joint articulation. This approach systematically and gently works the joints and muscles through rhythmic and undulating movements. These movements stimulate the body's internal organs while different corresponding breathing patterns are integrated along with the movements. Fluidity is the key. Postures are not held for long periods of time. Instead, postures are smoothly and harmoniously connected through the use of breath, making exercises appear and feel more like a dance and swimming than like traditional yoga. Lila Pierce Brown | Anusara Yoga Founded by John Friend, Anusara Yoga is a hatha yoga system that unifies Universal Principles of Alignment with a non-dual Tantric philosophy that is epitomized by a "celebration of the heart". One of the fastest growing hatha yoga systems in the world, Anusara is a beautiful method that inspires and transforms practitioners to live in a joyous and light-hearted way. Each class will succinctly emphasize skillful alignment and balanced action of the body, empowering students to gain the necessary tools to create harmonious conditions within their physical bodies. Classes will invite each student to become more connected with his or her inherent radiance through a celebration of unique expression from within. Company Auditions Many companies choose to hold auditions at ADF. These may be companies performing at ADF or companies who travel to ADF specifically to hold auditions. Company auditions will be announced at the beginning of the festival. Company Classes Many of the companies performing at ADF will hold guest classes. These classes will be taught by choreographers, directors, or dancers. The ADF performing company lineup will be announced in the spring, check back for details. Robbie Cook | Vinyasa Yoga This class will focus on a well-rounded asana practice. Starting with simple breathing exercises (Pranayama) and moving into sun salutes to build heat, we will examine various standing poses, paying close attention to alignment and sequencing between the postures. After preparing the joints of the body in the upright postures we will move to seated postures to go even deeper into the bodies' possibilities. From beginning to end the goal of asana practice is to achieve a balance with extension, flexion, twisting and inversions to arrive with clear intention for seated meditation (Dhyana) before final relaxation (Savasana). Restorative Yoga The focus of this class will be on the restorative aspects of Yoga practice. Moving slower in and out of postures while using pranayama (breathing exercises) to guide all the movements, which helps to calm the nervous system, while also restoring and renewing the body after a lot of dancing, in order to bring balance. Some poses will be held longer in order to unwind the hips, back, ankles and shoulders as well as the mind. A short meditation will also be included as well as a long savasana (final relaxation). Teena Marie Custer | Hip Hop This beginning/intermediate level class will introduce students to the foundational vocabulary of street dances that originated in the 70's during the birth of the hip hop culture, and remain under the umbrella of hip hop dance today. Each class will be an introduction to the technique behind styles such as locking, popping, b-boying/b-girling, house, and various social dances. Students will also be exposed to how these techniques are used in commercial and theatrical hip hop choreography, as well as freestyling. Stacie Dombrowski | Pilates The Classical Pilates mat exercises will challenge your core strength and stability. Special attention will be given to abdominals, inner thighs, and back muscles.You will realize why Pilates is referred to as the "science of control", while we place emphasis on Centering, Coordination, Precision, and Breath. Improve your performance, take Pilates! Eric Franklin | Improve your Technique with the Power of Imagery and Dance Conditioning Turnout, balance, flexibility, strength and alignment all can be addressed using imagery, conditioning and embodied anatomy. This class is for those who want to experience fast technical improvement and understand how to detect and eliminate problems that could be slowing your progress as a dancer. The class will explain pelvic dynamics and show how to create your best plie for turnout and balance. Create aesthetic, strong and aligned feet and increase your ability to jump with speed and ease. Lengthen and balance shoulder and neck musculature, and to learn how to melt away tension and associated mental anxiety. Understand spinal design and function using imagery and apply this knowledge to improving flexibility and expressivity. Discover how the spine converts compression into elasticity and how the spinal joints maneuver to create ease of motion and stability. A new embodied understanding of the spine will allow for technique to flourish and maintain spinal health. Bands and balls will help us to create fitness for dance. We will learn a band exercise barre exercise series based on dance movements to create an immediate sense of strength and flexibility for the dancer. Exercises using the balls improve balance, alignment and coordination and help to increase the flexibility of the shoulder, back and hip joint. Last but not least the balls are excellent tools to eliminate tension and help a dancer rest and regenerate. James Frazier and Guests | Open Showings In Open Showings students share choreography for the purpose of receiving feedback. The Workshops are moderated by James Frazier and include a rotation of guest artists, who offer comments along with other observers. Presenting in Open Showings is required for inclusion in the Student Concert. Mark Haim | Contemplative Dance Practice Class Description Coming Soon! Ishmael Houston-Jones, Curt Haworth and Felice Wolfzahn | Improv Jams Saturdays from 8 til 11 PM Practice your Improvisation skills with musicians and dancers from the ADF community. Jams are led by the Improvisation Strategies teachers. A jam is an open improvisation. A jam is an opportunity to play, to research, to experiment, to express, to work it out, to connect with others. A jam is a different kind of working space. It's not a class, not a rehearsal, not a performance, but some kind of fusion space that combines all of these. In a jam, we soften the distinctions between learning, inventing, playing, and expressing. We allow the dancing body to provoke other kinds of logic and intelligence. The jam is a creative space governed by mutual respect and awareness. Dancing alone, in duets, in small and large groups, in silence, and with music, we stretch our understanding and potential.   LaShawn Jones | Hip Hop This class teaches a combination of fast-paced, smooth & groovy and hard-hitting choreography. There is an emphasis on putting intention behind all movements and telling a story and/or accentuating the beats with your body. Come prepared to sweat and have a fun and exciting time. Yangkeun Kim | Healing Techniques Injury on dancers often takes place when full stretching has not been carried rather than out of physical movements. Dancers need to warm up with stretching prior to starting to dance, along with the strengthening of muscular power at its preparatory stage. This study aims at inquiring into how dancers can produce an aerobic exercise effect on physical and muscular power intensification by using bands as a light load for a long time.  Furthermore, bands can be widely used inasmuch as they provide the best convenience, effect and safety than any other tools or bare hands. In addition, bands have a good effect on the prevention of injury from excessive stretching as their elastic cord elasticity is utilized. Bands have been used for strengthening muscular power and improving elasticity by rehabilitation departments and athletes.  Warming-up of dancers using bands by taking advantage of their merits may lead a dancer to achieve muscular power intensification and elasticity, being of help to the prevention of injury from excessive stretching. Amanda Miller | Ballet This Ballet class is to encourage both contemporary and ballet dancers to understand the joy of movement within the structures and ideas of classical ballet. It will include a ballet barre and center work. We will work on understanding how to move through space with the integration of the ballet vocabulary and musicality. The focus of this class will be in the grace, coordination, musicality, and articulation of ballet; to experience the expression ballet dancing may bring to the individual. Musician Workshops ADF also features workshops taught by the world-class ADF musicians. These change from year to year, but in the past have included music technology, pairing music with choreography, music resources for dancers, music copyright issues, drumming ensembles for dancers, and rhythm/movement patterns based on rhythmic languages from India. Christine Nowicki | Pilates The Classical Pilates mat exercises will challenge your core strength and stability. Special attention will be given to abdominals, inner thighs, and back muscles.You will realize why Pilates is referred to as the "science of control", while we place emphasis on Centering, Coordination, Precision, and Breath. Improve your performance, take Pilates! Ursula Payne | Notation Discovering the practical uses of Dance Notation and Laban Movement Analysis as a tool for experimentation within the student's creative process is the goal of this workshop. This series will focus on learning Motif writing skills to record short movement studies and to use as a tool for generating movement for choreography and structured improvisations. Dawn Strom | GYROKINESIS® Gyrokinesis is a unique system of movement that draws on elements from yoga, tai chi, gymnastics, strength training and dance to simultaneously stretch, strengthen and rejuvenate the body and mind. As a Teacher of Gyrokinesis, you will learn basic principles of spinal alignment and a 60 and 90-minute series of integrated movements that utilize flow and breath to work the body as a whole, strengthen the core and open, mobilize and release all of the joints. Gyrokinesis is taught as a mat class using stool and mats with movements ranging form sitting to standing. Seated on low stools, each Gyrokinesis class begins by mobilizing the spine through a series of arching, curling, bending, twisting and spiraling movements. These same movement patterns are expanded to release the hip, knee, hamstrings, and quadriceps through a series of floor work exercises. Class finishes with a series of abdominal and standing exercises to develop core strength, balance and coordination. The gentle flowing movements in Gyrokinesis are accessible to all ages and ranges of ability and can be done alone or as an excellent complement to other movement forms or exercise practices like Pilates, yoga or personal training. Gyrokinesis is also great for people working with injuries or chronic pain, dancers, pregnant women, and athletes interested in expanding their range of movement and preventing injury. As a Licensed Teacher of Gyrotonic or Gyrokinesis you will learn the basic principles and applications of the Gyrokinesis Methodology and the 60 and 90-minute format classes. Gyrokinesis Training will: * Develop your understanding of principles of integrated movement * Expand your range of skills in your current Pilates or Personal Training Practice * Integrate greater strength and balanced flexibility into your teaching of Dance or Yoga