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PRE-INTERMEDIATE PROGRAMME - WEEK 1

Contemporary technique class with David Hernandez

Dynamic Movement Systems
David Hernandez is interested in movement, training the body and expression through detailed and precise movement, without the loss of the dancer’s individual expression. he is developing an approach to dance technique and movement vocabulary that embraces physicality, craft and approaches the body as an instrument. The class is highly physical with an emphasis on detail. We concentrate on establishing a clear, efficient body alignment as a base to move from while making gravity our partner through discovering the notion of falling and redirected weight. There is an exposure to very specific, dynamic movement vocabulary that concentrates on moving weight, density, texture and the musicality of physical material.

All parts of the body are used to gesture, often play against each other like contrapuntal melody lines. The form is clear and provides a partition in which the dancers can challenge themselves against its rigor while finding a personal approach to the material. Each individual and individual body is different, therefore the material must be translated by each person in their own unique way while honing and crafting the material on their particular body. The class gives the keys to do this while providing tools and skills usable in other styles of work as well.

David Hernandez (US)

David’s unique choreographic voice and detailed dance language has brought critically acclaimed work to stages across Europe for over two decades. Since 2015, he has deepened his choreographic research through a partnership with Cacao Bleu vzw under the banner dh+ / David Hernandez and Collaborators. Within this framework, he created and toured the productions For Movement’s Sake Hullabaloo and Sketches on Scarlatti. These works were supported domestically by STUK (Leuven), Monty (Antwerp), Beursschouwburg (Brussels), and C-mine (Genk) and internationally by the Ballets de Lorraine, Scènes Vosges (Épinal), Into The Fields Festival (Bonn)… amongst many others.

In addition to creating choreographic work with a core group of committed dancers, he continues to influence new generations through his pedagogical activities as a faculty teacher at P.A.R.T.S and guest teacher for various education programs and studios internationally, teaching from his own pedagogical approach called Dynamic Movement Systems which he has been developing for the last several decades. He also created commissioned works for schools, companies and festivals such as Skånes Dansteater/Malmo Opera , Susanne Linke Company (Trier), Folkwang Tanzstudio (Essen) and Zagreb Dance Company. Recent pieces such as Lonely Hunter, Other, …and my beloved, The Devil’s Garden and Passage won over audiences and critics to become important repertory pieces for the companies who commissioned them.

Having begun his artistic career as a singer and student in Opera, Jazz and Studio Music at the University of Miami in his home state of Florida, USA, David continues today to nurture his musicianship through the projects such as Rêve d’Elephant Orchestre with Michel Debrulle and in the early music ensemble Graindelavoix. With over 30 years of stage and arts experience under his belt, David continues to push the limits of his craft through his passion for multimedia, storytelling and composing richly poetic worlds on stage and off.

Sivananda yoga with Laia Puig Escandell

During this time we will be introduced to Yoga as a holistic practice. The five points of the holistic system are: proper exercise (Asana), proper breathing (Pranayama), proper relaxation (Savasan), proper diet (vegetarian), positive thinking and meditation (Vedanta and Dhyana), although we will mainly work on the first 2-3 points. This first class in the morning will be our moment to prepare for the day in a different way. To unfold and to unblock, first physiologically/anatomically and then into deeper levels of awareness. Identifying our unnecessary patterns and habits, letting go of them, balancing the body, increasing concentration and learning to listen. So that each individual student can be in tune with a deeper intelligence, expanding themselves as artists and humans, sharing it with the community as well as the world. I hope you all enjoy the process of unfolding yourselves. Om Namah Sivaya.

Laia Puig Escandell (ES)

Laia Puig Escandell was introduced to yoga as a parallel practice to her dance career in 1998. However, it wasn’t until she took a Sivananda Yoga Teachers Training in 2008 in South India that her real initiation into Yoga started, with growing passion. Since then, she has been practicing regularly asanas, pranayama and meditation, reading the yogic philosophy/spirituality and trying to understand and apply all that in her daily life, as she continues to take training courses. She learned a lot from joining the Sivananda organization to translate Teachers Trainings or to do service in their Ashrams. She teaches Yoga classes at P.A.R.T.S., Rosas and around Brussels to all levels, and parallel to that she gives Ayurvedic massages and treatments, Yoga retreats and workshops.

Rosas repertoire - Achterland with Johanne Saunier

This class will focus on the teaching of the Rosas' piece Achterland. It's one of the memorable pieces of Anne Teresa de Keersmaeker and it is now performed again by the young company of Rosas. Its relevance remains in the perfect balance between the strong formal composition of the dance and its ability to bring out, in various ways, the personality of each performer. The choreography is quite physical, precise and playful. The performer is pushed to develop a great sense of awareness to the others, to the space, to the music which is the Etudes for piano of Ligeti and the violin sonatas of Ysaye. Through the years Achterland remains a strong and challenging piece for the students and a real pleasure to perform it. Knee pads are needed and also high heels shoes for the women.

Johanne Saunier (FR)

Johanne Saunier danced with Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker/Rosas for 12 years with whom she is still a rehearsal master and an assistant. In 1998, she createed JOJI INC with Jim Clayburgh. She was awarded in 2000 with the Bagnolet prize. Her project Erase-E (X) is in collaboration with diverse artists: The Wooster Group (NY), Anne Teresa De Keersmaeker, Georges Aperghis, Kurt d’Haeseleer, Isabella Soupart and toured for 4 years. She has been teaching at P.A.R.T.S since its creation till 2016, as well as for the Summer school. Her work with voice is in different contemporary operas with Guy Cassiers Lear, Francois Sarhan and the Diotima Quartet, Line of Oblivion with Arturo Fuentes, Luna Park with Ictus Ensemble, Aperghis in IRCAM and Musée en Chantier for JOJI INC. Her ongoing project Ballets Confidentiels are short pieces performed in odd places, houses etc in collaboration with a singer and a percussionist.