By Steve Sucato
Kicking off 2023 with a promise of great things to come, GroundWorks DanceTheater’s 4th Annual Winter Intensive welcomed 22 participants from 5 states, our largest turnout to date.
The 3-day deep dive into GroundWorks’ creative process that ran January 5-7 at the Cleveland State University Department of Theater and Dance studios was open to pre-professional and professional dancers ages 18 and over with an exemption offered for advance-level dancers 16 and over.
Over the course of the intensive participants took part in seven different classes taught by GroundWorks Executive Artistic Director, David Shimotakahara, Education Director, Joan Meggitt, and Company Dancers and Teaching Artists including:
Ballet Lab, a class taught by company dancer Madison Pineda that allowed space for its participants to incorporate new ideas within a traditional ballet structure, including applying improvisational techniques to exercises. This class explored the usage of imagery, focus techniques, and creative movement ideas in between and during ballet exercises. Contemporary Floorwork, a class taught by company dancer Matthew Saggiomo that investigated the idea of a stacked spine, dropped pelvis, and creasing in the hip-flexors, knees, and ankles in order to smoothly and safely descend into the floor. Contemporary Partnering, a class instructed by company dancers Ahna Bonnette and Victoria Rumzis that incorporated contact improvisation technique, weight-sharing, and partnering fundamentals. Participants learned GroundWorks company repertory that involved partnering. Creative Process, led by Shimotakahara, a series of work sessions introduced participants to task-based movement generators and modifiers in order to create original movement. Participants explored the use of those tools in solos, duets, and small groups to stretch their kinesthetic range and collaborative skills as creators and performers.
GroundWorks Repertoire, taught by Bonnette and Rumzis shared movement sequences and sections of dances that spoke to the company’s current work and creative processes, including sections from new works-in-progress by Shimotakahara and GroundWorks’ Artist in Residence, Antonio Brown.
Connecting with Community, led by Meggitt and teaching artist Morgan Ashley, the class examined collaborative, community-based dance education through the lens of GroundWorks’ outreach programs. Calling upon their experiences in Shimotakahara’s Creative Process class, participants workshopped ideas and translated their own teaching/learning values into shared activities designed to explore movement as perception, knowledge, and meaning with diverse populations.
Physical Theatre for Dancers, instructed by company dancer Teagan Reed used eclectic modular practices to engage the participants in their physicality and cultivate holistic artistry. Drawing from the elements of theatre, the class exercises engaged and strengthened participant’s bodies and minds as one.
Says Meggitt of GroundWorks dancers and teaching staff, “They were equal parts inventive, engaging and supportive, providing valuable insights as part of their instruction.”
The participants also began each day with a guided movement meditation class and ended it with a cool down and reflection class.
Of this year’s Winter Intensive participants Meggitt commented, “I was struck by their absolute commitment. They were enthusiastic about and supportive of one another’s moving and making. They asked thoughtful questions and were generous in sharing their perspectives and experience with the group at large.”
I spoke with six of the participants during the Winter Intensive on their experiences. Here is some of what they had to say:
Avah Perry from Grafton, Ohio who trains at Converge Performing Arts Center said of the classes, “I enjoyed everything, I had so much fun. I really liked David’s [Shimotakahara] classes because he went in-depth using improvisation and different prompts you can incorporate in generating movement like resistance, echoing and fading. I think it has really improved my dancing.”
Delaney Slavin from Bay Village, Ohio, a sophomore dance student at Cleveland State University, said she took to heart the answer to a question on physical therapy during a Q & A with the GroundWorks company dancers in which Bonnette talked of “prehabbing” one’s body to avoid having to rehab from an injury. “I have been going through a lot of injuries and this will really help,” says Slavin.
An apprentice dancer with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Wilhelmina Marks says she was attracted to attending the Winter Intensive because of its affordable price, the class schedule and getting to work with GroundWorks’ dancers. “Learning new ways to think, experiment and create, are elements I will take away from this and add to my dance training,” says Marks.
A return participant from 2022’s Winter Intensive, Faith Bender, a student at Montclair State University in Maryland says, “Making connections with the fairly unique group of people at the intensive was really special. I really enjoyed the exercises in the Connecting with Community class. There were a lot of different ways to get your brain and body moving that I have never done before.” Bender, also a teacher at an area dance studio, says she will incorporate those learned lessons into her teaching approach.
Chicago-native Jason Brickman, a senior dance student at The University of Illinois says he was drawn to attending the Winter Intensive because it involved an education focus and that the class schedule were full days. “There are other programs that will do 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. which feels like a taste and not the full experience. This is 9 a.m. – 5 p.m., it’s the whole deal,” says Brickman. Highlighting his experience says Brickman were the Creative Process classes. “It has been a good opportunity for me to experiment with my imagination, with images, and find a rhythm where I can make dances.”
Another returning participant was Middleburg, VA’s Rylee Simmons who says “Part of the reason I came back again is that the environment created here is intentionally accepting and all of us are equals. I am a high school dance teacher and not only experiencing that environment but understanding the how and the why of how to facilitate that environment was important to me.”
The intensive culminated in an informal showing on the last day. In front of an invited audience of a dozen or so, the participants performed dance sequences they learned from GroundWorks repertory and in classes during the intensive, plus movement phrases they had created.
In the end, the reactions of this year’s Winter Intensive were overwhelmingly positive and perhaps best summed up by an anonymous participant’s post-intensive survey comments:
I learned so much from each class and everything felt so valuable. I felt as if each class helped support one another and a lot of concepts carried over from class to class with me. There was a really nice balance of our own creation vs. learning already set works. I am incredibly grateful for the time, energy, effort, spirit, talent, experience, and knowledge shared within these classes! I learned so much about creative processes and artistry.
Photo Credits – Photos by Mark Horning, Joan Meggitt, Morgan Ashley, Teagan Reed and Madison Pineda