ROOT TECHNIQUE MASTER CLASS: YOGA ASANA WITH CONTEMPORARY DANCE TECHNIQUE WITH TIM RUBEL

This workshop will be playful and rigorous. Yoga Asanas (poses) will be the frame that encompasses a Contemporary/Modern Dance vocabulary. As Modern dancers, we are no strangers to doing “Downward Facing Dog” (Adho Mukha Svanasana) in a technique class. Other poses like Anjaneyasana (runners lunge) and Handstands (Adho Mukha Vrksasana) have long made their way into the cannon of Contemporary/Modern Dance training. What happens if we approach these movements as yogis and dancers equally? Can we find anatomical focus, mindfulness, ease, and still create kinetic artistry that is compelling to watch and joyful to do? For now, I am calling this inquiry Root Technique as an acknowledgement of how Modern Dance and Yoga modalities emphasize “rooting” into the floor through our limbs or assistive devices, while we grow our spine out of those roots to achieve balance and stability. In this workshop we will explore how these intrinsic connections might enhance our movement language.

Photo: LINES Dance Center I Jee Eun Ahn