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adf myspaceWFSS (pronounced “woofs”) are six week school classes that meet on Wednesdays, Friday evenings, Saturdays, and Sundays. They are an opportunity for SWS students to draw connections by personalizing, creating, and expanding their experiences at the ADF through participation in a variety of artistic endeavors — a festival within a festival. WFSS courses are offered on a drop-in basis, as well as special projects and seminars that progress through a six-week series.
selected examples of the available WFSS courses:
WFSS PROJECTS
ARCHIVE PROJECT: PEARL PRIMUS —URSULA PAYNE
This workshop will explore creative inquiry and self-reflection towards the making of a dance. Participants will gain an understanding of the creative process by reflecting upon the life and creative work of Dr. Pearl Primus. Issues of race, identity, gender, class, and cross-cultural dialogue will be explored within the framework of Dr. Primus’s archives and the participants’ personal experiences.FORSYTHE PROJECT—RICHARD SIEGAL & JEFFERY BULLOCK
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. You are invited to become intimate with these powerful concepts under the direction of former Ballet Frankfurt members.PAUL TAYLOR PROJECT—RUTH ANDRIEN
Ruth Andrien, former Taylor dancer and HU/ADF MFA graduate, will teach a course that offers a comprehensive kinesthetic exploration of the eclectic and soulful “Taylor style.” Students will adventure into the essence of Taylor’s choreography and examine masterworks such as Junction, Aureole, 3 Epitaphs, Scudorama, Sea to Shining Sea, Esplanade, Cloven Kingdom, Runes, Airs, and Le Sacre du Printemps to discover the enduring power and complex nature of the work. Excerpts of the dances will be taught to animate their athleticism, musicality, and imaginative spirit through study and performance. The course will provide research opportunities through archival investigation to consider Taylor’s development of subject matter, enigmatic approach to narrative, movement vocabulary, and stylistic distinction. For intellectuallly curious, open-hearted movers who wish to explore Paul Taylor’s legendary contribution to 20th century dance through research, theory, technique, and repertory.URBAN DANCE FORMS—WENDELL COOPER
This workshop approaches Urban Dance as choreography and an improvised form. Flowing yoga sequences will connect breathing with the body and build strength by exploring arm balances and inversions. The floor-work section will establish connections between Capoiera and release technique. We will play with low level locomotion, circular initiation, and “dancing with gravity,” expanding on Break Dancing techniques. Then we will sweat to house music, freeing the spine and dancing our hearts out. Finally, we will learn stylized Hip Hop choreography which cycles around to House and Break Dancing improvisation scores.
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BODY PATHWAYS
“The BodyPathways section is a spectrum of movement approaches and communications opening into dance, fusing physical and mental cognition with the dynamic body. The energetic weaving of the faculty’s varied movement approaches into the intensity of a six-week schedule inspires community and animates collaborative efforts, allowing movement specialists and artists an opportunity to enhance the dancer’s desire to explore, sense, and listen to the expressive body as we work together.” —Pamela Pietro
