BDC Summer 2024: Weeklong Workshops

Photo by Sarah King

 

Workshop Descriptions by Age Level

Ages 5-7

dance and the imagination (ages 5-7)

August 12-16 M-F 10am- 12pm

Step into the magical world of making dances! In this workshop, dancers will use their imaginations to create a dance with their own movement, music, story, sets and costumes. Dancers will perform their creation for family and friends at the end of the week.

Ages 7-9

dance passport: dances from around the world (Ages 7-9)

July 22-26 M-F 12:30-3:30

Travel around the world with dance! In this workshop dancers will learn Belly Dance from the Middle East, Capoeira from Brazil, Hula from Hawaii, West African (Benin, Ghana, Mali) and Modern Dance as we see it around the world. Dancers will each get a Dance Passport in which they can journal, color, and fill with stickers from each part of the world that we travel to in dance class.

dance exploration: ballet, modern, jazz & flamenco (ages 7-9)

August 12-16 M-F 12:30-3:30

Travel around the world with dance! In this workshop dancers will learn Belly Dance from the Middle East, Capoeira from Brazil, Hula from Hawaii, West African (Benin, Ghana, Mali) and Modern Dance as we see it around the world. Dancers will each get a Dance Passport in which they can journal, color, and fill with stickers from each part of the world that we travel to in dance class.

 

Ages 9-12

BDC summer Dance Intensive

July 8-12 M-F 10:30-4:00

BDC Summer Intensive is a one-week, full-day dance intensives that culminates in a student performance. Classes include african, ballet, contact improvisation, contemporary, composition, modern, yoga and more. We have world class teachers joining us from all over the country including Elise Knudsen (New York), Emma Lawes (Los Angeles), Kaitlyn Nguyen (Seattle) and Etienne Capko (originally from Benin and current artistic director of Gansango Music & Dance). Visit the BDC Summer Dance Intensive Webpage for more information.

Classical Japanese Dance (ages 9-11)

August 19-23 M-F 12:00-1:00pm

Master teacher Kaya Yamazaki will teach students the fundamentals of Classical Japanese Dance including basic foot, hand, and head movements; rhythmic patterns called yatton and tottan, performed with stamping, chanting, and iki (breath); and how to use the sensu (dancing “fans”). No prior experience is necessary to participate. Contact kaya@japanesedance.online if you have any questions.

Kaya Yamazaki is a Nihon Buyo artist, performer, choreographer, teacher, and anthropologist. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Kaya began her Nihon Buyo (Classical Japanese Dance) training at age four and received a natori (master's license) at age 18. After coming to the U.S., Kaya studied modern dance techniques and continued performing and teaching Japanese dance while pursuing her graduate degree. As dance critic George Jackson wrote, Kaya is "a versatile and vivid performer." Her repertoire spans from 18th-century Kabuki dances to her creations inspired by classical Japanese style and modern dance. Her distinctions include an Artist Trust Fellowship, a Heritage Arts Apprentice Program Master Artist award, a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship at the UCLA Asia Pacific Performance Exchange residency, and a Ph.D. in the Anthropology of Dance. Kaya has invented the Yamazaki MethodTM, an innovative Classical Japanese Dance training system, now registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. The Yamazaki MethodTM is the world's first Japanese Dance training system recorded in an audio-visual format and fully narrated in English for global audiences, especially students, teachers, and researchers of Japanese performing arts. www.japanesedance.online

Introduction to Pointe & Pre-pointe (invite only)

August 26-30 M-F 10:00am-1:00pm

This workshop is for students invited to start training in pointe shoes or prepointe shoes in the fall. Dancers will have faculty assistance is fitting and buying shoes, preparing shoes for dance class, and learning to work safely en pointe and prepointe.

Levels 6|7|8

advanced contemporary intensive (levels 6|7|8)

august 19-23 M-F 10:30-2:30

We are delighted to welcome Ashley Menestrina back to BDC. This intensive will be a deep dive into contemporary technique, improvisation, and movement creation. Be prepared to be challenged and transformed. Dancers will share what they have learned in a studio showing at the end of the week. Ashley Menestrina is a movement artist based in Seattle. Her work has toured to New York City, Los Angeles, Turkey, Mexico City, Portugal, Oklahoma City (received ‘Best Creation’ Prize at Solocoreografico Festival), and Israel, taking home 3rd place at the International Choreography Competition in Jerusalem. Her work, "Combative Echoes” was created for Die Wolke Art Group’s Unit Motives: GRM festival in Thessaloniki, Greece (2019), and has since been accepted into the 24th International Solo-Dance-Thetare Festival Stuttgart in 2020, and the 39th Edition of Battery Dance Festival held in NYC.

classical Japanese Dance (ages 12+)

August 19-23 M-F 1:00-2:30pm

Master teacher Kaya Yamazaki will teach students the fundamentals of Classical Japanese Dance including basic foot, hand, and head movements; rhythmic patterns called yatton and tottan, performed with stamping, chanting, and iki (breath); and how to use the sensu (dancing “fans”). No prior experience is necessary to participate. Contact kaya@japanesedance.online if you have any questions.

Kaya Yamazaki is a Nihon Buyo artist, performer, choreographer, teacher, and anthropologist. Originally from Tokyo, Japan, Kaya began her Nihon Buyo (Classical Japanese Dance) training at age four and received a natori (master's license) at age 18. After coming to the U.S., Kaya studied modern dance techniques and continued performing and teaching Japanese dance while pursuing her graduate degree. As dance critic George Jackson wrote, Kaya is "a versatile and vivid performer." Her repertoire spans from 18th-century Kabuki dances to her creations inspired by classical Japanese style and modern dance. Her distinctions include an Artist Trust Fellowship, a Heritage Arts Apprentice Program Master Artist award, a Rockefeller Humanities Fellowship at the UCLA Asia Pacific Performance Exchange residency, and a Ph.D. in the Anthropology of Dance. Kaya has invented the Yamazaki MethodTM, an innovative Classical Japanese Dance training system, now registered with the U.S. Copyright Office. The Yamazaki MethodTM is the world's first Japanese Dance training system recorded in an audio-visual format and fully narrated in English for global audiences, especially students, teachers, and researchers of Japanese performing arts. www.japanesedance.online

Advanced ballet intensive: technique, pointe, partnering and variations (levels 6|7|8)

august 26-30 M-F 1:30-5:00

John Paul Bishop will be here at BDC offering an Advanced Ballet Intensive. Each day will start with a technique class and pointe/prepointe warm-up. Dancers will learn classical ballet variations. The workshop will also include ballet partnering. Each day will end with stretching and pilates. John Paul Bishop has long been associated with prominent dance companies and schools in the US and abroad and has worked with some of the most notable artists in the world of dance. He began studying classical ballet and piano at the age of 8 and began his professional career at 16 with the Milwaukee Ballet Company. He has since performed with over twenty professional companies from New York to Japan. He has worked with such dance luminaries as George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Andre Eglevsky and many others. As a principal dancer he has performed an array of roles in both classical and contemporary repertoire including Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Ziegfried in Swan Lake, Basil in Don Quixote, Franz in Coppelia, Prince Florimund in Sleeping Beauty, Jean Brienne in 'Raymonda', Oberon in A Midsummer Nights Dream and Bryaxis in Daphnis et Chloe. After a long professional career as a dancer, Mr. Bishop transitioned into a well-respected choreographer creating over fifty original ballets. After his 20 year tenure as the Artistic Director of Northwest Ballet Theater in Bellingham, he moved to Port Townsend and is the current Artistic Director of Port Townsend Ballet.