VOL 8 Monday, February 27, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map
Sophie Allen & Lydia Jekot: Grocery List: Take What You Need
This class is a grocery list of games, prompts, imagery and other ingredients for you to choose from. Take what you want & leave what you don’t! Together, we will warm up our senses and bodies, tune into our desires, practice choice making, and move into low-stakes group improvisational scores that emphasize play.
Sophie Allen is a Chicago-based dance artist and choreographer who pushes playfulness, nuance and rigor to the forefront of her creative endeavors. Her early movement education in sports, namely figure skating and baseball, continue to shape her understanding of momentum, weight distribution, impulse, choice and risk. She holds a BFA in Dance and a BA in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (PPE) from the University of Michigan.
Lydia Jekot is a dance artist, writer, and creative from Dallas, Texas, now based in Chicago. Her recent independent projects include “the Taste of Water,” a dance film about processing world-scale griefs also adapted into a staged performance, and “Danceable Wage,” a documentary dance film commissioned by Anti-Capitalism for Artists about funding in the dance community and Universal Basic Income for artists. Her performances in the last year have included independent work by Federica Cocom, work for J E L L O performance series by Michelle Haskell, and “Freedom From and Freedom To,” an improvisational series devised by Cristal Sabbagh. Lydia holds B.A.’s in dance and English from Loyola University Chicago. Her processes and directions are ever adapting but are broadly driven by curiosity about how to feel things, fix things, and shift things.
Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. All the tuition goes to the instructors of the day! Thank you!
VOL 7: Monday, February 20, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map
Sildance/Acrodanza Movement workshop
Photo by William Frederking
This is an introductory class to Silvita’s eclectic and athletic movement dance practice that connects ballet, Bill Evans contemporary dance technique, yoga, acroyoga and dance improvisation. The goal is to open and strengthen the body to make it more malleable and ready to move efficiently in a safe and playful environment with other movers. Please bring a yoga mat if you have one!
Silvita Diaz Brown is a Mexican/American choreographer, dancer, acrobat, yoga instructor and director of Sildance/AcroDanza. Based in Chicago since 2008, She holds a BFA in Dance from Universidad de las Américas Puebla (UDLAP), Mexico and an MFA in Theatre/Movement from York University, Canada. For the last 15 years, her interdisciplinary dance work has been presented at venues and festivals in Spain, India, Mexico, Canada, and the USA. Silvita uses her art to explore the self, to celebrate her Mexican heritage and to awaken insights about gender equality and female strength. Her goal is to discover and articulate deep strengths and insights that inspire audiences to feel empowered in their identities and futures no matter where they come from.
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
VOL 6: Monday, February 13, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map
Tuli Bera: Ballet Discovery/Rediscovery
Photo by Ricardo Adame
This class will be utilizing the ballet technique as a tool to understand the ways in which our bodies have the ability to move. This is not your traditional ballet class! We will be exploring, workshopping and there will be discourse. Regardless of your experience with ballet technique, this class will be approached from a perspective of an absolute beginner. We are here to question the form, learn from the form and reject what does not work for our bodies.
Tuli Bera is a movement artist, choreographer and administrator based in Chicago.
Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
VOL 6: Monday, February 6, 2023, 7 - 9:30 pm @ High Concept Labs, 2233 S. Throop St. 4th floor, Chicago, IL, Map
Carla Gruby: Gently Inside Out
Photo by Patty Escareno
I’m welcoming everyone and anyone to the space-whatever is stopping you from coming, I encourage you to challenge that hesitation and make your way here! I will be sharing some of my own movement philosophies, very much inspired from aspects of Skinner Release Technique (SRT) and Authentic Movement, a form of movement therapy.
Share the space with me ~ you’ll meet yourself where you’re truly at. Today you can allow our movement to embody spontaneity, creativity, and release 🕊️
Carla Gruby is a Chicago-based movement performance artist. They graduated with a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois Champaign-Urbana, and have since been merging their practices of dance and performance art using different mediums and influences from their own every-day experiences in the context of current socio-political climates. Gruby focuses on creating intentional visual images and landscapes that utilize the body. Some of this process can be viewed by their practice called PoorPaintings (some pieces are documented via instagram). They explore work with personas, identity, and systemic social structures, as well as re-purposing and re-contextualizing physical materials. Gruby has been very influenced by Jennifer Monson, and continues to pull ideas from her large-scale projects and environmentally connected dance philosophy. Gruby has recently begun studying for their certification as a Pilates instructor, to further merge their goals of enhancing their teaching and movement studies.
Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
VOL 5: Monday, January 30, 2023, 6 - 8 pm @ Links Hall, Map
Angela Gronroos: Jūdo Practice for Dance Improvisation
Photo by Kevin Veselka
Come ready to sweat and play. This 2 part class draws on my Jūdo training warm ups and dance improvisation. We will start a Judo inspired strength and conditioning section that will get you moving on all fours and on your back floor work. The second half of class focuses on structured improvisation exercises to get us primed for group improvisations emphasizing play, exploration, and building awareness with choice making. The improvisations will hone our practice on making dances as an ensemble working in small groups and ending with a whole class improvisation.
Angela Gronroos is a dance artist and improviser. She was born in Bangkok, Thailand, raised in Anchorage, Alaska, and now resides in Chicago, Illinois. Her training as a performer started in Judo, for which she competed twice at the national level. She later studied modern dance, contact improvisation, and Butoh, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree in Dance from Columbia College Chicago. She currently works with STäD, a group she co-created alongside three other improvisers. STäD is a collective of improvisers consisting of Suzy Grant, Angela Gronroos, Tina Peterzell, and Donnell Williams, whose lives have converged, departed, and overlapped over the past 20 years.
Single drop-in: $10 - $20 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
Please join movement exploration, practice, and reflection by Ayako, guest artist Rachel Bernsen, and AK/AUH company members on Monday evenings this winter to warm up your body-mind, and your curiosity!! See more details below and following!!
UPCOMING OPEN CLASS:
Jan 30, Angela Gronroos: 6-8 pm @ Links Hall
Feb 6, Carla Gruby: 7-9 pm @ HCL
Feb 13, Tuli Bera: @ 7-9 pm @ HCL
Feb 20, Silvita Diaz Brown: 7-9 pm @ HCL
Feb 2, Sophie Allen & Lydia Jekot: 7-9 pm @ HCL
Please contact for any questions: furyuayajp@gmail.com
VOL 4: Monday, January 23, 2023, 6 - 9 pm @ Links Hall, Map
Darling Squire: The Beattitude/Body is an Orchestra
Let's dive in and make the introductions! (From Darling)
Darling Squire by Kiam Marcelo Junio
During our time together I will be making a comfortable space for us all to share but I must give a very clear heads up that this is not a "Safe Space". What I mean by that is there are too many specifics of what might be a trigger with each individual that we will be sharing space with and seeing how I can't begin to keep up with the specifics of each person, I'm not in your head, it literally can't be "Safe Space". I will however do my best to offer comfort and understanding from where I stand, but if at any moment during these days you feel like you may need to walk away from something please listen to yourself and take care of yourself as needed.
Now onto the fun stuff. I will be sharing with you some insight into my new work Beattitude with is about the Beat Generation of the 1950s and their evolution into now. The work is apart of a trilogy of work im creating that is more focused on connection to spiritual being and connecting to source intelligence/ god-source/ the universe and beyond.
We will also be diving into Body is an Orchestra
Single drop-in: $10 - $25 (Sliding Scale: All the payment will go to the instructor of the day)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
VOL 3: Monday, January 16, 6 - 8:30 pm, Links Hall
Ayako Kato: Choreographic Method: Expression through Improvisation, Composition, and All in Between
We will reflect the materials Rachel Bernsen introduced and also look at Anthony Braxton’s 12 COMP 2017 score drawing. Ayako will introduce her Diagrams from 2013 to reflect on elements of improvisation and collaboration with music further and we will create the sequence of improvisational movements and own drawings/scores to perform.
Dance is the art of being. Both improvisation and composition can emerge as radical and refined expression of Freedom, Order, Life Force. Our movement/dance originates and manifests from our states of being. In this class, we will investigate the constant ever-changing nature of the relationships between improvisation and composition. Then, we physically study and reflect on how choreography can reveal the true nature of its own, following the innate principles within and around us as well as based on maker’s mind.
Photo by Geert Vendepoele
VOL 2 (Jan 9, 2023):
Monday, January 9, 6 - 9 pm, Links Hall, Map
Rachel Bernsen: Performance Practice: Strategies for Dance Improvisation and Interdisciplinary Collaboration
We'll engage in a guided movement meditation to bring us into the space and to prepare ourselves for our practice together. Then we'll move on to movement explorations using compositional and improvisational strategies from a range of sources, navigating these different approaches as a means to expand our range as improvisors and foster greater awareness of our own, in-the-moment choice making. We’ll investigate the ways in which they open us up to the experience of self, to connection with others and to the pleasure of being in the moment. We'll explore individual approaches to these ideas in a time-condensed laboratory process for creating a seed of our own improvisational structure or score and sharing them with the group. This could be in the form of sharing notes, discussion, directing others, or a solo performance. Our aim over all will be to leave space for both knowing and not knowing, for spontaneity, and to playfully embrace risk.
We’ll explore strategies from artists I’ve worked with including composer Anthony Braxton’s Language Music Types, and Yvonne Rainer’s “radical juxtaposition”. In addition, we’ll look at Merce Cunningham and John Cage’s framework for performance, the collaborative work of musician Bill Dixon and dancer Judith Dunn, among others. I’ll share principles developed over many years with my music and dance collective Masters of Ceremony, with composer and instrumentalist Taylor Ho Bynum, along with collaborations with other musicians, writers and visual artists.
Rachel Bernsen (she/her) is a choreographer and performer committed to interdisciplinary practice. Her latest large scale project I Know You So Well is a multi-disciplinary work in collaboration with writer Rachel Kauder Nalebuff. She recently worked with Yvonne Rainer, dancing in the reconstruction of her seminal 1965 work, Parts of Some Sextets. Other projects include multiple performances with cellist/composer Tomeka Reid and dancer/choreographer Ayako Kato; the sound/movement collective, Masters of Ceremony; multiple collaborations with visual artist Megan Craig; and several projects with legendary composer Anthony Braxton, including his immersive Sonic Genome, the opera Trillium J, and his interdisciplinary Pine Top Aerial Music ensemble. Her work has been presented in NYC, New England, and internationally. Rachel is a certified Alexander Technique teacher and has taught throughout the US, abroad and as faculty at Movement Research. She holds an MFA in Dance from Tisch School of the Arts, NYU and a BA in English Literature from Macalester College. She lives in Vermont with her spouse and her cat, Anderson. www.rachelbernsen.com
Single drop-in: $15 - $25 (Sliding Scale)
Registration is recommended. Just contact Ayako: furyuayajp@gmail,com For In Advance Payment : Zelle (Ayako Tsuchiya, furyuayajp@gmail.com), Venmo (@Ayako-Tsuchiya) or PayPal: paypal.me/AyakoTsuchiya Or cash on the day of. Thank you!
Photo: video still from What Silence by Rachel Bernsen
VOL 1:
Monday, December 19, 6 - 8:30 pm, Hamlin Park Fieldhouse Theater, Map
Ayako Kato: Choreographic Method: Expression through Improvisation, Composition, and All in Between
Dance is the art of being. Both improvisation and composition can emerge as radical and refined expression of Freedom, Order, Life Force. Our movement/dance originates and manifests from our states of being. In this class, we will investigate the constant ever-changing nature of the relationships between improvisation and composition. Then, we physically study and reflect on how choreography can reveal the true nature of its own, following the innate principles within and around us as well as based on maker’s mind.