Dramatic Intention in Aerial Performance Workshop

We are so excited to welcome Mara Neimanis to our studio for a this 4-class workshop series which combines an opportunity to deepen your expressive skills with the chance to explore dancing on some unique apparatus.

Workshop Dates: Tuesday evenings 7:30 – 9:00 pm  

April 27, May 4, May 11, May 18

Cost: $50 per class or $160 for the series.  Space is limited!  No refunds/cancellations.

Prerequisites: Appropriate for all levels.  At least 1-2 months prior aerial experience is recommended.

Description: Dramatic intention creates distinction in aerial performance that goes beyond tricks, supporting clarity and justification of choreographic choices and transitions. The ability to devise an intention in aerial performance endows the performer with more meaning and gives the apparatus a scenic life where images and metaphors can integrate into what a piece is about. Whether you are working on a circus routine, or choreographing an aerial dance piece, or indeed if you want to tell stories in the air, devising a dramatic intention expands the gestural language of each aerial movement and supports the exploration of your relationship to the apparatus and how you play, imagine, rehearse, and bring your piece to life.

In this workshop, we will use aerial improvisation to explore physical vocabulary on steel sculptures that are architectural and metaphorical and can be used to create meaning on and off the ground. Findings will be used to devise and explore aerial narrative, dramatic intention, story structure, and character. Concepts will be applied to aerial pieces that participants are currently working on or new work they are thinking about. Class will be augmented with the Feldenkrais Method of Somatic Movement as a part of this study.

Read more about Mara’s performance, choreography, and teaching experience: here 

Sign up here: (scroll to April 27) Studio Calendar
Limited scholarships are available through Buffalo Aerial Dance.  Email buffaloaerialdance716@gmail.com if you are interested in this workshop and in need of scholarship funding.  Priority for scholarship funding will be given to applicants who have a demonstrated interest in the performing arts.