Taught by Eliza Larson 

This highly physical class is a container for advanced and intermediate dancers to explore and expand movement possibility and understanding. Re-evaluating our relationship to inversions and the ground, we will explore alternate approaches to gravity and orientation.  This class will begin on the floor, creating a foundation to which we will return throughout class. We will progress through exercises drawn from both classical and contemporary modern techniques, increasing potential for physical texture and articulation and finding connectivity and flowing pathways. Phrase material will repeat and connect, culminating in large, juicy phrase work. We will slip through space and test our sense of balance and traditional ways of orienting to the world around us. Please wear long pants and a shirt with sleeves. Kneepads recommended.  

August 15th 10:00am-12:00pm // $12 drop-in // $40 for all four Saturdays in August

Eliza Larson has recently returned to Portland after a 4-year stint in New England.  She currently co-directs the Mountain Empire Performance Collective (mountainempiredance.com), a long-distance dance collective investigating different methods and approaches to making performance beyond geographic boundaries.  Eliza received her MFA in dance from Smith College, where she worked extensively with Chris Aiken, Angie Hauser, and Paul Matteson.  Her choreographic work has been presented around the country, and her most recent evening-length, multi-media solo, You Are Happy, premiered at the PortFringe Festival in Portland, Maine in 2014.  She is also the author and illustrator of Terpsichore’s Deck, a set of 52 cards for choreographic inspiration, available at www.terpsichoresdeck.com.  She is thrilled to be back in Portland, diving into a new project, Solo/Solo, with Mountain Empire, teaching at Conduit and Bodyvox, and re-engaging her creative process. www.elizalarson.com.