Saturdays (All Levels) 10-11:30am: July 20th, August 17th

FLOCK welcomes Michele Ainza this summer to facilitate a once a month movement workshop. In Somatic Dance Workshop students will explore foundational work in contemporary dance, Bartenieff Fundamentals, Laban Movement Analysis, Body-Mind Centering, Yoga, and Pilates in hopes to develop an understanding of inner-connectivity to support 3-dimensional movement and personal expression.
We will draw our focus to the body in order to respond to its sensations and the environment by consciously shifting movement patterns and choices. Class will encompass self-referential postural and alignment evaluations through touch, imagery, movement investigation, journaling, and dialogue. A creative interplay between somatic practices and contemporary dance will be cultivated, heightening sensory and motor awareness, spatial organization, and dynamic range (Effort Life). Class is geared towards people in all stages of health and development to enhance human processes of psychophysical awareness and function.

Drop-in // $16

Bio: Michele Ainza is a dance and somatic educator, director, and artist currently on faculty as an Adjunct Professor of Dance and Guest Artist/Director at Willamette University, where she teaches Contemporary Dance Technique, Choreography, Introduction to Dance Technique, and Dance Appreciation. Furthermore, she is the Artistic Director of Michele Ainza Dance Experiment (MADE), an independent project which focuses on the deconstruction and abstraction of social and political issues through the development of highly physical and idiosyncratic movement material. MADE productions have been shown throughout the United States, Mexico, and Eastern Europe. Some of Michele’s successes in higher education include her work as a Tenure-Track Dance Professor and Artistic Director at Fresno City College, Artistic Director and Adjunct Dance Professor at Linfield College, Visiting Guest Artist and Dance Professor at The University of Veracruz, Mexico, and Lewis and Clark College. She received her Master of Fine Arts in Dance and Choreography from California Institute of the Arts, Los Angeles, where she was on scholarship as a Graduate Teaching Fellow and concentrated on feminist studies and dance for video. Michele’s contribution to the somatic field include her work as a Yoga Instructor and Certified Laban Movement Analyst and Bartenieff Fundamentals Instructor. She is certified through Yoga Alliance as a 200 E-RYT and 300 RYT, and received her CLMA certification from the Integrated Movement Studies based out of the University of Utah, where she was on scholarship. Michele has contributed to many dance organizations such as Conduit Dance, Front Publishing, Friends of the Arts, National Dance Organization, and Dance Camera West, as an instructor, director, writer, and/or member. She has received funding from the Mellon Foundation, Oregon Arts Commission, and Willamette Master Chorus. Lastly, her expertise and skill set range include Contemporary Dance Technique, Ballet Technique, Jazz Dance Technique, Urban Dance Forms, Latin/Chicano Dance Forms, Tap Dance, Ballroom Dance, Choreography, Improvisation, Dance for Video, Site-Specific Dance, Dance Theater, Laban Movement Analysis, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Yoga.