ESSENCE OF EMBODIMENT FESTIVAL: FILM & WORKSHOP
On March 18th BodyStories presented our work Healing Currently Downloading at the Essence of Embodiment Festival. The film was available for on-demand streaming on the Essence of Embodiment website and single days and all days festival passes were available for purchase. We also participated in a Talkback Session on March 19th where we discussed the role dance, film, and art play in the process of healing, and our relationships with nature. On March 21st, Artistic Director Teresa Fellion led her workshop Moving Your Story as a part of the Essence of Embodiment Teaching Festival. In this workshop we incorporated guided movement, and improvisation to reflect on our individual lived-experiences of fear or trauma in order to re-shape and move through. I am humbled and honored to have the opportunity to hear some of your stories and proceed down the path of healing together.
Throughout the festival we examined techniques to release fear & trauma, and re-align the body with the mind while bringing together a group of multi-racial, multi-generational dancers, artists & writers. It was truly an eye opening, motivational, and validating experience and I applaud Iman Louis-Jeune for this astounding feat. Thank you to everyone who streamed the videos, attended the workshop, and the Talkback session. Your attendance is so appreciated. We hope you enjoyed!
MARK DEGARMO DANCE VIRTUAL INTERNATIONAL ARTS FESTIVAL
March 18th was a big day for us! BodyStories also presented our work together/apart at the Mark DeGarmo Dance Virtual International Arts Festival over zoom. It was an exciting night of dance and it was inspiring to hear and receive so much thoughtful, intuitive, and creative feedback. We had a strong group of presenting artists and the variety of the works showcased was so refreshing. It is truly amazing how creative one can get presenting virtually over Zoom. Thank you to everyone who attended. Your presence, support, and feedback is so appreciated!
MOVEMENT RESEARCH OPEN-PERFORMANCE
Our final virtual performance of March took place on the 23rd where we showed our work together/apart at the Movement Research Open-Performance. This was a private, invite-only event and the intimate environment fostered a supportive and creative atmosphere. Thank you to the Movement Research moderator and all of our mentors, collaborators, and friends who participated in the discussion. You have given us some incredibly helpful artistic feedback which will help us continue to develop our work.
DANCE/NYC SYMPOSIUM:
Our Artistic Director, Teresa Fellion, attended the Digital Dance/NYC Symposium which took place March 17th -20th. The event was wonderfully attended and it was so refreshing to be with the dance community again even through the screen. The speakers and discussions were helpful and uplifting and provided attendees with some valuable tools to help navigate a changing dance world. We are proud to be a part of this thoughtful and actionable community! Plus, you can’t beat the dance parties! Thank you kindly to everyone at Dance/NYC for the enormous amount of work in putting the symposium together for us all.
WEEKLY CLASSES:
We are continuing our weekly BodyStories: Teresa Fellion Dance Company Class for pre-professional and professional dancers. Want to train in the BodyStories curriculum and learn our company repertory in a fun, professional environment? Join us for our weekly pre-professional and professional virtual classes, ongoing until May 28, 2021. This Spring series provides us the opportunity to brush up on our foundations, while challenging our minds and bodies to approach movement from a unique and sometimes unfamiliar lens. Dancers will explore and rediscover joy in their movement in a comprehensive class transitioning from a yoga-flow like warm up, into modern and contemporary technique, and ending in extensive phrase work. Classes will also help build composition and improvisation skills by partnering movement, music, and text, while investigating the relationship between dance and social justice. These classes are open to all ages and levels! The class schedule is as follows.
Technique:
Wednesdays 6-7:30pm EST * sign up via email 24rhs in advance for Wed.
Thursdays 12:30-2pm EST
Composition & Improvisation:
Fridays 1:30-3:30pm EST
(Bi-weekly)
Additional times available for both classes! Please inquire.
Weekly youth virtual dance classes are also ongoing until May 28, 2021. Our youth classes include movement from BodyStories’ dance curriculum, incorporating different styles and techniques such as contemporary, modern, jazz, ballet, hip-hop, choreography, improvisation, tap, Central and West African, salsa, swing, and more. We have classes designed for all junior dance levels from beginner through pre-professional. Age ranges include 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17 years old. The class schedule is as follows
6-9 Year Olds:
Thursdays 5:30-6:30 pm EST
10-13 Year Olds:
Fridays 3:30-5:00pm EST
with additional times and levels available!
We have classes for all levels of youth dancers ages 3-5, 6-9, 10-13, and 14-17. We have classes for all genders, and also offer boys only classes!
IT IS NOT TOO LATE TO SIGN UP! Students may sign up for the entire weekly series, one month, or a single drop-in class! If signing up for the whole series, participants may be eligible to receive 20% off the total cost. Please do not hesitate to reach out for any financial assistance or scholarship needed. We are completely open to all participants where they are financially during this time.
Thank you to everyone who has come to class this month! We have enjoyed distance dancing with you and we are always excited to see your faces each week. It is so cool to be in class with and moving with people from all over the country. What a fun plus of Zoom!
FOR MORE INFO CONTACT: education@bodystoriesfellion.org
UPCOMING EVENTS
Stay Home Film Festival
BodyStories is excited to announce that we have been selected to present our piece march at the Stay Home Film Festival (Remix!) taking place on Saturday, April 10th, 2021 at 8PM ET! Films will be shown via one YouTube Premiere stream – on the Stay Home Film Festival channel. YouTube Premieres have a live comment section, where viewers can respond in real time without interrupting the flow of the program. Each choreographer will have 2 or 3 minutes to answer questions from the audience, and pose questions for audience members to respond to regarding the films.
Link for the festival coming soon! This link will be open to the public, so therefore there is no official “ticketing.” The festival will be pay-what-you-can, with a suggested donation of $15 collected via Venmo.
SHFF on IG: @stayhomefilmfest
Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Virtual Dance EXposure
BodyStories is also excited to announce that we will be presenting our piece together/apart at the Lehigh Valley Dance Exchange Virtual Dance EXposure! The work will be available for streaming on the ArtsQuest event page for the entire duration of the April 23rd-25th weekend, and LVDE and ArtsQuest will be co-hosting a live virtual premiere event on Friday, April 23rd and Saturday, April 24th at 7:00pm for the first and second halves of the program, respectively.
We are looking forward to these upcoming performances and we hope to see you there!
People will be able to register for this FREE virtual event by visiting the ArtsQuest website at artsquest.org. More info to come!
Lets keep our BodyStories community connected and ALIVE!