Martha Graham School offers winter intensive

Registration is now available for the 2013 Winter Intensive at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance taking place January 2 – 18, 2013. 

The Winter Intensive offers dancers a rigorous program in Martha Graham Technique, Martha Graham Repertory and Dance Composition. The course is specifically designed for students and professionals who are unable to attend the Martha Graham School year-round or who wish to progress rapidly in the Martha Graham Technique. The course concludes with students presenting studio showings.

Students may enroll for the entire program or for individual weeks, depending upon class requirements.

The Martha Graham Technique experiments with basic human movement, beginning with the most elemental movements of contraction and release. Using these principles as the foundation for her technique, Graham built a vocabulary of movement that would “increase the emotional activity of the dancer’s body.”

Depending on the individual student’s experience with Graham’s technique, four levels are available. Level 1 is an introductory level for students who wish to learn the basics of the Graham technique and accelerate rapidly. Level 2 are for the dancers who already have a strong elementary background in Graham technique but who wish to practice and deepen their understanding.

Level 3 is for students who possess an intermediate background in her technique and wish to increase facility while Level 4 is for experienced dancers and professionals with extensive experience who want to deepen their physical mastery.

Level 3 and 4 participation requires prior approval. All students will be evaluated during the first two days to ensure appropriate class placement. 

All students will also participate in reparatory workshops that pull upon Graham’s ballets, which were inspired by a wide variety of sources, including modern painting, the American frontier, religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and Greek mythology.

Plus, participating intensive dancers will explore the fundamentals of dance creation and composition through various exercises. 

For more information on the winter intensive or the school’s full-time programs, visit marthagraham.org/school. All classes will be taught at the school’s Upper East Side location in New York City except for the Advanced/Company (Level 4) class and the Open Mixed class, which will be taught at the Westbeth location. 

The Upper East Side space is located at 316 East 63rd Street, New York, NY 10065 and the Westbeth space is at 55 Bethune Street, 11th Floor, New York, NY 10014.

Photo: The Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. Photo by Joseph Henry Ritter.