Across The Floor
Notes & News
Taking class with a choreographer is even more fun when you can see their show a few days later. The Dance Center of Columbia College Chicago makes that possible through DanceMasters, a series of master classes with the artists featured on the Dance Center stage. This season, San Francisco–based artist Joe Goode offers a release technique class with a yoga-inspired warm-up, Feb. 1 at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Robert Moses, also from the Bay Area, teaches “Collaborative Processes,” a course on “problem solving for the stage,” Feb. 21 at the Hubbard Street Center. On March 29, Reggie Wilson and Andréya Ouamba invite students to blend contemporary technique with folk forms of Africa, the Caribbean, and the American South, much like they do in their joint work The Good Dance. See www.colum.edu/dance_center.
The American Tap Dance Foundation
holds its winter intensive Feb. 19–20 at the American Tap Dance Center in NYC. The line-up includes master classes in technique, repertory, and improv, plus a jam with live jazz on Saturday night. Between classes, ATDF founder Tony Waag hosts a showing of Happy Birthday Gregory, a film tribute to Gregory Hines. And dance historian Margaret Morrison presents her research on an under-recognized legend of the 1940s hoofing scene in “Juanita Pitts: Race, Gender and the Female Hoofer.” See www.atdf.org.
The American Dance Guild
presents the work of 32 choreographers on five programs in its annual performance festival, Feb. 24–27 at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center. A Friday evening show pays tribute to Jane Dudley, known for her politically charged work in the 1930s, and Paul Sanasardo, an early mentor to Pina Bausch. Two of Dudley’s works will be shown, as well as a new dance by Sanasardo, who will talk to author Mark Franco in a post-performance discussion. The festival opens with From the Horse’s Mouth, in which veterans of the field, from Martine van Hamel to Douglas Dunn to DM’s Wendy Perron, dance and tell stories. —Siobhan Burke
