Class is on! A note from The Woods….
Dear Salt Lake Dancers,
Since hosting our first class in March, 2024, the word has slowly gotten out and attendance has grown. These Saturday classes have been a passion project of Nichele’s, who wanted to be able to offer a reliable class for freelancers in SLC to train weekly. Other classes have been started or revived in Salt Lake City during the timeframe that all of this was getting started, including occasional, awesome open company classes at Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company and Repertory Dance Theatre, the wonderful open-level Dance Class for Humans classes, and we’ve heard of another regular class held through Millennium Dance Complex. This is exciting stuff—a buffet of options that make training actually possible for local artists! (By the way, if you know of other classes happening in Salt Lake, we’d love to know about them!)
Why class prices have increased:
We sent out a survey in 2024 to find out how our mission to contribute to class options and a sense of community in SLC is really landing. It was incredible to see the incoming responses and we feel encouraged to push forward and to see these classes grow into the future. An important part of this survey was gauging how much you can pay for class. What’s actually accessible for our community? Setting the class rate at $12 was kind of a blind guess as to what would be a sustainable rate. In 2024, teachers were paid a moderate amount, Nichele was a volunteer, and we operated at a slight deficit that slowly ate into the reserves set aside for just this purpose. We aren’t yet a non-profit and don’t currently have a way to subsidize class, so getting the balance of revenue to costs is important for sustainability. In short, raising prices is necessary to keep the Saturday class going and thriving into the future. As we make these changes, a sliding scale option still exists for those who need it. We don’t want anyone not coming to class because they can’t afford it. If the class is still too much, work study is available and we’d love to hear from you!
Ideas for the future:
We would love to offer a second class and we got a good idea from the survey of some options that could work for folks. If we are able to make this happen, it won’t be until later this year after we find a groove with the new pricing and are running in the black. We’re taking it one step at a time, but the addition of another class is definitely possible. For anyone concerned, rest assured that we will try to coordinate around other classes offered in the community so that we are not competing directly, but rather adding to the buffet of training options in SLC.
We have been filled with gratitude for the encouraging words coming in about the Saturday class. Thank you to everyone who filled out the survey, has tried out class, has shared a post… You are keeping this class alive and filling our cups. So, let’s keep it going! Join us!
With gratitude,
Nichele and The Woods Dance Project
Open Adult Classes
Ongoing Pre-/Professional Contemporary
Hosted by The Woods Dance Project
NOTE: Pricing Details have changed for 2025. Please see below. Thank you to our community for your ongoing support of class in the woods!
Spring Session begins January 11!
When: Saturdays 10-11:30 AM January 11 into June, 2025.
Want the classes to pop up on your Google cal? Follow this link.
To view details about upcoming classes on this website’s calendar, go here.
Who: Led by The Woods Dance Project artists and associates. Teacher bios and dates are listed below, as scheduled.
Where: Performing Dance Center: 3310 S 2700 E, Salt Lake City, UT 84109
Registration: All registration is in person. We’re so glad you’re here! Please check in with the class host upon arrival. Class will start and end right on time. New-to-class dancers, please allow at least 10 minutes to complete paperwork and to settle in. All dancers: To respect the community and the instructor, please arrive before class begins to complete check-in, payment, and to settle in. The hall door leading to the studio will be locked at 10:10 for security.
Cost: Venmo, check, and cash are accepted.
Venmo payments can be accepted at any time and will be applied to your next class or class card. A confirmation email will be sent within 24 hours if payment isn’t used the day it is received. Venmo: @the-woods-dance. Payments are non-refundable, but credit for drop-in classes can be used anytime during the session in which it is purchased.
Drop-Ins: $15. Please note that this price will allow us to sustain these classes into the future and to pay our teachers a meaningful wage. If this price is out of reach for you, please see more payment options below!
5-class cards: $60 (You save $3/class!). Class cards expire 12 weeks from the first day of use**. Although cards may be purchased for someone else, classes are non-transferrable after the first use. New! Upon purchase, you will be emailed a link to a Google Doc where your class passes will be tracked, for your convenience!
The non-expiration terms of class passes purchased in 2024 will be honored. If you have a class pass from 2024, it will not expire!
Special Sliding Scale Rate: For those in financial need, a sliding scale is available of $9-14. No questions asked.
Work Study: Work Study is offered for one to two people each season. Work Study exists to make class more accessible for those who need it, and is intended for those who will take classes regularly. Please contact Nichele if you are interested in this opportunity. If the current season is full, you may be added to a waitlist.
Any class changes will be reflected on the Calendar.
TEACHERS
Teaching next…
Nichele Woods (she/her) is a dance artist based in Salt Lake City where she directs The Woods Dance Project. Born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area, Nichele worked as an artist and administrator throughout the Bay before relocating to SLC in 2016. While in the Bay she had the honor of working with choreographers Christine Cali, Kristen Daley, Joe Goode, Nancy Lyons, Virginia Matthews, and Mo Miner, among others.
Nichele has been focused on her choreographic practice since 2012. After a break from her undergraduate studies (which began at UC Irvine in 2003), she received her B.A. in Theater Arts & Dance from Sonoma State University in 2013. That year, her first full dance work, Parched (2012), received the honor of Gala selection at the ACDA Western Region conference. Upon graduating she returned to SSU as a guest choreographer and Adjunct Professor of Dance. Nichele was a founding member of the devised theatre ensemble, Hatch Performance Collective (2014-2016), and joined SoCo Dance Theater as a choreographer for the 2015-2016 season. In 2015 she won first place at Luna Dance Institute’s Choreofund 5 in Berkeley, CA.
Since her arrival in Salt Lake City, Nichele has been actively engaged in the community alongside her work at the U. The winner of Repertory Dance Theatre's 2017 Regalia competition, Nichele was honored to receive the opportunity to create a new work for the company's 2017-2018 season. Nichele was also thrilled to spend the summer of 2017 studying with Doug Varone through his DEVICES4 mentorship program in New York City, through which she premiered Stranger Kin at Gibney Dance Center (NYC). Stranger Kin was reset for the ACDA Northwest Region conference in 2018 where it was selected for the Gala concert and as the alternate selection for the National Conference.
In December 2018, Nichele premiered her first evening-length work, The End of Sisyphus, and in 2019 was awarded her M.F.A. from the University of Utah alongside the School of Dance’s L. Scott Marsh Mentorship Award, acknowledging her outstanding leadership and mentorship of others through example and encouragement. From 2019 to 2023, Nichele taught on faculty at Ballet West Academy where she developed and served as the inaugural resident choreographer for Current, the academy’s contemporary performing group. Recent commissions include new creations for Westminster University, Sonoma State University, and Utah Valley University, where she will serve as a Lecturer for the 2024-2025 year. In February 2024, Nichele founded The Woods Dance Project and premiered two new works through the company’s first production, REDUCER, presented by RDT’s Link Series in June 2024.
Nichele is a student of Body-Mind Centering® through Sonder Movement Project and Moving Within in the Somatic Movement Educator program.
Nichele Woods
Jan 11, 18 + 25
On the calendar…
Frankie Henderson is a multifaceted artist, choreographer, performer, educator, and, above all, a passionate advocate of movement in all its forms. She holds an MFA in Dance from the prestigious Claire Trevor School of the Arts at the University of California, Irvine. Over her career, Frankie has collaborated with esteemed artists including Laja Field, Victor Rottier, Leandro Damasco, Carley Conder, Kathryn Alter, Monica Bill Barnes, and Fabian Wixe.
Image by RanDee Madison.
Frankie Henderson
Feb 15 + 22, Mar 1
Melissa Younker (she/her) is an artist with a multifaceted dedication to dance; directing, choreographing, teaching, learning, performing and designing costumes. Her experimental approach combines her multi-disciplinary experiences to create and collaborate in solo, ensemble, site-specific, video, and theatrical performances. She is driven by curiosity: engaging in processes that are intimate and unrestrained.
Originally from Southern California, Melissa received her BFA from California State University, Long Beach in 2014. From 2014-2020, she was a full-time dance artist with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company. During that time, she toured throughout the US and France performing dance works by over 20 internationally acclaimed choreographers including historical repertory by Alwin Nikolais with Nikolais Dance Theatre. In 2018, Melissa traveled to Mongolia and South Korea as a cultural ambassador with DanceMotion USA℠, a cross-cultural exchange program of the US Department of State’s Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs administered by BAM ® (Brooklyn Academy of Music). Melissa is a founding member of Heartland Collective, a multi-disciplinary collective with collaborations in dance, visual arts, music, and performance that has produced 8 evening length works since its inception in 2019. Additionally, she collaborates with project based movement groups And Artists (Utah), Ballet Opera de Guerra (Utah), Brolly Arts (Utah), Keith Johnson/Dancers (California), and Oriantheate Dance Company (Paris, France) with whom she recently toured to Croatia. Since Fall 2020, she has served as Co-Artistic Director of Utah Valley University’s Contemporary Dance Ensemble, where she was honored with the School of the Arts Dean’s Award of Excellence, for Adjunct Faculty. As a dance artist, she has worked with choreographers Adam Barruch, Jonah Bokaer, Ann Carlson, Daniel Charon, Mehdi Farajpour, Rebekah Guerra, Molly Heller, Tzveta Kassabova, Raja Feather Kelly, Stephen Koester, Joanna Kotze, Andrea Miller, Mitsu Salmon, Doug Varone, Netta Yerushalmy, Yin Yue, among others.
Melissa’s work is always always an exchange of ideas - a sharing of wonder.
Image by Marissa Mooney.
Melissa Younker
Mar 22–Apr 12
2024/2025
Natalie Border is a lover of all things movement. With dance being a prominent movement form in her lifestyle, Natalie revels in the connection between the mind, body and spirit. Natalie calls the Utah mountains home, however, craves to live near the ocean someday. Natalie received her BFA from the University of Utah in 2015 and has since worked as a freelance artist where she has collaborated with choreographers Nick Blaylock, LAJAMARTIN, Satu Hummasti and Daniel Clifton among many others. Natalie participated in Snow College’s Juilliard Summer Intensive as well as Northwest Dance Project’s Launch program. She has guested in Repertory Dance Theatre’s Emerge show, and produced her own show, Nomad. Natalie danced for SALT Contemporary Dance in 2018 and had the privilege of working with artists such as Brendan Duggan, Penny Saunders, and Jenni Gordon. From 2019-2021 Natalie was a company member of Vim Vigor, a New York physical theater company, under the direction of Shannon Gillen. Returning to Utah, she has ventured into screendance-making and collaborating with artists, Rebekah Guerra and Megan O’Brien. Natalie looks forward to continuing to dance, create, perform, and explore the tender moments of being a human. Natalie is currently dancing for Nichele Woods and recently started teaching tango, her new-found love of partner dancing.
Image by Brad Simmons.
Natalie Border
TBA
Jonathan Kim (he/him) is a dance artist currently based in San Francisco, CA. Before relocating to California this year, he was a full-time company member with Repertory Dance Theatre and freelanced in the community. Originally from Southern California, he obtained his Bachelor's in Dance from California State University, Fullerton. Previously, he worked with SALT Contemporary Dance, SJDanceCo, and Lineage Dance Company. He has been fortunate to perform works by a diverse spectrum of choreographers and répétiteurs during his professional career including, but not limited to: Doris Humphrey, José Límon, Donald McKayle, Ihsan Rustem, Lar Lubovitch, Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof, Mitsu Salmon, LAJAMARTIN, Joni McDonald, and Brendan Duggan. While not dancing, he can be found reading a good sci-fi/fantasy book or napping.
Image by Sharon Kain.
Jonathan Kim
Peter Farrow is from Richmond, Virginia. He graduated from the Juilliard School in 2018 and was a performer in Punchdrunk’s immersive production Sleep No More until 2020. He was also a member of the Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company from 2021-2024.
Image by Tori Duhaime.
Peter Farrow
Courtney Mazeika is a movement artist, maker, and educator originally from Houston, TX. She received herBFA in Dance from the University of Texas at Austin; then trained under Summer Lee Rhatigan at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance. As an independent artist, she has had the opportunity to perform internationally in original works by Tom Weinberger, Bobbi Jene Smith, David Harvey, Christian Burns, LoneKing Projects, Alex Ketley, Ben Green (Hind Legs), Megan O’Brien and more. Courtney has had the honor ofbeing on faculty at the San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program, and served as director of the SALT Pre-Professional Training Company. She worked as a rehearsal assistant for Tom Weinberger’s original creations at Staatstheater Kassel (DE), SUNY Purchase, Arts Umbrella (VBC), Nuova Officina della Danza, and more. She has also served as rehearsal director at Oquirrh West Project,NWA Ballet Theatre, and SALT Contemporary Dance. Her independent choreography has been shared at the Rotterdam International Duet Choreography Competition (2nd prize), 801 Salon SLC, 12 Minutes Max SLC,Chop Shop Contemporary Dance Festival (WA), Austin Dance Festival, University of Texas at Austin, Utah Valley University, Westminster University, Oquirrh West Project, SALT Contemporary Dance, SALT2, and more. From 2018 to 2022, she was a collaborator and company artist with UNA Productions. She danced with Norrdans (SE) for the 2022-2023 season, where she had the opportunity to perform works by Or/Eller, RenaButler, and Ioannis Mandafounis. Courtney recently shared a new work in collaboration with Peter Farrow and Jonathan Starr at 801 Salon in July 2023, and an independent solo at 12 Minutes Max SLC in October 2023.
Image by Nir Arieli.
Courtney Mazeika
TBA
Morgan Phillips, originally from Mesa, Arizona is a freelance performer in the Salt Lake City area. She has performed with many local companies including RDT's Emerge, SALT Contemporary, Cat+Fish Dances, Wasatch Contemporary Dance, Myriad Dance, The Woods Dance Project, and SB Dance Company. Morgan is a full body mover with a focus in floorwork. Her work is mostly created through improvisation using complex textures, sensations, and imagery. Outside of working with contemporary companies in the Salt Lake area, she also is a pole dancer where she integrates her contemporary dance background with the apparatus.
Morgan Phillips
Intermediate/Advanced Class Descriptions
UP NEXT:
Contemporary Release with Nichele Woods | January 11, 18, + 25:
This class explores functionality and articulation of anatomy for greater expressivity, and the play of/between release and clarity. My approach is informed by the postmodern / modern lineage, and is particularly influenced by artists who I have either worked with directly or the teachers of my teachers, such as Trisha Brown, Doug Varone, Doug Elkins, Christine Cali, and Joe Goode (SF), to name a few of many. You’ll feel/see influences from release-based techniques and ballet, some hip hop influence in my use of the floor, and somatic approaches that draw particularly from Body-Mind Centering®, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Yoga.
COMING SOON:
TBA | February 1 + 8
Contemporary Floorwork with Frankie Henderson | February 15 + 22, March 1
RECENT CLASSES:
Improvisation to Phrasework with Courtney Mazeika | December 14 + 21:
This class will begin with guided movement improvisation and score structures, and finish with workshopping a phrase of material. We will move in connection with our sensations, imaginations, the space, objects, and other people in the room. The class will provide ways to dive into our own bodies and develop a practice together that values play, listening, virtuosity, and curiosity.
Contemporary with Morgan Phillips | December 7:
This Int/Adv Contemporary class will be powered by sensations, textures, and imagery as we explore improvisation and floorwork. Music will play an important role as we jam out together, finding bounce and play in our bodies. There will be moments where we explore some pole influenced exercises but no experience is required.
Contemporary Floorwork with Frankie Henderson | November 9, 23 + 30:
Contemporary floorwork is a merge of acquired techniques that utilize breath work, core engagement, gravity and momentum, sufficient upper body strength, and explosive actions derived from the pelvis. In this class, dancers will use efficient movements that enable them to yield to the floor using their body weight while simultaneously using their strength to push the floor away in opposition. Dancers will maneuver their bodies with a combination of weaving/threading, creasing/folding, and expanding/collapsing to construct patterns on the floor. Dancers will take part in inversion work by pouring weight into the hands and upper body musculature with various manipulations of the lower body. Contemporary floorwork employs various levels of acrobatics and propelling spirals derived from teachings of flying low technique and soft acrobatics.
Contemporary with Peter Farrow | November 16:
Class will be a blend of contemporary dance concepts, floorwork, conditioning, and coordination games.
Contemporary with Melissa Younker | October 19 + 26, November 2:
This intermediate/advanced contemporary class incorporates improvisation and momentum-building sequences that explore efficiency, gravity and individual expression. Melissa believes that nothing the body does is wrong and that the practice of dance is the process of awareness and intention. Class will offer geek-out details as we look at functional anatomy, dive into curiosities and celebrate our unique dance approaches. Music matters in this playful class that moves through a curated playlist that gets our hearts pumping and bodies jumping.
Release Technique with Nichele Woods | September 7–28, October 5:
This class explores functionality and articulation of anatomy for greater expressivity, and the play of/between release and/with clarity. My approach is informed by the postmodern / modern lineage, and is particularly influenced by artists who I have either worked with directly or the teachers of my teachers, such as Trisha Brown, Doug Varone, Doug Elkins, and Joe Goode (SF), to name a few of many! You’ll feel/see influences from release-based techniques and ballet, some hip hop influence in my use of the floor, and somatic approaches that draw particularly from Body-Mind Centering®, Bartenieff Fundamentals, and Yoga.
Inclusivity:
If you are prepared for an advanced-level class, you are welcome here. Intermediate-level dancers will find a good challenge in the material—we are happy to invite you to class. Please check in with yourself to make sure you are taking care of your personal needs as well as supporting the safety of others in class. Class instructors are happy to work with those navigating injuries or other situations. Please feel free to speak with the instructor before class if there is anything you would like them to know or that they should be aware of. We aim to create a space that feels inclusive of the individual’s identity and experience and are open to feedback and dialogue about how we can create a more inclusive environment in The Woods.
What to wear:
Floorwork is explored to different degrees by the various instructors. Knee pads are encouraged but optional, and may make some feel safer and more comfortable. For a great non-bulky dance knee pad, check out: dancekneepads.com. Please bring layers (t-shirts or long sleeves and leggings or loose-fitted pants) to protect the body during floor exercises and to keep the floor from picking up excessive body oils/lotions and becoming slick. Bare feet may be encouraged, depending on the instructor.
More About Class in The Woods
Banner image by Samantha Stone