Hosted by The Woods Dance Project

It’s Spring Session!

When: Saturdays 10-11:30 AM January 3 through June 20, 2026.

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 10:15 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 us 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.

In this class we will use a combination of communal free dance expression and progressions through the space and in/out of the floor to warm up our bodies. We’ll finish with a combination to explore range of motion and coordination.

This class is intended to help dancers of an intermediate level or higher build their attunement to the hip socket and surrounding structures. The first half of class may feel more workshop-y than dance class-y as we spend time looking at visual aids, following our curiosities, taking time to subtly sense into the hip through embodied anatomy and guided somatisations. In the second-half of class, we’ll move into dance improvisations and phrasework to further experience this area of the body. One exercise will include partner work and touch, involving bearing the weight of a partner’s leg so they can experience the socket with little muscular effort. Permission is always granted to movers to take care of their body-minds as needed.

This contemporary class incorporates improvisation and momentum-building sequences that explore efficiency, gravity and individual expression. Mel 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 dive into curiosities and celebrate our unique dance approaches. Music matters in this playful class that moves through a curated playlist, getting our hearts pumping and bodies jumping.

We will move through class searching for aspects of play in improv, conditioning, and phrasework. We will move to expand limitations, explore sensations, and bring awareness to habits. Searching for joy and embracing the beauty of each other in the space. 

As an educator, I place value on sensation, sequencing, curiosity and joy as opposed to shape or aesthetic. Class starts with simple movement pathways and a sense of ease, that way the nervous system can be accessed softly with care, and heat slowly builds within the body. As the body becomes warmer and more available, the movements become fuller and the pathways more complex. We continue to build on the complexity of directions and sequences and before you know it, we are moving fully with a sense of organization and ease. Class is informed by sensation and imagery-based improvisation, release, counter technique, floor work, breath work, and more!

This class focuses on two core principles: awareness of the three-dimensional spine motion as the primary source of movement and the natural spiraling mobility of our bone structure as a healthy pattern to draw on our body.

Through safe movements, breath and softening work, we will flow organically and with ease from and to the floor through efficient and instinctual biomechanics which will build up into fluidity and momentum, with special attention to functional anatomy, points of support, and weight transfer to maximize movement potential.

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.

Class will consist of both improvisational tasks + structured phrasework to embody ideas of release, falling, inverting, + energy modulation, exploring a blend of organization and wildness. We will start simple and grow more complex in our movement as we sweat, smile, navigate changes in direction, and find expansive movement through weighted release. Music will be moving us as we see the space around us and find joy in dancing soft and wide, together! Class is informed by counter technique, floor work, and more. As a teacher and mover, I value using what is available in our bodies, moving deeper towards pleasure and curiosity as a way to unlock greater freedom in our minds and joints alike.

Class will then become more structured through standing, across the floor, and center phrases that encourage expansive movement through weighted release. Music will be moving us as we see the space around us and find joy in dancing soft and wide!

This class explores functionality and articulation of anatomy for greater expressivity, and the play of/between release and clarity. My approach is particularly informed by my postmodern / modern lineage, with personal study in various somatic modalities. Class begins with a guided somatic experience, improvisation, and guided movements to warm the body and tune into an internal, sensorial experience. After this, class often gets more structured, with phrasework of varying lengths to a curated playlist, building toward dynamic material that will take you off center, upside-down, and encourage both specificity and interpretation.

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 dance class that emphasizes dynamic movement, fluidity, floorwork, and sustainable training practices. We will build the body’s awareness and connection through anatomical and functional movement designed to efficiently fire up major muscle groups. Kellie believes preparing the body in this way can allow for uninhibited expression. We will move big yet gently, celebrating community atmosphere and individual aesthetic. Let’s get groovy!

This contemporary class begins with a grounding exercise, using breath to activate and organize the body. Drawing from yoga and Gyrotonic principles, we’ll prepare for greater range of motion, coordination, and internal awareness. As we move into phrase work, we’ll build a spherical, multidirectional sense of movement, relishing transitions and tapping into our inherent musicality. With attention to space, sensation, sound, and the surrounding environment, dancers are encouraged to explore personal expression within shared material—developing both technical precision and creative freedom.

This contemporary class will focus on developing the dancer's comfort, skill, and understanding of inverted positions. Informed by contemporary release technique, anatomy, and yoga, the class is designed to help dancers develop efficiency and alignment in various ways, including inverted positions. Dancers will be guided through a warm-up to prepare the body to be upside-down, specifically warming the core, shoulders, and wrists, and honing in on weight-sensing (upright and inverted) and spinal articulation.

This workshop-style class is designed to be approachable for intermediate through professional-level movers. Dancers will get the most out of this class if they are already comfortable putting weight into their hands and have some experience with inversions. Touch will be used among participants to help dancers hold positions, find alignment, and/or for spotting. Alternative options can be provided for those uncomfortable with partnered assistance/touch.