Hosted by The Woods Dance Project

It’s Spring Session!

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 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.

This 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.

This intermediate/advanced contemporary floorwork class is designed for dancers ready to deepen their relationship with gravity, momentum, and dynamic transitions. Rooted in release technique and influenced by elements of martial arts and improvisation, the class emphasizes efficient pathways in and out of the floor, spirals, inversions, and fluid weight shifts. Through both phrase work and guided exploration, dancers will build strength, coordination, and an intuitive sense of flow. Focus will be given to finding a sense of calm and relaxation in the body while building momentum. Be prepared to play, slide, and discover new ways of moving with power and ease.

The body as a vessel for the emotional enables us to perceive our inner world and to connect with the outer world. The structures stored in body memory are an essential basis of our experience of self and identity: each person’s individual history and idiosyncrasy is expressed in their bodily habits and behaviors. Following this idea, the main focus is preparing our physical and mental body.

The warm-up revolves around spiral movements to open energy pathways, stimulate the lymphatic and nervous system, and increase the range of motion and functional strength inspired from Yoga, Pilates, and the Alexander Technique method. From there, we’ll dive into dance sequences that emphasize dynamism, texture, and musicality. Floorwork will bring us deeper into spatial awareness, working as individuals and as a group. The last part of class will be deconstructing the choreographic sequences, finding other possibilities that invite theatrical images, highlighting our freedom and personality through improvisation tasks.

I invite dancers and movers to join in this playful, challenging, and curiosity-driven experience, where we build and explore together. Let’s unblock new movement pathways and celebrate the strength that comes from our stories and memories.

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, 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.

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.

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.

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.

In this class, we will dive into a variety of partnering skills, such as intuitive improvisation, weight sharing, and lifts. The objective is to empower dancers with fresh perspectives when approaching partnering, offering them new skills to enhance their own partnering practices. Come solo or bring a friend to dance with!