“Claire Porter at Bearnstow: an illuminating workshop in a gorgeous lakeside location with thoughtful, creative participants. Bravos also to Ruth and staff for caring for us with home-cooked meals and stories of the Maine woods and creative process. . . .”

—Ara Fitzgerald, choreographer, director of Dance,
Manhattanville College

“Claire’s workshop was stimulating, thought-provoking, and FUN. She created an atmosphere of freedom and joy which led to genuine creativity and lots of surprises. And late-night suppers on the porch, listening to the loons, were great, too!”

—Linda Tarnay, Summer ’09, Professor of Dance,
NYU Tisch School of the Arts

“Claire’s workshop allowed me room to work on a specific project, while giving structure to move me into places I wouldn’t have otherwise gone. It gave me inspiration and tools to continue to work on the piece past the workshop. The workshop was very productive and lots of fun (not to mention the wild blueberries)!”

—Nancy Lyons, Professor of Dance, Sonoma State University

“It was truly a delight to work with Claire Porter in her workshop. It was a seamless exploration of movement and text, integrated, and investigated both in terms of their expressive potential and their intellectual intrigue. We played and created for days, with little to no emphasis on the product. The freedom to explore and to make something, anything, without censure (self or others), was truly liberating. The end product in my case was a new ‘composition’ with text that I performed professionally, a piece unlike anything I had made before, but until the last day of the workshop, I had no idea it would happen. And that was really nice.”

—Donna Davenport, Summer of ’08, Associate Dean of Faculty and Professor of Dance,
Hobart and William Smith Colleges

“Claire Porter’s writing and dance workshop at Bearnstow was exactly where I needed to be for a week. I was able to immerse myself in the fun, joy and beauty of dance and writing, with Claire easefully guiding and nudging all of us toward a piece by the end. I enjoyed the camaraderie with other participants over meals, swimming, creating, and worrying over how a piece was going to come together in just 5 days. I learned to trust myself and my movement and writing, and learned new techniques for honing my craft. This was a truly wonderful experience, with many thanks to Claire for her generosity of talent, and to Ruth for her devotion to the art of dance.”

—Stacee Cooney, Special Event Coordinator, Sugar Sand Park Community Center, Palm Beach, FL

“Claire Porter’s Writing and Movement workshop at Bearnstow was an amazingly creative experience and great fun. Claire had us "change up" our own authored words and phrases in unexpected ways (sort of like playing a jig-saw puzzle or scrabble game). The end result was remarkably authentic, primal movement that better reflected my original artistic dance intent. Plus, the rugged, pristine Maine landscape is inspiring. So is Ruth Grauert, Bearnstow director, and generous host.”

—Terry Conlon, choreographer