Solo/Duo Dancing: A Choreographic Practice
August 11- 17, 2024
At the heart of our dance making are moment-by-moment considerations of movement, relationship and profound play. Crafting solo and duet dances calls for a particular regard for these elements.
This workshop offers an opportunity to further your own practice under the direction of Bebe Miller and Angie Hauser, who have been collaborative dance makers for over twenty years. At the core of our work is the expressive, articulate dancing body; we are honing our choreographic intention through the clarity of our physicality. We will explore how our dancing is amplified in both solo and duet work, developing choreographic and technical specificity through a range of compositional strategies. We are particularly interested in the investigation of movement details, the articulation of effort with attention, the choreographic range of relationship, and how content speaks to context. This workshop is geared toward experienced dancers.
Taking advantage of the distinct setting of Bearnstow, we will work in studio, in the landscape, and in community with one another. Our working day begins with a guided dance warm-up, focusing on preparing the body and imagination; we continue with morning and afternoon creative process sessions. Throughout the workshop we will seed our explorations with information garnered daily, activating performance – seeing and being seen as we work – to deepen the group’s exchange. We’ll conclude with a showing of work and process created by participants.
Bebe Miller, choreographer, performer, writer and master teacher, first came to Bearnstow as a child, where her passion for dance and nature emerged. She formed Bebe Miller Company in 1985. She has collaborated with a variety of artists along with the dancers who share her studio practice and from whom she’s learned what dancing can reveal. Her choreography has garnered four “Bessie” awards and been performed in the US, Europe, South America and Africa. A Professor in Dance at Ohio State University from 2000 to 2016, she is a United States Artists Ford Fellow, a Doris Duke Foundation Artist, and was honored by the Kennedy Center as one of the Masters of African American Choreography. Her latest ebook, How Dancing Is Built, is available online.YC.
Angie Hauser is a Bessie Award–winning choreographer and performer. Her work is grounded in improvisation and collaboration. She is a principal collaborator with Bebe Miller Company contributing to the work as a dancer, performer, and writer for 20 years. She also creates performance work with long-time collaborator Chris Aiken. She has taught dance technique, choreography, contact improvisation and improvisation throughout North America and in Europe and Asia. She received her MFA from Ohio State University and is currently an associate professor of dance at Smith College in Northampton, MA.
For more information write beryl@bebemillercompany.org or ahauser@smith.edu.