This is the dim sum cart of dance classes with a rotating cast of some of Portland’s most interesting contemporary dancer/choreographers who typically don’t teach. It’s also an invitation to dance in the inner circle of the contemporary PDX dance scene because really, HEAVY ROTATION addresses this core (not corps) group of Players–innovative movement thinkers/performers–giving them a way to dance with, inspire, learn from each other that’s outside of rehearsal or performance.
– Lisa Radon, ultra pdx
We are interested in working in a connective mode. We want to dance in a room with you and you and you. We are interested in what you have to say and the way you say it. We want to think, feel, and move. This is a way for all of us to have a voice and for all of us to listen. This is a way of connecting to our roots that will move us forward.
We see a desire in Portland's expanding dance community for more opportunities to come together on a consistent basis. Heavy Rotation is a sustainable way for people to have an opportunity to teach or workshop an idea while providing consistent, diverse, challenging studio practice for students. Simply, it is a way for us to reconnect to the roots of our form, the dance class.
IN ROTATION, 2009-2011 (sample class description excerpts)
Kathleen Keogh + Noelle Stiles: brain body/body brain.
The brain and body function in tandem with an essential reciprocity. From this understanding, our class will work to deepen the integration of the dancing body as a whole by facilitating a dialogue between awareness, physical potential, and creative action. Pulling elements from Alexander Technique, Qi Gong, good ol' fashioned modern dance technique, the Tuning Score, and BMC, we will explore our potential as physical bodies and as sentient performers.
Emily Stone: Tom Waits: a rough-voiced, drunken brawler of a musician. Jazzercise: the original dance exercise phenomenon! A strange coupling that combines forces to banish our winter-y angst. If we were kids we'd light firecrackers and kick the bushes. Instead, we'll do some dance moves inspired by full-throated stomp and peculiar blues. Instructor is CPR certified.
Tahni Holt: Rotation d'une manière extravagante avec des pamplemousses au printemps.
Katrina O'Brien: smears the lines between compositional improvisation and modern technique allowing dancers to find their mark in movement. ...
Paige McKinney: teaches an intermediate level contemporary dance technique class. Encouraging her students to use the class as a laboratory to explore their range as performers, McKinney balances technical precision with personal expression, and tempers sculptural movement with a lively awareness of self and others. .. .. .
Shannon Hallberg: BodyEcology-Somatic practice, movement improvisation, and playful dancing – an intermediate class for those curious about the support of embodiment for full-on dancing. .. ... .
Mizu Desierto: The ultimate place to arrive in both dance and life is the essence of our being. Through the support of the collective, the cultivation of the contemplative, and a love affair with the Goddess of Gravity, this class proposes a pathway: to accept, explore & offer ourselves. Through our deeply personal expression, slowly we access the universal.
Wendy Hambidge: Deep sensation, deep sentient experience, passionate dancing without melodrama. Through the embodied anatomy of Body-Mind Centering we will find deep connection with our bodies to inform our dancing for a profoundly satisfying experience and richness to share with your potential audience.
Partnering Studios
Conduit
Studio 2 (The Mouth)
Headwaters (Disjecta)
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Choreographers Kathleen Keogh and Noelle Stiles’ smart new dance class series Heavy Rotation invites a new local dancer to teach every two weeks… The innovative, community building experiment continues through June with everybody from Wendy Hambidge to Tahni Holt, and creators Keogh and Stiles at the helm. – KELLY CLARKE, WW
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Photo: HR, Wendy Hambidge, Conduit
HEAVY ROTATION (HR) was a dance class series spanning three years co-created and directed by dance artists Kathleen Keogh and Noelle Stiles. HR was structured around the desire for rigorous study and connectivity. HR provided students with a rotating selection of artists facilitating classes over a four and a half month period of time. The intention behind the series was to fill a void in the dance community for consistent, rigorous, and diverse studio practice and to provide financially sustainable opportunities to maintain one’s teaching skills. More simply, it was a way for us to reconnect to the roots of our form, the dance class.
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Image: Heavy Rotation postcard, Noelle Stiles
FEB. 27TH
Studio 2