10 “Must Try” Summer Dance Intensives for any Experience-Hungry Dancer! (2017)
Click HERE to read 2019 edition!
by Maddy Wright
It’s that time of year – dancer’s scramble to put in their applications for the summer’s upcoming dance training opportunities. An annual call-to-action, a yearly reconsidering of what to try next and the prudent strategies that follow in-order to even make attending the programs a possibility. If you ask me, all of which is totally worth it. Having been fortunate enough to participate in a few summer dance intensives myself, I can attest to the benefits of experiences like these. I’m probably one of many that can say I’ve felt deep and powerful change within myself after a summer dance program.
The nature of extending yourself beyond the norms and comforts of the dance culture you’re used to. Immersing yourself in new and unfamiliar territory. Sharing vulnerable conversation with new artists. Stepping inside a world view different from your own.
It’s difficult not to find out what true listening and compassion is through a summer dance program, and I think it’s something we need more of in a time like now. That being said, It’s more than just dance training.
The following is a list of some amazing contemporary dance programs happening this year, some new, some re-occurring and all happening in different parts of the world!
Kibbutz Summer Intensive
Ga’aton, Israel is the home of the Kibbutz Summer Intensive Dance Program – a course series offered through Kibbutz Contemporary Dance Company and aimed at providing dance students with the total experience of living in the International Dance Village where the program’s activities take place. Dancers can customize the length of their experience between a two, four or six-week program between July 9th and August 17th. A focused schedule, including classes in Ballet, Modern, Jazz, body conditioning and company repertoire, is met with the balance of daily social activities. Consider the Kibbutz Summer Intensive Dance Program a professional dance camp for the aspiring pre-professional artist!
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Amsterdam Summer Intensive
Between July 8th and July 28th The Amsterdam Summer Intensive will be offering their annual contemporary class and workshops series in the newly restored Chasse Dance Studios. Open to all international professional dancers, this intensive allows participants to create their own schedule based off the exciting variety of classes they have to offer! Workshops in the styles of Akram Khan, Hofesh Schecter and Jiri Kylian are just a few examples of the available choices. Additionally, Amsterdam Summer Intensive is banding with Julidans Festival which will provide dancers with discounted admission to the festival’s performances. There’s nothing like having the freedom to explore arts and culture at you own will, and benefitting from special offers is an added bonus to a summer dance adventure!
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Movement Invention Project NYC 2017
It’s true to its name Movement Invention, because although there are daily structured classes, the inventive and explorative aspects of the project are at the core of MIP – a program that honors the processes of reflection, discussion and evolution. Under the direction of Alexandra Wells and Nancy Turano, MIP provides advanced dancers (ages 18-23) with the tools and skills necessary for understanding the multiple improvisational languages that are relevant in today’s dance environment. For three weeks in New York City, from July 2nd to the 21st, dancers will engage with an extraordinary faculty including Sidra Bell, Shannon Gillen, Shamel Pitts and more, in the beautiful studios of the Baryshnikov Arts Center and New York Live Arts. Even more, they will be given the space to unravel, let go and welcome change. Without a doubt this program was one of the most transformative intensives I’ve been to. Check out MIP if you’re interested in exercising the potential of your own artistic voice.
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Fusion Dance Theater Summer Intensive
de Kiss Move and CESA offer the first ever Fusion Dance Theater Study Certificate – an international certification program taking place this summer in Budapest, Hungary from July 10th to the 30th. This program comes forth with a truly original platform that centers around three specific schools of development – artistic, scientific and entrepreneurial education – and does so by offering dance classes in many genres including FUSION class and repertoire; and theoretical studies such as introduction to cultural management, cultural sociology and cultural economics. The Fusion Dance Theater Study Certificate aims to nurture ‘a new generation of multi-skilled artists’ while tackling relevant subject matter in today’s dance climate. Like nothing I’ve seen offered before, this summer course seems to be rooted in providing the fertile ground for the arts and art-makers to thrive and move forward!
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Valencia Danza 2017 – I International Contemporary Workshop
Iratxe Ansa and Igor Bacovich will lead their 1st International Contemporary Dance Workshop this August in Valencia, Spain. This program is sure to be an explorative ten-day incubation on Valencia Danza VIII Campus International, where a separate ballet series will also be hosted. The contemporary series will emphasize the Metamorphosis Method – a process of movement exploration – that which Ansa and Bacovich have developed and are looking to share with a select group of advanced dancers. From the 14th to the 25th of August the workshop will offer physical training classes, ballet barre, guided improvisation, repertoire and even more interesting; coaching for individual choreography. To finish, there will be a celebratory gala on August 25th at the Auditorium of Ribarroia! Not to be missed!
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Catch8 Workshop Series
Directed by Luke Murphy-Attic Projects, Catch8 is a dance workshop born and based in Cork, Ireland. For an 8-day duration from June 17th-24th, dancers will experience an intimate dance training and collaborative experience with a high-caliber team of Irish and international teachers and choreographers including Maxine Doyle, James Finnemore and Jose Agudo to name a few! “There’ll be a really nice sense of community for the week, where people can really meet and engage with each other and also do so for a very affordable cost,” writes Luke. As Catch8 is being held in collaboration with the Cork Midsummer Festival, participants will also receive special offers and evening time to enjoy the Festival’s events!
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Emanuel Gat Dance Summer Intensive
It’s an exclusive and intimate process with company members Michael Loehr, Sara Wilhelmsson and the choreographer himself. Emanuel Gat directs an intense six-day workshop from July 31st to August 5th at in Scenario Publicco in Catania, Italy. Gat and his colleagues are offering a collaborative experience with a select group of emerging professionals between ages 17 and 25 to dive inside the world and work of Emanuel Gat. They will focus primarily on the creative foundations in which the company functions – immersed inside the process of ‘dance-making’. Artistic cohorts of mine have nothing but positive feedback about Emanuel, enthusiastically recalling their time in the studio with him. That being said, I’m led to believe this will a truly positive and unique experience.
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The Body as an Organically Integrated Operant Tool
As someone who considers herself a total nerd for sensory and somatic practices, this program sounds particularly exciting! From July 26th to August 3rd at the Grotowski Institute in Poland, Jakub Gontarski and Agnieszka Rybak will host a workshop which is an extension of The String of the Body. Geared toward anyone interested in movement research – actors, dancers and all movement enthusiasts – the program provides a focused study in the psycho-physical relationship of the body and its environment. That being said, this program offers a robust curriculum! Warm-up, training and content integration classes are held both indoors and outdoors, and all aim to awaken the conscious and neuro-muscular experience. For a fully integrated mind-body experience try this program!
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Eastman Summer Intensive 2017
Separated into a two-week schedule from August 7th-18th, Eastman Summer Intensive offers another season of dance training and repertoire classes at the deSingel International Kunstcampus in Antwerp. Eastman and Sidi Larbi direct this intensive toward professional dancers and students 17+ looking to concentrate their artistic curiosity inside the processes and culture of Damien Jalet and Sidi Larbi. In addition to Eastman’s repertoire, the intensive will also offer the work and movement study of Ohad Naharin. In offering such deep engagement inside these processes, participants are granted the freedom to choose their own class schedule.
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The DASH Ensemble
This year, from June 5th-11th, The DASH Ensemble will be hosting their inaugural Summer Intensive for advanced students and emerging professionals in New York City. Each day will consist of either contemporary technique and floorwork, improvisation or partnering, along with a DASH repertoire class, discussions, and choreographic process time for a new piece that will be performed at the Red Hook Fest in Brooklyn. Creating in the studio with Gregory Dolbashian and the The DASH is an empowering experience as they are group of artists that hold hard work and team work at high-value. Participants are sure to be immersed in an environment that is supportive, motivating and full of taking risks!
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Ignite
Check out Ignite by TOES FOR DANCE – held in Toronto, Canada from July 24th-July 29th, and in collaboration with Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, Ignite will celebrate 5 years of working side-by-side with young dancers in pursuit of artistic growth. Geared toward students ages 15+, Ignite offers a week of diving inside the creative process through a series of classes, research labs and collaborative rehearsals. It is the experience of building work as a collective that takes precedence at Ignite – by stretching the imagination and embodying healthy communication practices. Although the program has evolved since my participation in 2014, I can’t say enough about my experience at Ignite. Simply put, it left a lasting impression.
Learn more
- Another Summer of Dance – 10 “Must Try” Summer Dance Intensives for any Experience-Hungry Dancer! (2019) - April 28, 2019
- Peridance: A Pathway to Professional Life - December 19, 2018
- Van Legakis, Unity Space and this summer’s “Interdisciplinary Festival of Embodiment” East Point West - June 6, 2018
I recieved an email saying spellbound isnt having an intensive this year.
Thank you! Marlayna. We just got the information from Spellbound Contemporary Ballet.
The AMSTERDAM SUMMER INTENSIVE can be taken for college credit from The Hartt School, University of Hartford! This can be for either 1 or 2 college credits. http://www.hartford.edu/hartt/dance. Contact Stephen Pier at [email protected] for more information.
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