Contemporary Dance

with Manuel Meza / Lucy Kallenbach

Mondays, 18:30–20:00
Beginners with experience & intermediate


with Heidi Weiss

Tuesdays, 19:45–21:15
Intermediate


with Cristiana Casadio

Thursdays, 18:00–19:30
Intermediate & Advanced

Contemporary dance as it is taught today, combines influences from a variety of contemporary dance techniques with the individual style of each teacher. All the contemporary classes at Marameo focus, during the warm-up, on dynamism and on establishing and maintaining a contact with the floor. Later in the class we work on choreographed sequences, the complexity of which are pitched to the level of the participants.

Class description Manuel Meza

I view my class at the intersection of Modern and Contemporary dance techniques, utilising release and recovery explorations in the body that can be translated while moving in space upright or on the floor. The class begins with structured exercises to warm up our bodies and minds, awakening the spine and allowing the warmth to radiate outwards. We will dance on the floor, upright, through space, and upside down. The class typically ends with movement vocabulary from my ongoing choreographic research. At the heart of my class is the joy of movement mixed with the urge to push your own physical and mental barriers.

Class description Lucy Kallenbach

Lucy teaches a structured contemporary technique class, combining influences from modern dance and the principles of floor work, with a strong emphasis on musicality, the use of focus, and the exploration of different qualities of and in movement.
The class moves through a guided warm-up into some floor work (basic and more complex), into standing work (footwork, pliés, spine articulation) and finishes with a longer combination and/ or jumps, tapping into and building on the themes and qualities that have been explored and worked on throughout the class. Students are encouraged to deepen their practice through curiosity and connection, to trust the technical foundation, in order to go beyond what they already know, physically, and in the expression of their own artistry.

Class description Heidi Weiss

Heidi Weiss teaches a structured Contemporary Modern technique class which combines strengthening elements with release based exercises. Her training begins with focus on the center through basic yoga poses and continues with moving exercises which focus on creating length and volume in the body. Directional changes, use of weight, fusion of fluidity and groundedness are all key elements, as well as rhythm and musicality. These concepts will be explored and tested as dancers move through the space in the final combination.

Class description Cristiana Casadio

My class is influenced by different dance techniques – ballet, release technique, floor work – combined with my own personal research. We will begin with a gradual warming up, bringing awareness into the body, focusing on our weight and on our relationship with the floor, softening our bodies and at the same time stretching and toning. The class will then develop on different levels in space, using increasingly challenging combinations, playing with dynamics, suspensions, out of balance, spirals, slides and falls. We will explore different movement qualities and textures, applying images and sensations to the sequences and sometimes using small improvisation tasks. Special focus is placed on awareness of the impulses that initiate the movement, either physical or imaginative, allowing students to work on precision and, at the same time, to find their own personal way of moving in a given phrase. Inside the phrases we will work on technique, improving agility, coordination and efficiency, and especially on increasing the movement vocabulary to allow a bigger range of physical expression. But always keeping in mind that technique is simply a tool to make the pleasure of moving richer.