Workshops, Intensives, Master Classes, and Open Houses

Being Good to Yourself: Moving Towards Wholeness and Pleasure
Caring for your neck, shoulders, eyes, and breath in an 8-week Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement Series with Sarah Baumert. Livestream classes will be taught over Zoom.

September 20-November 15
Wednesdays at 6:30pm
Sundays at 4:00pm

In this year’s fall Feldenkrais series, we will explore lessons that promote self-connection and pleasure, finding equanimity in movement, and adapting to change with resilience. In a world where technology has become ever more prevalent, it can be easy to feel disconnected from our bodies, our emotions, and the people around us. But through the gentle, exploratory movements of the Feldenkrais Method, we can find a sense of joy and connection that is uniquely human.

“Joy is exactly what’s happening, minus our opinion of it.” -Charlotte Joko Beck

Movement: This series will include 16 livestream classes. Each lesson is taught twice, once on Sunday and once on Wednesday.

Educational talks: Pre-lesson anatomy lessons and the philosophical framework for ATM.

Connection: Access to recorded Q&A to listen to questions, connect with the other students, and discuss the method and tools we are learning about. Includes optional 10-minute consultation with Sarah, online forum to connect and ask questions if you are doing the recordings, and email support.

Ways to keep practicing: Stream recordings indefinitely and have the option to download recordings.

I am launching an after-school flamenco program!
A free program for high school students.
It starts September 27 but new students can join anytime.
Spread the word!
Register at www.sachikolachayi.com/afterschool

After-School Flamenco Program – 8 weeks
Wednesdays, September 27-November 15, 2023
3:45-5:00pm
At Zorongo Flamenco Studio. Entrance is in the alleyway off of 37th Ave. See the map at the link below for more details.

Class Content
Dance and rhythm instruction by dancer Sachiko “La Chayí.” Including talks about the culture and history of flamenco and Spain. Snacks will be provided.

What to Bring
Indoor sports shoes.

This activity is made possible by voters of Minnesota through a grant from Metropolitan Regional Arts Council, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the arts and cultural heritage fund.

Learn ballet at any age!

This 8-week Ballet Fundamentals Session will teach adult students the basic steps of ballet, how combinations in class are built and the history and roots of ballet terminology. No ballet or dance experience necessary!

Thursdays, September 28-November 16, 2023
6:15-7:30pm

Connection, Community, Curiosity, Courage, Change

Move big, sweat, and play while building awareness and exploring expansive possibilities within your own body. Within an empowering environment, we will utilize improvised and structured movement vocabulary to research freedom, 3-D expansion, mobility, rigor, presence, choice-making, and agency.

Led by AMP Co-Director Joanna Lees. Suitable for intermediate/advanced dancers. Knee pads recommended. Come as you are!

Contemporary Movement Practices will be held 10:00-11:30am on the following dates:

Friday, September 29
Friday, October 6

More dates possible to come!

Cost: $15. Pre-registration through AMP’s website is preferred; drop-in option is available.
No one will be turned away due to lack of funds. Please email alternativemotionproject@gmail.com for low/no cost options or with any questions.

Location: Eleve Performing Arts Center. Free parking!

An 8-week series with Sarah Baumert. This will be a time to create space and feel what it is like living in this body.

September 25-November 13
Mondays, 6:00-7:15pm CST
Live classes will be taught on Zoom.

When we have the courage to release places that feel physically stuck, mentally tight, or emotionally restricted, we can uncover a new internal landscape of this body we are living in. We will explore ways to move in harmony with our unique needs and how we feel each day, to encourage the body to soften and connect with the feelings of space and freedom.

Each class will infuse a more traditional yoga asana practice with the Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement method. Sarah’s teaching for each class changes based on the seasons and the students in the room. These classes are an interdisciplinary excursion of yoga, Feldenkrais® Awareness Through Movement, joint-specific training, self-massage, breathing exercises, movement puzzles, and a compassionate mindset to help you feel a greater sense of ease and comfort in yourself. You will train your sensitivity in such a way that you find yourself feeling more alive, vibrant, and spacious.

Each class will be recorded and the videos will be available for those attending the series. Space is limited, sign up early to hold your spot! There will be time for questions and community discussion following each lesson.

Scholarships are available for this series. Please contact Sarah directly at sarah@body-matter.com for scholarship inquiries. No questions asked.

Balanced Body® Pilates Mat 1
October 6-8
In person and online attendance options.

Friday, 4:00-8:00pm
Saturday, 11:30am-6:00pm
Sunday, 9:30am-4:30pm

Fee: $549 + $60 materials

Paragon Pilates and Physical Therapy offers Pilates teacher training through Balanced Body Education. Mat 1 forms the foundation of the Pilates method. This course includes an introduction to the history and principles of the Pilates method and the beginning and intermediate level exercises. Each exercise includes training on modifications, challenges, the purpose of the exercise and any precautions for injuries and special populations. How to design and teach group classes and guidelines for teaching seniors and pre and post–natal classes are included.
Prerequisite: Balanced Body® Movement Principles

Instructor: Matthew Hodge-Rice

Step by Step: An Intro to Stepping Workshop with Step Afrika! is 60 minutes of highly energetic, percussive unity in motion. In this assembly-sized introductory workshop, participants enjoy learning step choreography and discovering how dance brings people together. The program introduces the ties between stepping, college life, and academic achievement while discovering the rhythm, physicality, and history of stepping.

October 9 at 6:30pm

All are welcome! Space is limited, and registration is required.

Join us for a special workshop with Alexis Zanety this fall at Zenon!

In collaboration with the MN International Dance Festival and Dance Projects by ME, Alexis Zanety hosts a unique Circular Movement Drawing Technique workshop at Zenon Dance School this October. Alexis created the Circular Drawing Movement technique, which is a combination of Cuban Modern Dance, Neoclassic, and Afro-Cuban Dance techniques, characterized by fluid continuous organic movements. Click here to learn more about the technique and Alexis’ work.

Circular Drawing Movement with Alexis Zanety
Friday, October 13, 10:00-11:30am
In person. Register here.
Drop-in: $15

Alexis Zanety is a contemporary teacher and choreographer and former first soloist for Cuba’s National Dance Company (CNDC). In 2002, he reallocated to Mexico by invitation from the Teatro Degollado to enrich the dance community with his artistry while performing and choreographing at the most important international festivals and operas in the country. In 2016, he reallocated to Houston, Texas, and began sharing his expertise and passion at the local and national level at places such as Cornish College of the Arts, University of Washington, University of Houston, University of Oklahoma, and Afro Latin Fest. He was also invited to the 2018 and 2019 International Association of Blacks in Dance Congress as a guest teacher. In November 2019, he was recognized by the Congress of Texas for his many accomplishments in the Houston cultural landscape. Sylvester Turner, Mayor of the City of Houston, proclaimed November 9, 2019, as “Alexis Zanety Day” to honor Alexis’ passion for the arts and overall contributions to the arts scene.

Click here to learn more about the 2023 MN International Dance Festival, October 17-21!

Balanced Body® Introduction to the Chair for Rehabilitation Professionals
Friday, October 13
12:00-4:00pm

Fee: $175

The chair, created by Joseph Pilates, provides a wide variety of exercises in a small footprint. In the clinical setting, the chair offers opportunity to work functionally in sitting and standing both bilaterally and unilaterally. This course is an introduction to Chair exercises and includes regressions for the client in active rehabilitation as well progressions for the beginning, post-rehabilitation and advanced wellness client. This training is appropriate for clinics working with the Wunda Chair, Combo Chair and ExoChair. This course will include equipment set up, clinical application, and safety.

Instructor: Ann-Marie Chesterfield, DPT

Dance is the art of being.

Ayako offers this workshop as a daily practice of being – as a human, mover, performer, artist, dancer, and choreographer. Through this practice, Ayako will share the way to find our centered, grounded, and balanced selves through exercises based in imagery (and physical reality).

Through improvisational and simple compositional exercises, participants will raise a keen awareness of the expansiveness as well as the depth of being. Participants will explore ways to open up the body-mind as an empty conduit to welcome new wind flow through themselves and feel fullness. Ayako will share how to expand and develop the tangible and intangible tensegrity (tension x integrity) through our bodies and minds to sense new relationships within and around us. Participants will be asked to create their own short dance.

Minneapolis-based Mary Willmeng has been a dance colleague of Ayako since 2007. Together, Mary and Ayako are excited to be able to realize an in-person workshop and share the Art of Being worldview with Minneapolis!

This JSB Dance Intensive is intended for adult dancers with some dance training beyond fundamentals. The over-arching goal of this Intensive is for participants to deepen their understanding of ballet and related movement modalities; engage in a creative physical pursuit in a friendly environment; and commit to wellness and regenerate their energy.

Train with movement experts who value personal growth and agency. Our instructors love sharing the joy of dance with participants of all ages and abilities!

October 17-21, 2023
Tuesday-Thursday evenings
Friday-Saturday daytime
With optional Friday and Saturday evening activities!

Multiple Enrollment Options:

• Entire Intensive, Tuesday through Saturday
• Partial Evening, Tuesday through Thursday
• Partial Daytime, Friday and Saturday

The Minnesota International Dance Festival (MNIDF) brings together international dance instructors, choreographers, community members, and emerging Twin Cities artists for a week of community exchange through workshops and performances. This year’s featured country is Mexico. The festival will include 3 week-long workshops, a choreographer panel conversation, and three performances.

Workshops October 17-20, 2023:
Class A: 10:00-11:30am – Alexis Zanety, Circular Drawing Movement
Class B: 11:30am-1:00pm – Dora de la Torre, Mexican Folkloric Dance
Class C: 1:30-3:00pm – José A. Luis, Dance Composition

Informal Showcase Performance at the Southern Theater on October 21 at 1:30pm.