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This IDOC is a description of my Contemporary Dance Class. I generally teach using more or less the same structure. When I teach at the Amsterdamse Hogeschool voor de Kunsten, their schedule is divided into 'blocks'. It makes sense to also adjust my teaching practice so that we generally work with the same class/ set of exercises in one block. 

I teach a release-based class, focusing on organic movement and the connection between center and extremitites.

My class is usually divided into 5 parts: A:floor exercises, B:moving across space with focus on floorwork and/or simple walking exercises, C;standing exercises, D;moving across space using floor, upside down and upright movement (more complex) and E;jumps and or slides and running across the room. I place particular importance on the first two parts. In the beginning of the year we often spend more than half the class on these two elements. Later on in the year there is more time for the standing exercises, the moving across and the jumps/running. I like to take time for the beginning of class, to attune the students to the way I want them to listen to and use their bodies. I want them to become aware of any unnecessary tension and habits that are not helping them while dancing. Not only for my class but for their overall dancing practice. That means that the first half of the class is often slow and calm, then we quickly build up to more dynamic, dancy movement towards the end.

A typical class description would be:

1- A starfish exercise of some kind

2- An exercise moving perpendicular, up and down into the floor

3- An exercise travelling across the floor, rolling, sliding, being low

4- A walking exercise, becoming aware of the space and the other dancers

5- Plies and/ or curves, movement of upper body

6- Shifting weight

7- Swings and shifts

8- Moving horizontally, spiralling, going in and out of the floor in a more complex manner

9- Handstands or upside down exercise

10- Combination, a more 'dancy' exercise, often combining elements that we already worked on in the earlier part of the class

11- Jumps or running with slides in different manners

Every class I teach is slightly different, this serves like a general framework that allows me to improvise and work with who is in front of me and what state they are in on that very day. Usually at the end of a block I've covered all the exercises I had planned but it also often happens that I decided to take a competely different direction with a particular group. For example going more in-depth with the walking exercise part therefore always skipping another set of exercises. When my students are working towards performances for example, I teach a very different class than when they are in a regular training period.

Photos by Medina Resic