Sarah Gordon Butler

This class will serve as an opportunity to dig into our approach to both improvisation and codified form, layering various physical tasks through curiosity, specificity, rich imagery, and sense of humor.

Through guided improvisation we will warm up both the body and our creative impulses, focusing on range, clarity, dynamics, shift of weight, awareness and presence in space, and how texture and story can shape and inform movement. We will visit ballet form and various set exercises throughout to practice investigating formal structure and technique from a place of curiosity, care, and attentiveness.

Depending on the class format and length, we may then learn, build, or workshop choreographed material, exploring how to take the discoveries from our movement research and house them inside specific form. We will play isolations, musicality, coordination, imagination, and how our personal approach can amplify the choreographed material while maintaining its integrity.