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Classes & Community Engagement

Classes & Community Engagement

Connecting audiences to the creative process.

Dancer Gianna Theodore in a white shirt and pleated black trousers balancing on one foot, torso bent forward.

Open Company Class

Thursday, November 5th

  • 10-11:30am Mark Morris Dance Center

Start your day dancing alongside the company! Our next open company class will be Thursday, November 5th, 10:00a-11:30a, at Mark Morris Dance Center, taught by Gianna Theodore.

Classes taught by Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard emphasize four of the company’s core movement values: exploration, musicality, abandonment, and intuition. The opening warm-up sequence focuses on spinal fluidity, articulation, and core  strengthening before building into challenging, creative, and invigorating phrase work. Participants experience a postmodern movement vocabulary defined by intricate gestures and the distinctive qualities of Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard’s movement.

The company sitting and standing together on a stone wall at dusk, laughing and interacting, with trees, a stone building, and an overcast sky in the background.

Dancer Development Program x Get Shamele$s: Paperwork Party & Happy Hour

Tuesday, November 10th

  • PAPERWORK PARTY: TUESDAY, NOV 10 | 3pm - 5:30pm | 651 ARTS Theater (10 Lafayette Ave, 4th Floor, Brooklyn)
  • HAPPY HOUR: Tuesday, Nov 10 | 5:30pm - 6:30pm | RSVP for location

On Tuesday, November 10, Kyle Abraham Day, our Dancer Development Program is hosting a Paperwork Party in partnership with Get Shamele$s, led by financial planner Pam Capalad and Dyalekt. Together, we’ll tackle everything from paying taxes as an artist and creating a grant application budget to saving for a rainy day on inconsistent income.

Afterwards, unwind with a happy hour and bites to connect with the broader artist community. The full event is free, but space is limited. RSVP early.

Touring & Residency Engagements

Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard deepens connections between audiences and the creative process by
extending its artistic vision beyond the stage. In every city we tour, company dancers teach workshops and classes with the same energy, rigor, and generosity they bring to performance.

Education programming is led by Matthew Baker, Logistics Manager, and coordinated with presenting venues. Contact: matthew@kadv.org to learn more.

A dance ensemble moves across a dark stage in front of a backdrop featuring three large line-art portrait sketches.
William Okajima, Niya Smith, Olivia Wang, Faith Mondesire, Alysia Johnson, Mykiah Goree, Destin Morisset, Jayden Williams, Keturah Stephen, Gianna TheodoreCredit: Klaus Gigga

IMPROVISATION AND STATEMENTS OF FREEDOM IN JAZZ AND MOVEMENT (Live Music Programs only)

Regardless of dance background or experience, participants of all ages are welcome to join an exploratory conversation and movement workshop in collaboration with Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard dancers and live musicians. Through improvisation and creative compositional tools, this workshop examines ideas of freedom and social change.

LECTURE/DEMONSTRATION

Lecture/Demonstrations are informative, interactive, and most of all fun! Offering a behind-the-scenes look at the works of Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard, company members demonstrate their exploratory creative process by sharing the unique methods of invention behind the company’s current repertory, from initial movement generation to the finished work. Audiences view live excerpts from current Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard repertory, gain insight into the creative process, and engage in a Q&A with the artists.

THE MORNING AFTER BRUNCH CONVERSATIONS

The Morning After is an informal brunch with Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard, held the morning after the company's final performance at a venue. Audience members have the opportunity to speak with the artists one-on-one and engage in more personal conversations about the work and the events of the performance week.

REPERTORY CLASS

Learn excerpts from the repertory Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard performs on tour. Taught by a Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard company member, the class begins with a brief warm-up focused on spinal fluidity, articulation, and core strengthening, followed by detailed phrase material from Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard’s repertory and discussion of the genesis of each movement.

KYLE ABRAHAM DANCE VANGUARD MOVEMENT WORKSHOPS

Classes taught by Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard emphasize four of the company’s core movement values: exploration, musicality, abandonment, and intuition. The opening warm-up sequence focuses on spinal fluidity, articulation, and core strengthening before building into challenging, creative, and invigorating phrase work. Participants experience a postmodern movement vocabulary defined by intricate gestures and the distinctive qualities of Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard’s movement. 

Unifying Uniqueness

Part conversation and part movement workshop, Unifying Uniqueness explores the ideas of uniqueness and commonality within each participant. Led by one or two company members, students of all levels learn phrase material from Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard's repertory, engage in dialogue centered around early memories, and integrate movement with ideas of perception, family, and freedom.

REPERTORY SPECIFIC WORKSHOPS AND CLASSES

These workshops for dancers and “non-dancers” alike are designed around specific works from Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard's repertory and draw from the themes and inspirations of Kyle Abraham’s choreographic voice. Audiences, students, and communities come together to create conversation, deepen their connection to the work, and strengthen the relationship between Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard and the communities that host its performances.

COMMUNITY DANCE JAM (Cassette Vol 1. Tours only)

Whether you have a dance background or none at all, participants of all ages can enjoy this immersive, movement-based workshop with Kyle Abraham Dance Vanguard! Set to a playlist of 80s and 90s tunes that inspired Kyle Abraham’s work Cassette Vol 1.,  participants are guided through an easy-to-follow warmup, play movement games, groove with company dancers and each other, and learn movement from the work itself. 

Cassette Vol 1. is equal parts camp and critique. At its core, the work makes space for the ridiculous and the referential, inviting audiences to laugh at the extremes and cry from the subtle humanity of memories lost. This workshop brings participants into the fun of the work while deepening their connection with this exciting new piece!

In every city we tour, we also teach.

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