The Theatre Arts, Drama students were invited to the French Institute L’Alliance New York to participate in a workshop with choreographer Kimberly Bartosik (former member of the Merce Cunningham dance company, and creator of bLUr, new dance work presented as part of L’Alliance New York’s Crossing The Line Festival)) and Burr Johnson (Principal dancer in the show).
The workshop, which is organized as part of New York Crossing the Line Festival, took place in the beautiful SkyRoom of the L’Alliance, and included both physical and imaginative exercises that bring the students closer to their own bodies, unique histories, memories, life values, while encouraging the power of community.
Like bLUr, the workshop illuminates values of compassion, empathy, forgiveness, and trust. Constructed around questions asked in the creation of the piece, it connects the physical and emotional by asking: How do we construct support systems for ourselves and others? How do we know when to push into personal/life challenges and when to run away? The primary workshop goal is to remind our bodies of the power of trust when we place our weight–physical, emotional, spiritual – in someone else’s hands, and that even if we fall, the ground is not far away.
The workshop was followed by a Q and A with the artists.
