DECEMBER 27 – JANUARY 14
Open to dancers 18 years or older, our Winter Intensive provides dancers with a rigorous program in Graham Technique, Ballet, Contemporary, Graham Repertory, and Composition with a special Graham Technique for Teachers class!
Classes are taught by experienced dance professionals, including former and current Martha Graham Dance Company members. Students have the option to attend In-Person or Online.
Click here to see our In-Person schedule
Click here to see our Virtual schedule
Classes are held at Martha Graham Studios and the Creative Cultural Center at St. Veronica’s in Greenwich Village. Click here for location information and directions.
NOW OFFERING IN-PERSON OR VIRTUAL CLASSES!
Click here to see our COVID-19 Vaccination Policy
REGISTER NOW
Our classes fill up quickly with limited in-person space available! Sign-up Today!
Choose an Intensive:
IN-PERSON Winter Intensive
- Complete Registration Form
- Pay $35 Registration Fee
- Pay $50 Tuition Deposit
VIRTUAL Winter Intensive
- Complete Registration Form
- Pay $35 Registration Fee
- Pay $50 Tuition Deposit
All classes held on NYC/EST time
Questions? Please contact Tami Alesson at talesson@marthagraham.org
OUR CLASSES
Graham Technique
Levels I, II, III, + IV
The Martha Graham Technique is based on the core power of Graham’s signature contraction and release. The Technique promotes strength, stamina, and self-expression and serves as a foundation for excellence in many styles of dance. Each level is specifically designed for students to progress rapidly.
Ballet
Advanced Beginner/Intermediate and Advanced
Martha Graham School ballet training is adapted for individual student abilities at the beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. Classes are structured to enhance and support the study of Martha Graham Technique.
Contemporary
Advanced Beginner/Intermediate and Advanced
Contemporary classes build upon Graham Technique and encourage dancers to explore the connections between this classic approach and post-modern styles. In-Person only.
Graham Repertory
Intermediate and Advanced
Repertory introduces students to Graham’s classic choreography to gain a deeper understanding of her expressive style as well as practice in valuable performance techniques. Dancers must register for Graham Technique for the duration of the Repertory class, which is offered at an intermediate or advanced pace.
Composition
Beginner/Intermediate and Advanced
This exploration of dance-making guides students in creating movement phrases, discovering their own artistic voice, and development a personal toolbox of choreographic techniques. In-Person only.
MODERN CLASSICS SERIES
Open to All Levels In-Person and Online
New to this year’s Winter Intensive, the Modern Classics Series is a sequence of weekly master classes celebrating early class modern dance form creators, including José Limón, Lester Horton, and Merce Cunningham, in addition to Martha Graham. Each left a legacy that continues to inspire artists and audiences around the world. Many of their students, including Paul Taylor and Alvin Ailey, carried the classics forward and left formidable impacts on the art form themselves.
All master classes are 90 minutes followed by a 30 minute Q&A with the instructor.
CLASS SCHEDULE
Risa Steinberg is an active member of the dance community as a performer, teacher, reconstructor of the works of José Limón, and mentor to young, emerging, and established choreographers. A native New Yorker, she studied and graduated from the High School of Performing Arts and The Juilliard School, where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts. A former principal dancer with the José Limón Dance Company, Bill Cratty Dance Theater, Annabelle Gamson, Anna Sokolow’s Player’s Project, Colin Connor, and American Repertory Dance Company of Los Angeles, Ms. Steinberg has also been a guest artist with choreographers including Wally Cardona, Sean Curran, and DanzaHoy of Caracas, Venezuela. Her solo concert, A Celebration of Dance, featured a repertory from Isadora Duncan to contemporary choreographers. As a re-constructor of the works of Mr. Limón, Ms. Steinberg has worked with companies and dancers, including Nureyev and Friends, Frank Augustyn, and Karen Kain. She has been full-time faculty at the Juilliard School since 2004 and held the position of Associate Director of Juilliard Dance from 2008-2016. She was a dance panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts and The Bessies. As a choreographic advisor, she is presently working with Brian Brooks and Kyle Abraham and has the honor of mentoring remarkable creators, including Kate Weare, Michelle Dorrance, and Brian Arias. Steinberg is the co-director of the Ann and Weston Hicks Choreography Project at Jacob’s Pillow. She was a cast member of the Punchdrunk production, Sleep No More from 2015 – March, 2020
Andrea Weber was a dancer with the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 2004 – 2011. Andrea is on faculty of the Merce Cunningham Trust, teaching Cunningham Technique® at New York City Center and The Hartt School. She has also taught at Barnard College, SUNY Purchase, UNCSA, Brown University, Skidmore College, the American Dance Festival, ArcDanz Festival, NYU Tisch, ABT Studio Company, Salem State College and Dance New Amsterdam. Andrea has staged Exchange and Scenario f
Maxwell Louis Waterman is a New York City-based educator, administrator, and performing artist. He is the Director of the Dance Department at Science Skills Center High School for Science, Technology and the Creative Arts. He is also an Adjunct Professor (of the Lester Horton Technique) at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY Purchase. Waterman’s introduction to the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance began in 2014 when he enrolled in the Martha Graham School’s Summer Intensive. A champion for social-emotional learning in dance education, Waterman authored The Elevated Conscious Curriculum (For Dancers)© in 2020, and teaches the culturally responsive pedagogy within the Young Artists Program of the Martha Graham School. His course, “Zone of Consciousness” affords students the opportunity to grant themselves the permission to develop and use their artistic voices to become critical, conscious thought leaders within dance education. A native of Brooklyn, NY, Waterman trained at the Ailey School and the Joffrey Ballet School. He earned a B.S. in Dance from Long Island University-Brooklyn Campus and an M.A. in Dance Education from the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at CUNY-Hunter College.
Limón Technique (developed by José Limón) emphasizes the natural rhythms of fall and recovery, a conscious use of breath, and the interplay between weight and weightlessness with the goal of providing dancers with an organic approach to movement. It can enhance a Graham dancer’s sense of weight in movement and the dancer’s ability to connect movements into a whole.
Cunningham Technique® (developed by Merce Cunningham) emphasizes clarity of form, coordination of torso and legwork, rhythmic accuracy, and spatial awareness, with the goal of creating strength and flexibility of both the body and the mind. Cunningham separated movement from storyline or theme, traditional sense of musicality and explicit emotion, as he believed freedom was found within the physical movement itself. He is known for developing “choreography by chance”, a technique in which selected isolated movements are assigned sequence by completely random methods (i.e. tossing a coin..) Cunningham technique® is a valuable tool for today’s dancers, because it pushes them to be present and alert, allowing unexpected movement choices and directional shifts.
Horton Technique (developed by Lester Horton) emphasizes a whole body, anatomical approach to dance that includes flexibility, strength, coordination and body and spatial awareness to enable unrestricted, dramatic freedom of expression. It can enhance a Graham dancer’s strength level and spatial awareness.
CLASS RECORDINGS
Can’t make it to our live Zoom classes? Not to worry!
For an affordable fee, dancers can access recordings of all Virtual Winter Intensive Ballet and/or Graham Technique Zoom classes to watch and follow along at a time that is convenient. Take class from the comfort of your home at a time that fits your schedule best! You can cancel at any time.
MEET THE FACULTY
Click on a name to read their bio…
| In-Person Intensive | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | |
| Graham I | Sierra Sanders | Jeffrey Shirbroun | Christopher Dolder |
| Graham II | Elizabeth Auclair | PeiJu Chien-Pott | Anne Westwick |
| Graham III | Tadej Brdnik | Peggy Lyman Hayes | Yung Yung Tsuai Lerner |
| Graham IV | Miki Orihara | Steve Rooks | Jacqulyn Buglisi |
| Beg/Int Repertory | Elizabeth Auclair | ||
| Adv Repertory | Miki Orihara | ||
| Beg/Int Composition | Yung Yung Tsuai Lerner | ||
| Adv Beg/Int Ballet | Cara McManus | Marzia Memoli | Tami Alesson |
| Adv Ballet | |||