Beginning with standing exercises to engage and develop the body center, students will then practice clearly defined, efficient movement and approaches. Strongly influenced by classic concepts found in Horton, Graham, Ballet, and Taylor, the class expands to include challenging extended phrases, then moves across the floor with jumps and stretches, and finally choreography encompassing all of the above, which will be a section from a new solo work Kalivas recently created for one of his dancers titled Ode.


Each session features a different guest artist who teaches a masterclass and sections from their repertory—this panorama of the contemporary dance field is presented to broaden the student’s awareness of what career possibilities are out there. The guest artist conducts a 30-minute technique class/warm-up and then teaches repertory that is performed by the class.

In the final 15-20 minutes faculty coordinator Bill De Young conducts a Q and A interviewing each guest artist about their career and what recommendations they have about the transition from student to professional and what they look for when they audition dancers for their projects