DCF PROUDLY PRESENTS A SERIES OF MASTER CLASSES, TAUGHT BY ACCOMPLISHED CHICAGO LOCAL PRACTITIONERS IN DIVERSE FIELDS OF DANCE. OUR CLASSES ARE LED BY THE SAME EXCEPTIONAL INSTRUCTORS, ARTISTS, AND CHOREOGRAPHERS WHO PERFORM AND PRESENT THEIR WORK AT THE FESTIVAL. FOR ALL DANCERS AGES 13 AND UP, OUR MASTER CLASS SERIES PROVIDES A UNIQUE OPPORTUNITY FOR DANCERS TO LEARN FROM THE BEST IN THE INDUSTRY FROM ACROSS THE GLOBE!
Elizabeth Shea
Reviewed as “a remarkable contemporary dance display,” Elizabeth Shea’s choreography has been produced by the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and presented at numerous festivals and major cities across the USA, as well as in Australia, Israel, and China. Liz has been a guest artist for many professional companies and universities, most recently for Eisenhower Dance and as a collaborator with NYC-based Stefanie Nelson Dancegroup. Liz presented the site-specific work "Ascension" at the Eskenazi Museum of Art to over 1,000 people; her newest choreography, "Rhythm Runs Through It," premiered in 2022 at Dixon Place in NYC and was invited to RADfest, in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Liz also creates extensively in new media and film, screening her work at film festivals internationally, and is a professional film curator. Awards include Best Choreography for the Lens, Best Dance Film, and Best Ensemble. Liz teaches her self-developed somatic system, SomaLab®, yogic practices, and choreographic methods at workshops in the USA and abroad, most recently at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, and Dance Italia, in Lucca, Italy. She was awarded an Eastman Residency in the Arts and Humanities on Martha’s Vineyard to develop a program of somatic practice for non-medical hospice workers and presented at the 2022 Performing Arts Medicine Association International Symposium and the 32nd International Association for Dance Medicine and Science conference in Limerick, Ireland. A 500-hour Registered Yoga Teacher, and Yoga Alliance Continuing Education Provider, Liz is Professor and Director of Contemporary Dance at Indiana University.
Somatic-Informed Contemporary Technique
Elizabeth Shea
3:00-4:00 PM
Ashley L. Tate
Ashley L. Tate is a director, choreographer, educator, and performer from Saint Louis, Missouri. She is an assistant professor of dance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, an affiliate faculty member with the UNC Charlotte Department of Africana Studies, and founder and artistic director of Ashleyliane Dance Company (ADC). Tate received her MFA in Dance from Washington University in St. Louis. In addition to various cities in the state of Missouri, her work has been featured in concerts in New York City, Baltimore, Las Vegas, Chicago, Boulder, Greensboro, and Santa Monica. She has been invited to present her research at several conferences and conventions, including the European Hip Hop Studies Network 2024 Conference in Cork, Ireland. She is a key participant in the nationally recognized No Tears Project, a multidisciplinary festival designed to honor Civil Rights history.
Jazz
Ashley L. Tate
4:00-5:00 PM
Maggie Liang
Maggie Liang and Yinqi Wang are currently based in Columbus, Ohio, actively dancing, choreographing and teaching in the United States. Their collaborative works have been presented at various dance festivals and venues across the United States, including Work-in-Progress Showings at American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival, Arts on Site (NYC, Jan/25), National Dance Institute (NYC, Nov/24), Columbus Dance Theater (Columbus OH, Sep/24), Stomping Ground (LA, Feb/23), MashUp Dance Company (LA, Feb/23), Guangdong Modern Dance Festival (Guangzhou China, Nov/24),and Powerlong Museum Shanghai (Shanghai China, Dec 2021). Their movement research is heavily influenced by Gaga, Countertechnique, and contact improv. In their choreography, they intend to create humanistic and imaginative artworks through movement, storytelling, and theatrical design, weaving together the deep threads of mythology, folklore, intimacy, and violence.
Partnering
Maggie Liang
5:00-6:00 PM
Yinqi Wang
Yinqi Wang and Maggie Liang are currently based in Columbus, Ohio, actively dancing, choreographing and teaching in the United States. Their collaborative works have been presented at various dance festivals and venues across the United States, including Work-in-Progress Showings at American Dance Festival and Bates Dance Festival, Arts on Site (NYC, Jan/25), National Dance Institute (NYC, Nov/24), Columbus Dance Theater (Columbus OH, Sep/24), Stomping Ground (LA, Feb/23), MashUp Dance Company (LA, Feb/23), Guangdong Modern Dance Festival (Guangzhou China, Nov/24),and Powerlong Museum Shanghai (Shanghai China, Dec 2021). Their movement research is heavily influenced by Gaga, Countertechnique, and contact improv. In their choreography, they intend to create humanistic and imaginative artworks through movement, storytelling, and theatrical design, weaving together the deep threads of mythology, folklore, intimacy, and violence.
Partnering
Yinqi Wang
5:00-6:00 PM