Past Event: May 25/26/27 Spiral Body Techniques® Masterclasses with Molly Shanahan

OPEN: May 25/26/27 2024 Spiral Body Technique® Masterclasses with Molly Shanahan

$25/class (unless purchasing 5-class package).

All classes are Central Standard Time

Visceral Dance Center, Chicago. Studio 5. Purchase classes HERE.

May 25 11a-1p

May 26 11a-1p

May 27 11a-1p

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Spiral Body Techniques® (SBT) is the framework for exploring and teaching movement and dance developed by choreographer Molly Shanahan, Ph.D.

SBT expands on Shanahan's solo and ensemble dancemaking with Molly Shanahan/Mad Shak, and concurrent experience teaching several hundred students in university and professional contexts across a span of thirty years, as well as advanced study of the Feldenkrais Method, the Continuum Method, and doctoral study in dance at Temple University.

SBT can be transformative for dancers at all levels: the method rests on vocabulary that helps dancers access and hone specificity, release of compulsive musculature to free whole-self expression and expertise, and the relationship of the ball-and-socket joints flowing from and to a mobile spine, ribcage, and pelvis. But SBT is not confined to a series of movements that must be done "correctly.” Rather, the method uses specific approaches to movement constraints that tap human capacity for multiplicity—the whole self in coordinated movement, capable of spontaneous adaptation—and the inherent fluid complexity of body-in-motion without adherence to outdated or oppressive assumptions that equate postures of obedience and apparent attention with grace or skill, that value particular body shapes, types, or identities over others, or view the maintenance of verticality, litheness, and lightness as a marker of virtuosity.

SBT is a holistic movement philosophy, embracing the inherent intelligence and capacity of dancers and all humans to navigate complex frameworks for space, time, relationship, and creative impulse; and that invites intricate exploration of intention and action, desire, spontaneity and memory. Through this approach, Molly has not only trained dancers but has sparked a quiet revolution in how bodies are inhabited and perceived in dance and performance.

Spiral Body Techniques® currently offers two avenues of experience for dancers/movers. One—the SBT studio class—is geared to advanced and intermediate/advanced dancers interested in cultivating a deeper capacity to spontaneously access the multiplicity of options available at any given dancing movement, and to navigate rapidly changing relationships to space formed through image, clarity of intent, and adaptability. Two—the Alone-Together practice—is a guided movement practice, often done virtually without visual references, and is open to anyone of any skill level (dancers and “non-dancers” alike) wanting to forge a deeper relationship with body in motion, image, and connection to self.

In both applications, SBT emphasizes the intrinsic system of fluidity, spirals, undulation, and curves that allow a dancer/mover to navigate complex movement patterns—whether learned/rehearsed or improvised—with ease, safety, and joy.

Spiral Body Techniques® is a registered trademark, and can only be taught by certified teachers.  Learn more about Spiral Body Techniques and recently certified teachers here.